Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is one of the driving forces of entrepreneurial culture and socio-economic development (Kuratko, 2017). Furthermore, it is a relevant factor for Human, Inclusive and Sustainable Development (UN, 2019) and for facing the continuous technological and social changes of the markets (Vanevenhoven, 2013). In dynamic and changing economic and business environments it is essential that entrepreneurs are creative, develop useful, new or improved products and services and are able to identify opportunities, understand market forces and social challenges and have the skills and competencies to defend them (Morris et al., 2013).

Entrepreneurial behaviour can be considered voluntary and intentional and a person's decision to become an entrepreneur is deliberate and conscious (Krueger et al., 2000). Entrepreneurial intention is one of the most reliable precursors of entrepreneurial behaviour and the creation of new companies (Prodan and Drnovsek, 2010), being also necessary certain cognitive characteristics and the emotional components implicit to entrepreneurial action (Cardon et al., 2012) and related to the definition of individual capacities to make personal judgements, to make decisions and to express feelings (Bechara et al., 2007).

People with higher levels of entrepreneurial intention are more aware of the influence of results on behaviour and are more capable of regulating their emotions (George, 2000), showing emotional competencies that encourage entrepreneurial orientation (Fernández-Pérez et al., 2019). People who possess emotional competencies have the ability to turn potentialities into reality in specific contexts and can be trained and developed through education (Sánchez, 2011), having positive effects on people (Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012) in educational settings.

The objective of this research is to analyse the relationship between emotional competencies and aptitudes, cognitive factors (subjective norms, entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial self-efficacy) and the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of postgraduate students involved in entrepreneurial processes. A questionnaire has been prepared to assess entrepreneurial intention (EI), entrepreneurial attitudes (EA) and subjective norms (SN) based on the questionnaire proposed by Mueller (2011); and emotional competencies (EC), based on the questionnaire proposed by Fernández-Pérez et al. (2019). The questionnaire was completed by 117 MBA students from the Universidad Rafael Landívar (Guatemala).

The analysis of the results obtained suggests that postgraduate students who perceive approval to undertake by relevant people (SN), present a more positive entrepreneurial attitude (EA) and perceive themselves (SE) as capable of creating companies. Likewise, students with higher emotional competencies (EC) present a more positive entrepreneurial attitude (EA) and perceive themselves (SE) as more capable of becoming entrepreneurs. And finally, the entrepreneurial attitude (EA) and self-efficacy (SE) positively influence the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of postgraduate students.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurial Intention, Entrepreneurial Attitude, Self-efficacy, Emotional Competencies.