Environmental Factors, Personal Factors, and the Entrepreneurial Intentions of University Students from the Perspective of the Theory of Planned Behavior: Contributions to a Sustainable Vision of Entrepreneurship in the Business Area

Abstract

This study analyzed the relationship between environmental and cognitive factors and the entrepreneurial intentions of business students from the perspective of the Planned Behavior Theory. Data were collected in the classroom through a questionnaire that was distributed to 229 freshmen in the first year of the Accounting, Economics and Administration course, and the analysis was carried out using the Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). It was found that education and conducive business environments are predictive of cognitive factors, such as a favorable evaluation of an entrepreneurial career choice and social pressures, with indirect effects on intentions to undertake entrepreneurship (EI). In addition, entrepreneurial intentions are influenced by cognitive factors, such as a positive evaluation of an entrepreneurial career and perceived entrepreneurial ability. This demonstrates that environmental factors potentiate cognitive factors and, indirectly, the intention to undertake entrepreneurship (EI). It was identified that public policies do not influence the perceived entrepreneurial capacity and that social pressures are not predictive of the surveyed students’ intentions to undertake entrepreneurship. These data require the attention of universities and governments to create environments that are conducive to entrepreneurship and students’ decisions to engage with sustainable projects and business models. It is concluded that environmental factors are predictive of cognitive aspects with positive and significant effects on the entrepreneurial career intentions of university students. An entrepreneurial attitude and the ability to transform ideas into actions create space for the promotion of a student micro-entrepreneur and the cultivation of a sustainable entrepreneurial culture in higher education.