Efeitos do contexto universitário brasileiro sobre as intenções empreendedoras de estudantes

Abstract

How universities can encourage entrepreneurship is an emerging topic. It is known that students learn, not only with educational programs but also within their context. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the Brazilian university context on students' entrepreneurial intentions. Using a scale developed by Oftedal, Iakovleva, and Foss (2018), this research describes the university context as a three-dimensional institutional structure, including regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions. Regulatory structures refer to rules and regulations supporting initiatives related to entrepreneurship; normative structures include shared values and norms; while cognitive structures apply to the knowledge of students and professors. A multiple regression analysis was performed with a heterogeneous sample of 248 students from all regions of Brazil to test the original scale and the hypotheses. The findings indicate that two dimensions of the university context, the regulatory and the normative, shown impact over students' entrepreneurial intentions. Contrary to previous results, the regulatory dimension has an indirect relation. This work contributes to the validation of the instrument developed by Oftedal, Iakovleva, and Foss (2018) based on institutional theory for the Brazilian context and finding that Brazilian entrepreneurship sponsorship policies and programs still discourage students to be entrepreneurs.