A Psychological Perspective of Entrepreneurial Intentions Among the Business Graduates of Private Universities in Bangladesh
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International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 12, December 2020, pp.2682-2698, Article ID: IJM_11_12_252 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=12 ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.12.2020.252 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AMONG THE BUSINESS GRADUATES OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN BANGLADESH Nazrul Islam School of Business, Uttara University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Nabid Aziz Tourism Management Department Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalgonj, Bangladesh Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi School of Business, Uttara University, Bangladesh Amitava Bose Bapi School of Business, Uttara University, Bangladesh ABSTRACT Bangladesh is one of the youngest countries in the world with more than half of its population being under the age of 25. The nation is in the transition period towards becoming a middle income country by the year 2021. To develop an entrepreneurship- based economy and sustain its continuous growth, university graduates can play a crucial role. At present, more than two third of the business graduates are going to the job markets from the private universities of Bangladesh. They are the important segment for the future growth and development of the country. It is opined that if the business graduates are properly educated for entrepreneurship development it would have a positive impact on the economic development of Bangladesh. Hence, this study aims at identifying the psychological perspective of entrepreneurial intensions among the business graduates of private universities in Bangladesh. This study was conducted among 205 business graduates of ten private universities of Bangladesh. The data were collected through surveying business graduates of private universities of Bangladesh with the help of a structured questionnaire which was developed through literature review. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Multivariate analysis technique like exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify the psychological factors relating to the entrepreneurial intensions of the business graduates of private universities of Bangladesh. Confirmatory analysis confirmed five psychological factors such as, challenge taking attitude, proactive http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 2682 [email protected] A Psychological Perspective of Entrepreneurial Intentions among the Business Graduates of Private Universities in Bangladesh nature, confidence in decision making, quest for excellence, and exposure orientation of the graduates. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to identify the relationships between the overall entrepreneurial intention and the psychological factors for entrepreneurial intension. Results show that Bangladeshi business graduates are proactive, they feel quest for excellence and they have exposure orientation which can make them entrepreneurs. However, they have lacks in challenge taking attitude and confidence in decision making. This study suggests that the policymakers of the country should give importance on the concerned issues in designing the educational and other policies in this regard. Key words: Entrepreneurial Intensions, Private Universities in Bangladesh, Exposure, Orientation, Proactive, Quest for Excellence, Exposure Orientation. Cite this Article: Nazrul Islam, Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi and Amitava Bose Bapi, A Psychological Perspective of Entrepreneurial Intentions among the Business Graduates of Private Universities in Bangladesh, International Journal of Management, 11(12), 2020, pp 2682-2698. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=12 1. INTRODUCTION The importance of entrepreneurship has gained a significant recognition in the recent years in Asian countries. However, research on entrepreneurship is largely ignored until the late 19th and early 20th century (Habaragoda 2013). Over the past few decades, research on entrepreneurship has been growing steadily due to the importance of entrepreneurship in driving economic growth and creation of employment (Sandhu, Jain and Yusof 2010). The importance of entrepreneurship is further increased since entrepreneurs contribute towards greater market efficiency by increasing the competitive offering of new products and services. Hence, entrepreneurship has been recognized as an agent of change in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). According to the United Nations, achieving the poverty reducing policy (MDG-1) and gender equity policy (MDG-3) of Millennium development goals (MDG) of Bangladesh depends on the development of entrepreneurship (Kabeer, 2005). Entrepreneurs are persons who take actions and are engaged in vigorous persistent efforts to convert their ideas and visions into profitable companies. This inclination for action is crucial to the entrepreneurial process. In the absence of action by individual entrepreneurs, there would simply be no entrepreneurship (Baron 2007). If entrepreneur’s actions are important for entrepreneurship, then it is reasonable to suggest that their behavior and cognition play an important role in this development process (Baron 2007). If their behavior is important, we can suggest that entrepreneur's personality and psychological aspects are important as because personality and psychological aspects of an individual influence their behavior in initiating new businesses. According to Global entrepreneurship report 2011, 42% of the individuals who are in between 18 and 64 years of age are either active entrepreneurially or intending to start a business in the next 3 years (Hart, et. at., 2015). But the rate of perceived capabilities (individuals who believe they have the required skills and knowledge to start a business) was the second lowest and the fear of failure was highest in Bangladesh in global comparisons. This report also suggests that there are more potentials of male startups in future if their skill level can be increased. Thus, proper education can increase the perceived capabilities and reduce the fear of failure of the entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Graduate students from private universities in Bangladesh may have required characteristics and personality for being entrepreneurs but they http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 2683 [email protected] Nazrul Islam, Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi and Amitava Bose Bapi are not aware that they possess those psychological characteristics that can help them to be entrepreneurs. This study will help to identify whether they have required psychological characteristics and personality to become entrepreneurs or not and will also help the academicians and the management of private universities to design their course curriculum in such a way where more and more students will become entrepreneurs in the country. Keeping this in mind, this paper aims at identifying the psychological factors of entrepreneurial intentions among the business graduates of private universities in Bangladesh. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW There is large number of literatures on how entrepreneurs are developed. Psychological aspect is one of those factors which can help to develop entrepreneurs. This study deals with the psychological aspects of the business graduates of private universities in Bangladesh. A number of empirical research studies on psychological factors predicting entrepreneurial intentions of the university graduates have already been conducted by different scholars at different time. In Sri Lanka, entrepreneurial intention level of the management undergraduates are in the weakest level. There are so many barriers for the lowest level of intention, such as problems in the financial assistance, lack of infrastructure facilities, lack of technological facilities, lack of awareness in the entrepreneurial field, lack of support from governmental and nongovernmental organizations (Achchuthan, & Balasundaram, 2014). The study in China showed that gender and parental role had a positive effect on career choice intent, with entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly and partially mediated their relationship. Entrepreneurial alertness was found to moderate the relationship between some self-efficacy sub items and career choice intent. Furthermore, they suggested that Training on improving the responsiveness and alertness to entrepreneurial opportunities will help foster an entrepreneurial culture among graduates (Moy, & Luk, 2008). In Malaysian perspective, Akmaliah and Hisyamuddin (2009) concluded that Malaysian secondary school students were favorable towards becoming self-employed but they don’t have enough confidence to be an entrepreneur who is reflected by low correlation value between attitudes and self-employment intentions. Study in Pakistan proved that higher education grooms young graduates and prepared them for new venture creation and further confirmed that young graduates are more willing to form new businesses after gaining the relevant business and entrepreneurship education. And also they found that networking (Close family, friends & colleagues) and new venture creation are positively and significantly correlated (Mushtaq, Hunjra, Niazi, Rehman, & Azam, 2011). In European context, Leroy, Maes, Sels, Debrulle and Meuleman (2009) have conducted the study on gender effects on entrepreneurial intention among Belgian undergraduates. They suggested that important gender differences in the factors that shape entrepreneurial intentions. There