Effects of influential factors on entrepreneurial intention of postgraduate students in Malaysia

Abstract

Entrepreneurship leads to massive economic benefits, such as economic growth, reduction in unemployment, and development of economies. Understanding the factors that impact on entrepreneurial intention is the primary and critical step towards predicting and developing entrepreneurial activities. Due to economic and social developments, entrepreneurial intention is gaining more importance in developing countries like Malaysia. The aim of this study is twofold; first, to find out the relationship between respondents' attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, education, previous experience and age with intention to own a business; and second, to examine what particular factors are more influential on entrepreneurial intentions of postgraduate students in Malaysia. The study was carried out with master students. Data was collected from 380 male and female master students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) who were in their final year of study and were considered appropriate for a decision in entrepreneurship. The analysis of the results showed that, firstly, attitude has direct effect on entrepreneurial intention but age has inverse effect. Secondly, it was concluded that these two variables were more important than others in modeling and predicting entrepreneurial intention among postgraduate students in Malaysia.