Abstract:

Entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions is usually associated to business and economic areas or to Engineering and Science courses with a certain technological component. In most countries, and specifically in Portugal, following a preconceived idea that inevitably oppose and sees as irreconcilable, the taste for culture and the ability to produce money, the area generally known as Humanities is traditionally seen as an area extraneous to the business idea. Perhaps for this reason, there are few studies regarding entrepreneurship intentions in the area of Humanities.

Paradoxically, this is an area where the lack of prospects of income is considered a cause that distances potential candidates to higher education courses in these areas and the inability to produce tangible wealth from its knowledge makes dramatic the subsistence of individuals with training in this field. Therefore, humanities is an area where entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours can be particularly useful and necessary.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the intentions and entrepreneurial attitudes of humanities students and the factors that can affect this attitudes and intentions, assuming as theoretical framework the Theory of Planned Behaviours (TPB) developed by Ajzen (1985, 1991).

For that, a quantitative study was developed through a survey applied to 226 students of the Faculty of Humanities of Coimbra (Portugal). In addition to descriptive statistics, ANOVA, the Chi-square test and Logistic Regression, were applied to compare the responses between the different courses of humanities to determine the influence of several factors - like gender, age, professional experience and entrepreneurship education - in entrepreneurial intentions of these students.

The results show that, in spite of the differences found between different courses in the area of humanities, students of humanities show, in general, a moderate degree of Entrepreneurial Intention and a moderate degree of Entrepreneurial Attitudes, having an unfavorable perception regarding the value of entrepreneurship in society. On the contrary, they are quite confident in their own entrepreneurial qualities, which may be related to the fact that questions have been raised about creativity, communication skills, etc. In relation to the planned behavior model, this particular population confirms the attitudes towards entrepreneurial behaviors and the social valorization of entrepreneurship. Concerning the factors affecting Entrepreneurial Intentions of the students It was also verified that the contact with actions that foment the Entrepreneurship as well as professional experience increase Entrepreneurial Intention. Viewed together, this study suggests the importance of increasing formal entrepreneurship education in the area of humanities and the need to adapt the contents and methodologies of entrepreneurship education to the specifics characteristics and sensibilities of students in different areas of humanities.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial intention, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Humanities.