The Theory of Planned Behaviour as Predictor of Entrepreneurial Intent Amongst Final-Year University Students

Abstract

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was tested as a predictor of entrepreneurial intent amongst final-year commerce students at two universities in the Western Cape ( n = 247). The theoretical sufficiency of the theory was examined by considering four additional factors that are believed to influence entrepreneurial intention (i.e. personality traits, situational factors, prior exposure to entrepreneurship, and demographics). The results of the multivariate data analysis indicate that the TPB significantly explains 27% of the variance in students' entrepreneurial intentions. Of all the other purported predictors of entrepreneurial intent examined in this study, only prior exposure to entrepreneurship was found to significantly add to the predictive power of TPB in explaining entrepreneurship intention. Personality traits, demographic factors and situational factors did not add significantly to the variance explained by TPB. The findings therefore suggest that TPB is a valuable tool for predicting entrepreneurial intent.