Which factors shape the intention of secondary school students in Serbia to pursue entrepreneurship?

Abstract

In spite of numerous initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship in Serbia and the endeavours to encourage young people through education to think as entrepreneurs and start their own business, there are almost no papers in our psychological and educational literature that deal with this topic. Starting from Eisen's theory of entrepreneurial behaviour as planned and intentional, we conducted a research with the aim of determining the factors which influence the intention of young people in Serbia to choose entrepreneurship as a career option. The focus in the research was on the following factors: personal initiative, entrepreneurial experience (close persons as entrepreneurial role models) and entrepreneurship education. Additionally, the role of gender, school achievement and parental education was analysed, as well as the role of perceiving the socioeconomic context in which young people live. The sample was convenient and comprised 222 fourth-grade students from two schools of economics and three grammar schools in Serbia. Robitschek's scale (PGISS-II) was used for measuring personal initiative, while other instruments were constructed for the purposes of the research. The used statistical procedures included descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, Pearson's coefficient of linear correlation, as well as standard multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the personal growth initiative, entrepreneurial experience (especially parents who are entrepreneurs) and the perception of the context in which young people live are the most important factors for forming an entrepreneurial intention in secondary school students in Serbia. The obtained findings are discussed, first and foremost, in the context of implications for entrepreneurship education in which the desirable educational strategies refer to encouraging student initiative and engaging successful entrepreneurs in teaching as mentors.