Investigating social entrepreneurial intentions of Generation Z

Abstract

In this paper, the social entrepreneurial intentions and the three main constructs of the Theory of planned behavior were investigated concerning gender and the (non)existence of parental role models among Generation Z. Role models and gender are used variables in the research of (social) entrepreneurial intentions, but they were not examined in the context of Generation Z. This paper seeks to fill that gap in the literature with additional research into possible differences in three main constructs of the Theory of planned behavior regarding parental role models and gender. The research was conducted on a sample of 306 respondents of Generation Z. The respondents were third-year undergraduate business major students. Independent samples t-tests were used to test the hypotheses. The obtained results show that Generation Z students have statistically significant differences in social entrepreneurial intentions and the three main constructs of the theory of planned behavior with regard to the parental role models. Generation Z students whose at least one parent is an entrepreneur have higher social entrepreneurial intentions than students whose parents are not entrepreneurs. Regarding gender, there are no statistically significant differences in social entrepreneurship intentions and perceived behavior control, while there are statistically significant differences in attitude towards social entrepreneurship and subjective norms: women have a higher attitude towards social entrepreneurship and subjective norms than men. In the end, limitations of the conducted research and recommendations for future research are given.