Entrepreneurship Education Position and Entrepreneurial Intention: The Perception of Malaysian Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of Entrepreneurship education factors, as well as personal attitude, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms on entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduate students. Primary data were obtained from 311 final year students at public universities in east coast Malaysia involving two fields of study (social sciences and science and technology). Descriptive and multiple regression methods were used to analyse the study data. Entrepreneurship education was found to be positively and significantly related to entrepreneurial intention in social science students and the overall study sample. Both variables under the category of entrepreneurial cognitive factors (Personal attitude and Perceived behavioural control) revealed a significant positive influence on entrepreneurial intention. Meanwhile, only for the overall sample did the perceived subjective norm factor have a positively significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention. The findings of the study also revealed that social science students showed higher entrepreneurial intentions compared to science and technology students. This study can accentuate to policymakers and university management that the formation of entrepreneurial intentions among students is dependent not only on cognitive factors, but also on the empowerment of the entrepreneurship curriculum and the entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus.