The effects of attitudes and perceived environment conditions on students' entrepreneurial intent

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine key factors influencing students' intent to create a new venture. Based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour and Autio's model of intention, it aims to develop a model of entrepreneurial intent that incorporates both human and environmental factors. Specifically, the proposed model aims to focus on three constructs to predict the entrepreneurial intent, i.e. general attitudes (toward money, change, and competiveness), the attitude toward entrepreneurship, and the perception of the university environment and regional start‐up infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach In June 2005, 35,040 students of medicine, law, and technical, natural, social and business science from seven universities in Austria (electronic survey) were contacted. The response rate was 8.10 per cent. A total of 2,124 cases were considered in the final analysis. A multiple linear regression model with attitudes, perceptions of environment conditions, and selected control variables (age, gender, field of study) was estimated to test the hypotheses. Findings With the exception of the attitude toward competitiveness, all other paths regarding general and specific attitudes are significant. Pertaining to the environment conditions, only significant effects of the university on students' interest in business founding were detected. Other environment factors have no impact on entrepreneurial intention among students in Austria. In addition to that, significant differences in entrepreneurial intent regarding age, gender and field of study were found. Despite variation in the intent level between students of different fields of study, any significant differences in the effects of predictor variables on the entrepreneurial intent among the investigated student population were not discovered. Research limitations/implications Future research should place more emphasis on interaction between personal and environmental factors. Besides, students' social networks (family and friends) should be included in the analysis of entrepreneurial career decision. Practical implications – The universities in Austria should more extensively address entrepreneurship education to students of other subjects than business sciences. An important component of entrepreneurial training is a social learning process. In this respect, inviting successful entrepreneurs (role models) to the lectures or enabling students small business experience via interaction with local entrepreneurs can be viewed as supportive actions. Developing entrepreneurial skills as crucial life capacities should be the main target of all university faculties. Originality/value The paper lays the foundation for a better understanding of the “intent preconditions” in the context of new venture creation, particularly in the context of Austrian students.