Entrepreneurial Intent

Inspired by the behavior of spin-offs in high-tech industries, this investigation aims to better understand what role firm size plays in determining the entrepreneurial intent of students. Using the GUESSS 2011 survey: the dependent variable is entrepreneurial intention 5 years after the launch of a student’s career (a dummy variable taking value 1 if the student does indeed display the 5-year entrepreneurial intention). The key independent variables are that of immediate intended career choices (i.e. working at a small firm, large firm, work as an academic or as an entrepreneur). The baseline hypothesis projects that those students who intend to work at small firm at the launch of their career are more inclined to have the intention to follow a career as an entrepreneur 5 years after graduation, as compared to their large firm counterparts. The results of the performed logit regressions indicate that students who intend to launch their career at small firms are significantly less likely to display the intention to become an entrepreneur 5 years later, as compared to students who intend to work at large firms after graduating. This reflects the behavior found in high-tech firms, implying that outside the realm of high-tech industries, identifying whether a firm embodies the ‘training-ground’ function for nascent entrepreneurs is similar to that of firms that are more likely to generate spin-offs in high-tech industries.