Jayesh Patel, Sanjay Vannai, Vikrant Dasani and Mahendra Sharma
In order to achieve a sustained level of entrepreneurship in India, it is very important that the spirit and culture of entrepreneurship are ingrained in students, right at the…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to achieve a sustained level of entrepreneurship in India, it is very important that the spirit and culture of entrepreneurship are ingrained in students, right at the “school” level. Specifically, in this study we examine how student entrepreneurial behavior is influenced by entrepreneurial activities at school.
Design/methodology/approach
We chose schools in India to recruit the students’ samples; 520 higher secondary school students were approached in-person to understand their entrepreneurial intentions (EI). We applied PLS-SEM to test the relationships of serial mediation.
Findings
Our findings imply that the students' entrepreneurial intentions are largely influenced by the school’s entrepreneurship program (e.g. labs, lectures and exercises). Further, we noted that school career guidance and students’ entrepreneurship attitude effectively mediate the relationship between school entrepreneurship curriculum and EI.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurship education beginning in schools does foster stronger entrepreneurial intent over the short-term. It also helps in fostering entrepreneurs, who create jobs and support in achieving the country’s desired SDGs.
Originality/value
The study contributes new dimensions to entrepreneurship research focusing on school children hence anchoring at early stages.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0350