Factors affecting entry into entrepreneurship for university students

Abstract

Purpose: The development of entrepreneurship has a fundamental benefit for the economy of both developed and developing countries. Especially the young generation, which represents the potential for future development of entrepreneurship, has received a lot of attention in this respect. That is why this study aims at determining what are the most prominent entrepreneurial motives and barriers for university students and whether there exist statistically significant gender differences both in terms of opinions about entrepreneurship and in the assessment of individual motives or barriers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study took place at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic). The study was carried out via written questionnaires. The sample consisted of 1021 respondents. Results were obtained using Friedmann’s ANOVA analysis and the Mann-Whitney U Test. Findings: The three most prominent motives associated with the commencement of entrepreneurship were identified as: becoming more independent, higher salary, and market opportunities. On the other hand, the most prominent barriers obstructing new entrepreneurs were identified by students to be a lack of financial resources, fear of failure and complex administration. This study also identified statistically significant gender differences both in the willingness to start a business (men declare a higher interest in entrepreneurship than women) and in the assessment of the most prominent motives and barriers. For men, the most important motive is market opportunities and the greatest barrier is a lack of finances. Practical Implications: The precise identification of the barriers and motivations are very important for the governments and creators of public politics as young enterprises are the main source of innovations with the latest growing potential. Originality/Value: The originality of the paper can be seen in the fact, that the investigation is focussed on potential entrepreneurs while the other researches at the Czech Republic were focused on the starting entrepreneurs, i.e. on the slightly different target group.