Entrepreneurial spirit and factors affecting it: Case study based on the students of the European University of Tirana

In any country, the students’ entrepreneurial spirit is of great economic and social importance. Students will be the entrepreneurs of the future and it is their plans and entrepreneurship which would deeply influence the society of tomorrow and its economic wellbeing. This paper intends to offer an input on the understanding of entrepreneurial spirit among students (of the European University of Tirana), to analyse such a spirit and goals, as well as factor affecting them: entrepreneurship education in the university, personal entrepreneurial motivation, impact of parents and family, and social and economic context. The analysis goes even further, looking at the impact of gender, area of study in university, and at how entrepreneurship is taught: whether through lectures only or it is also closely interlaced with practice at industry level. The paper is based on secondary literature, GUESSS report, and on an on-line distributed questionnaire, which was addressed to and answered by students of all the three higher education levels: BA, MA, and Ph.D. The results this research obtained are important for the university we work at, in order to improve and diversify the ways entrepreneurship education is taught, but they could also be applied at a wider scope.

Keywords:

students entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurship education,

PDF

___

Aiginger, K., Tichy, G. (1991). Small Firms and the Merger Mania. Small Business Economics, 3, 83-102.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50 (2), 179-211.
Bhave, M. P. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 9, Issue 3, 223-249.
Francis, D.H. & Banning, K. (2001). Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur? Journal of Academy of Business Education, 1(2), 5–11.
Gartner, W. B. (1989). Who is an entrepreneur? Is the wrong question. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 13 (4), 47-68.
GUESSS 2013/2014-Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students‘ Survey. http://www.guesssurvey.org/PDF/2013/GUESSS_INT_2013_REPORT.pdf
Hoskins, B., Crick, R. D. (2010). Competences for Learning to Learn and Active Citizenship: different currencies or two sides of the same coin? European Journal of Education, 45 (1), 121-137. http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/ article/download/20643/14531
INSTAT, Labour Force Survey (2015). http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/labour-market/publications/books/2015/labour-force-survey-q2-2015.aspx
Koruntka, C., Frank, H., Lueger, M., Mugler, J. (2003). The entrepreneurial personality in the context of resources, environment, and the startup process – A configurational Approach. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28 (1), 23-42.
Krueger, N. F. (1993). The impact of prior entrepreneurial exposure on perceptions of new venture feasibility and desirability. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18 (1), 5-21.
Laspita, S., Breugst, N., Heblich, S., nPatzelt, H. (2012). Intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing, 27(4), 414-435.
Lima, E., Lopes, R. M., Nassif, V., Silva, D. (2015). Opportunities to improve entrepreneurship education: Contributions considering Brazilian challenges. Journal of Small Business Management, 51 (4), 1033-1051.
Luthje, C., Franke, N. (2004). Entrepreneurial intentions of business students: A benchmarking study. International Journal of Innovation and Technology, 1(3), 269-288.
Parker, S. C. (2004). The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ CBO9780511493430
Souitaris, V., Zerbinati, S., Al-Laham, A. (2007). Do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources. Journal of Business Venturing, 22 (4): 566-591.
Uddin, R. & Bose, T.K. (2012). Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention of Business Students in Bangladesh. International Journal of Business and Management 7 (24), 128-137.