The effects of personal and educational variables on the entrepreneurial culture of university students

Abstract

This article aims to explore which personal and educational variables are influencing the entrepreneurial culture of university students. We consider that culture plays an important role when young people decide to develop a new business idea. Therefore, we conducted our research in two culturally different nations: Puerto Rico, which belongs to the Anglo-Saxon group, and Spain, which belongs to the Mediterranean group. Data for this study were collected from 791 undergraduate business management students. The results show a greater entrepreneurial culture in Puerto Rico, except for the fear of entrepreneurship factor, where the scores are similar in both countries. Sex and age influence self-perception of entrepreneurial culture. However, this self-perception in Puerto Rican students is only influenced by training courses on entrepreneurship-related skills, while in Spain, it is impacted by students’ having done extracurricular internships and not having participated in international work teams. The influence of the Dunning-Kruger effect and cultural, economic and social characteristics could be important. This study has relevant implications for universities and for institutional policy-making. It is imperative to design and adapt educational programmes to improve the self-perception of entrepreneurship culture and thus align with students' needs and aspirations for higher quality entrepreneurship.