The antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: A study among graduate students in Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

There are few research on how factors impact on the entrepreneurial intention of graduate student in Viet Nam but most scholars just pay attention on personal traits or personal characteristics. Based on the theory of planned behavior, educational support, and contextual elements, this study proposed an integrated research model that explains intentions to start-up. In the model, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, educational support and contextual elements are independent variables and entrepreneurial intention is the dependent variable. With the sample of 354 data collected, this cross-sectional research tried to find out the relationship between variables. Attitude is found to be the strongest factor that impacts the intention, followed by subjective norm. Contextual elements are considered as antecedents of personal attitude, and in return it is expected to have influence on entrepreneurial intention. The study has important implication for confirming the Theory of Planned Behavior and provides useful knowledge for policy makers to improve the entrepreneurial-wave in our country. Keywords: entrepreneurial intention; theory of planned behavior; educational support; contextual elements; graduate student