Influence of parental support on entrepreneurial intention of university students: empirical evidence in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Entrepreneurial parents are important agents for transmitting entrepreneurial intentions to their children. Recent studies have highlighted that parental influence on children’s entrepreneurial careers can increase when peers are of the same gender (gender homophily) - the effects become greater in father-son or mother-daughter dyads. However, exposure to entrepreneurial parents alone is insufficient to explain their children’s entrepreneurial intentions, as dimensions such as the nature of communication/interaction and financial incentives can impact this relationship. However, these transmission factors/channels have received little attention in the literature. Thus, this study examines whether having entrepreneurial parents affects their children’s propensity to become entrepreneurs, analyzing the main transmission factors/channels and whether gender homophily moderates this effect. The sample consisted of 20,623 university students who participated in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey -GUESSS Brazil 2018. Data were analyzed using Multiple Linear Regression and Probit Regression Models. The results suggest that having an entrepreneurial father or entrepreneurial parents (father and mother) is associated with an increase in the probability of an individual becoming an entrepreneur. This effect is greater in the case of males in the father-son dyad. In addition, with regard to transmission channels, it was found that parental influence on the entrepreneurial career is exerted, above all, by the professional models that parents represent (career-related modeling), comments/compliments from parents (verbal encouragement), and financial/material incentive (instrumental assistance).