Univеrsity Students’ Еntrеprеnеurial Intentions: Insights from BiH (Republic of Srpska)

Abstract

This paper analytically presents the factors of entrepreneurial intentions of students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The research problem can be defined by the question whether today a university can be called an “entrepreneurial university” which educates, prepares and encourages students to start their own business as a career option independently? Do economic policies of small countries contribute to their significant role in encouraging entrepreneurship, and what are predictors of entrepreneurial intentions of students? The study was conducted on a sample of 351 students at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Banja Luka in April 2016, based on previously empirically verified questionnaire that measures the support of closer social environment (friends and family), self-efficacy and acceptability of entrepreneurship as a career, as well as the entrepreneurial intention, through three dimensions of time - starting a business immediately after the end of their formal academic education, within 5 years after graduation and in an indefinite moment in the future. The methods of descriptive statistics, factor and correlation analyses have been applied. The aim of the research is to determine the predictors of entrepreneurial intentions of students in small countries in transition in the case ofstudents from BiH at the early stage during their education and whether their entrepreneurialintentions are influenced by the economic policies through the constructionof entrepreneurial infrastructure institutions? The research results indicate theexistence of clearly defined and mutually comparable latent variables that can beidentified as factors of entrepreneurial intentions of students. Personal competenceand motivation of students are predictors of entrepreneurial intentions, which isnot the case with the “entrepreneurial university” and the institutional support forentrepreneurs who are beginners.