Understanding Student Entrepreneurs: Doers, Procrastinators, Dreamers, and Abstainers

Abstract

Entrepreneurship as one of the potential career paths is an actual phenomenon among university students all around the world. However, as shown by recent GUESSS (Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey) findings, the action‑intention patterns are rather varied. While a bunch of students already start their businesses (= “doers“), few of them declare their intention to start‑up after completing their studies (= “procrastinators“), and even greater share of student population indicate a postponed intention to start a business in the mid‑range future (= “dreamers“). Of course, a considerable proportion of students exhibit no inclination towards entrepreneurial career path (= “abstainers”). The aim of this exploratory study is to analyse differences between actual, would‑be and „perhaps sometimes later“ entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial abstainers, among European university students. To do so, we utilize the 2016 GUESSS project individual‑level data from 25 European countries (n = 68,828), search for similarities and differences between the above‑mentioned groups of university students, and analyse robustness of our findings by investigating for drivers of individual involvement in entrepreneurial activity. Our study contributes to the body of knowledge on this under‑researched perspective on youth and student entrepreneurship.