The Effect of University Students’ Individual Innovation and Lifelong Learning Trends on Entrepreneurship Orientation

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects that personality characteristics (PC) of university students, as potential entrepreneurs, have on their entrepreneurship intentions (which are an important indicator of whether or not they will start new initiatives), and to determine the mediating role of lifelong learning tendencies. The study’s population consisted of approximately 4000 students at Erciyes University who had relatively high chances of becoming entrepreneurs in total, 924 students were reached. In the research, it was found that the participants’ personality characteristics and sub-dimensions had a significant but positive relationship with their entrepreneurial intentions. In the final findings of this study, it was found that lifelong learning tendencies have a partial mediating role in the relationship between the students’ personality characteristics and entrepreneurship tendencies. At this point, it was observed that the personality characteristics of individuals affect their entrepreneurship intentions; with the introduction of lifelong learning tendencies to the model, the effect of personality characteristics on entrepreneurial intentions decreased but remained significant.