Title: Push and pull factor in an entry into an employment route: a study of nurtured entrepreneurship students

Authors: Muhammad Nizam Zainuddin, Hishamuddin Ismail

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Persiaran Multimedia, 63100, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. ' Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University, Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama, 75450, Bukit Beruang, Malacca, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the volitional act of founding new ventures by examining: 1) the push and pull factor that directly impact two primary antecedents of entrepreneurial intention; 2) to confirm students| employment intention by employing Ajzen|s (1991) theory of planned behaviour. The paper focuses on students majoring in entrepreneurship at four major Malaysian universities. The result indicates that entrepreneurship education possesses greater pulling factors compared to pushing factors of salient beliefs in terms of their impacts towards their respective antecedents. Meanwhile, the subjective norm is found to be an insignificant predictor of entrepreneurial intention compared to attitudes towards entrepreneurial behaviour and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Amongst the suggestions and implications are: designing assignments that focus solely in understanding the salient beliefs in detail, reviewing entrepreneurship education delivery and improving the perception of entrepreneurship as career options of significant people within students| circle. In addition, the research limitations are discussed and future suggestions are made.

Keywords: salient beliefs; entrepreneurship education; entrepreneurial intention; theory of planned behaviour; TPB; new ventures; Malaysia; higher education; student employment intention; entrepreneurial behaviour; entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2011.041839

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2011 Vol.13 No.4, pp.469 - 498

Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

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