Abstract:

Entrepreneurial intent is a complex process that is subject to the influence of multiple factors. The aim of this paper is to study these factors, broadly classified in the literature into individual and contextual, that may affect the intention of university students in starting a new business. A review of the literature accentuates the importance of incorporating specific contextual factors that may influence entrepreneurial intention. In spite of the growing importance of entrepreneurship education in universities during the last decade, an assessment about its effects considering institutional support factors has been limited. Therefore, based on institutional theory and university entrepreneurship research, we proposed an estimation of the extent institutional, sociocultural and university support factors as embedded in students´ everyday environment may be determinants in their entrepreneurial intentionality. A multiple linear regression (MLR) model was used using a sample of 568 university students from the University of Cantabria in Spain and the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. Considering the diversity of the sample, a secondary objective in this paper was to explore for differences in entrepreneurial intention as well as the control variables of nationality, gender, and students´ classification (based on year of graduation). The results confirm significant differences between the two populations. Therefore, our results provide support for the notion that institutions and universities can stimulate entrepreneurship among students to a different extent in these two countries contingent upon the prevalence of a society and a culture that supports entrepreneurship. In addition, our results highlight the challenges for institutions to accentuate those contextual factors compatible with entrepreneurship.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurial intention, institutional support, sociocultural support, university support.