Factors Influencing the Entrepreneurial Intention of University Business Students: Evidence from Lima-Peru

Abstract

Entrepreneurial intention has become a question, and in order to investigate its study, this research was based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which takes as dimensions the entrepreneurial attitude, the subjective norm and self-efficacy. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors that influence the entrepreneurial will of university business students in Peru. For this purpose, the study method used is mixed, cross-sectional and non-experimental; it comprises a quantitative analysis with a sample of 400 university students, to whom a virtual questionnaire was applied; and it is complemented with a qualitative analysis through videoconference interviews with 11 experts in entrepreneurship in the Peruvian and international context, made up of business career coordinators, university business incubator coordinators and student entrepreneurs. The results highlight as factors in entrepreneurial intention the desire to be independent (65%), the challenge in practice of creativity and innovation (62%), the enjoyment of knowledge about business genesis strategies (55%), also the development of soft skills such as leadership and resilience, as the merit of attributing technological tools within the business, notions highlighted by the qualitative analysis. It is concluded that universities should take these factors into account in the design of competencies in their student curricula, creating programs that generate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and with it, the formation of companies, new jobs and socioeconomic improvement.