Entrepreneurial Intention of University Undergraduates

Abstract

Entrepreneurship play major role of long-term economic growth of a Nation and it is leading factor in achieving economic growth, high employment, strong Job creation and positive social development. Small and Medium Enterprises are the basic foundation for entrepreneurs to set up their ventures for many reasons. But, the recent statistics showed that the failure rate of SMEs is very high. As a result, a less number of successful entrepreneurs can be seen. Therefore, in the present days government wants to promote entrepreneurship among individuals. The main objective of this study is to identify entrepreneurial intention of university undergraduates of Sri Lanka. The study involves three factors that come under the Theory of Planned Behavior. Those are attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, which affect the entrepreneurial intention of individuals. A total of 217 students from the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya were participated in this study by responding to a standard questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS, employing the correlation, regression and ANOVA tests. The results of Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis showed that attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have a positive relationship with entrepreneurial intention. And also according to regression analysis the attitudes towards behavior and perceived behavioral control have a 72.0% of impact to the entrepreneur intention. Such a study may provide useful insights into the state of entrepreneurship education for policy makers and planners in universities as well as in government, regarding the younger generation, particularly, to mitigate the burden of graduate unemployment