The first-year bachelor students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship

Authors

• Tarja Römer-Paakkanen
• Pirjo Saaranen
• Maija Suonpää

Keywords:

entrepreneurship education, higher education student, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial perception, RPL, survey

Abstract

The aim of the study is to examine how the background and experiences of the first semester UAS students influence on their entrepreneurial experience and interest toward entrepreneurship as well as how they take advantage of it in their studies and future
entrepreneurship. The data was collected in 2019 as a Webropol
survey for the first semester UAS students. The number of respondents was 203. The SPSS-program was used to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that family entrepreneurship background, enterprising environment, entrepreneurship training and entrepreneurship experience increase students’ entrepreneurial competence. The recognized entrepreneurial competence increases self-efficacy, which on the other hand increases entrepreneurial intentions. The challenge is
that students do not often recognize their competence.