Examining Entrepreneurial Intention in Higher Education: An Exploratory Study of College Students in India

Abstract

The field of entrepreneurship is gaining acceptability among the youth of India. While the initiation, funding and success and failure of a start-up have been studied extensively, the entrepreneurial ecosystem that support, nurture and prepare entrepreneurs requires further examination. One such component of this ecosystem is the institutes of higher education that play a crucial role in preparing the future entrepreneurs of India. Though there seems to be a need for education programmes specifically designed to expand students’ skills in entrepreneurship, there is limited research on the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of students in India. In this article, we discuss the impact of implicit and explicit ways through which the entrepreneurship education in the institutes of higher education can influence EI among students in India. On the basis of the extant literature, the focus of this article is anchored in the four different aspects of EI among students: (a) Ability to have a grand vision (GVS); (b) Intentions to exploit opportunities (OEX); (c) Perseverance and operational focus (POF) and (d) Willingness to take risk (RST). In general, it is observed that the presence of EI is greater among students pursuing major in studies on entrepreneurship, whereas business students are mostly trained towards exploring the risk-taking component of EI.