The Relation between Education, Perceptual Variables and the Choice for Entrepreneurship

This thesis examines the relationship between education, perceptual variables and the choice for entrepreneurship. Previous studies have mainly focused on the connection between education and entrepreneurship, but little research has been undertaken on how perceptions influence the entrepreneurial dimension. In the hope of reducing this gap in the academic literature, the central goal of this thesis is to examine how perceptions mediate the relation between education and the choice to be self-employed. For this, cross-sectional data from the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is used. The results show that the level of education and specific perceptual variables are significantly associated with the likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur. However, perceptual variables only partially mediate the relation between education and the choice to pursue the path of self-employment.