Is it all about creating new firms? A broader look at the impact of the Entrepreneurial University on youth employment

ABSTRACT

While research on Entrepreneurial University has largely focused on the support to venture creation, its contribution to youth employment and society might be much broader. Entrepreneurial capabilities and attitudes students acquire at universities are crucial also in wageed jobs, and firms need employees predisposed to act entrepreneurially to stay competitive. However, we do not know much about the role of universities in preparing the next generation of graduates for such challenges. To address this gap, in this paper we investigate the extent to which entrepreneurial learning at university contributes to students’ career intentions to work for small rather than larger firms. Additionally, we consider the role of the family context and investigate how the university's influence on students’ career intentions is moderated by students’ exposure to entrepreneurship in their family. Using data from 155,358 students, we find that entrepreneurial learning at university is negatively associated with the preference to work for small firms compared to larger firms and that this effect is even more pronounced for students with enterprising family background, particularly those who have shares in their parents’ company. Besides contributing to research on Entrepreneurial University and career intentions, our findings offer practical implications for universities and employers.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurial University
• career choice
• small firms
• GUESSS
• enterprising family background

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received the Contamination Lab's project funding. Programma Nazionale per la Ricerca 2015–2020 – Directorial Decree no. 3158 of 29 November 2016.