Impact of University Context on Entrepreneurial
Intentions: The Case of Russia
*Research has been conducted with financial
support from a Russian Science Foundation
grant (project No. 14-18-01093)
Iakovleva Tatiana
Shirokova Galina
Tsukanova Tatyana
RENT 2014
Research Motivation
v  Multiple factors that enhance entrepreneurial intentions
among students (Autio et al., 2001; Bae et al., 2014)
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self-efficacy (DeNoble et al., 1999)
role models (Van Auken et al., 2006)
risk taking propensity (Hisrich, Peters, 1995)
gender (Wilson et al., 2007; Marlow, McAdam, 2011)
v  Mixed empirical evidence on the role of entrepreneurial
education (Souitaris et al., 2007;Oosterbeek et al., 2010)
v  Lack of attention to the institutional context in universities
and its influence on entrepreneurial intentions
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Research Questions
q  How the different institutional dimensions of
university context relate to the students’
entrepreneurial intentions?
q  Whether the student’s individual characteristics
such as gender and family entrepreneurial
background can change the relationship between
university context and student’s entrepreneurial
intentions?
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Theoretical Background
u Theory of entrepreneurial intentions (Wilson et al., 2007;
Marlow, McAdam, 2011; Iakovleva et al., 2011; Sanchez,
2013 )
u Individual characteristics and family background (Bae et
al., 2014; Oosterbeek et al., 2010; Graevenitz et al.,
2010)
u Institutional theory perspective (Busenitz et al., 2000;
Scott, 1995) adopted for university-level context
u  regulative dimension
u  cognitive dimension
u  normative dimension
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Main Hypotheses
o  H1. Regulative dimension of university context will be
positively associated with students’ entrepreneurial
intentions.
o  H2. Normative dimension of university context will be
positively associated with students’ entrepreneurial
intentions.
o  H3. Cognitive dimension of university context will be
positively associated with students’ entrepreneurial
intentions.
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Hypotheses with moderation
o  H4. The positive relationship between three institutional
dimensions of the university context (regulative, normative,
and cognitive) and students’ entrepreneurial intentions will
be weaker for males than for females.
o  H5. The positive relationship between three institutional
dimensions of the university context (regulative, normative,
and cognitive) and students’ entrepreneurial intentions will
be weaker for students with family entrepreneurial
background than for students without such background.
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Conceptual Framework
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Methodology
Dataset
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GUESSS 2013/2014
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Russia
Method
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Regression analysis
Variables
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Dependent variables: entrepreneurial intentions (Liñán and Chen,
2009)
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Independent variables: the university context along three
dimensions: regulative, normative and cognitive (Oftedal et al.,
forthcoming)
Ø
Control variables: gender, entrepreneurial family, the level of
study
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Results of regression analysis
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Main results
v  University context measured through three institutional
dimensions – regulative, normative and cognitive – are
positively related to the students’ entrepreneurial intentions
v  Hypotheses 1-3 were supported
v  Student’s entrepreneurial intentions may not be determined only
by entrepreneurship education
v  for men the cognitive and normative institutional dimensions of the
university context have a weaker positive relationship with
entrepreneurial intentions than for women
v  the relationship between normative dimension and student’s
entrepreneurial intentions is weaker for students from an
entrepreneurial family than for students without an entrepreneurial
family background
v  Hypotheses 4-5 were partly supported
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Conclusions
Ø  Testing the impact of university institutional context showed
that normative, regulative as well as cognitive dimensions
positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions
Ø  Support funding, positive image of entrepreneurship among
fellow students can increase student’s start up intentions and
innovativeness
Ø  It is important to take into consideration students’ individual
difference in order to gain more understanding in
entrepreneurial intentions’ formation
ü  University creates a contextual environment that affects
students above and beyond individual behavioral
characteristics
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Limitations & Implications
ü  Focus on Russia limits the generalizability of the main results
ü  Focus on individuals’ perceptions of formal and informal institutions at the
university level which has the potential to contribute to common method
bias
ü  The theoretical value is to extend the usage and application of behavioral
theories in predicting entrepreneurial actions
ü  This study offers insights pertaining to practices directed at enhancing
entrepreneurial intentions and the importance of educators who should
take into account the individual difference in personal characteristics and
family background while developing the curricula in entrepreneurship
education
ü  It supports the view that entrepreneurship can be taught and compulsory
courses on entrepreneurship has to be included at the graduate level
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Thank you for your attention!
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