THE INFLUENCE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION OF YOUNG PEOPLE

Abstract

COVID-19 is an extremely infectious disease and a danger to human health, causing deaths worldwide. The aim of the paper was to identify how the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. The study starts from the hypotheses that entrepreneurial intentions among young people have decreased due to the pandemic and that the existence of entrepreneurs in the family or circle of friends can positively influence young people. A review of the literature has created an overview of the importance of entrepreneurship in a country's economy and how the pandemic affected the entrepreneurs. To collect data, a questionnaire was distributed among young people between 16 and 35 years old. Following the evaluation of the respondents' answers, the two hypotheses were validated. It was found that young people who already have their own business also have relatives or friends who are entrepreneurs, who influenced them to follow the path of entrepreneurship. The pandemic has negatively affected young people, as before March 2020, 35.6% of young people wanted to start their own business, now 24.4% are undecided due to restrictions and uncertainty, and 1.6% gave up the idea setting up a business. Thus, we can conclude that the pandemic has caused disruptions to the economy and entrepreneurship, raising many challenges for current and future businesses.