Factors influencing student entrepreneurship intentions: the case of Lithuanian and South Korean universities

Abstract

Today's ultra-competitive businesses pose new ambitious challenges for universities to become entrepreneurial, to promote creativity and student aspirations to start up a business, to contribute to the spirit of entrepreneurship, to provide the knowledge necessary for the development of business and to introduce new and innovative entrepreneurship programmes. The paper argues that this shift arises from factors such as the image of entrepreneurship, personal qualities and the environment, the university study process, study environment and university infrastructure, all of which should be taken into consideration. The aim of the research was to determine and compare the factors that influence students’ intentions to start their own business in Dongseo University (South Korea) and in Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania), using quantitative (a sample of 367 and 335 students) and qualitative (a sample of 6 and 10 experts) research methods respectively. The results showed that personal qualities, the image of student entrepreneurship and the environmental impact on entrepreneurship vary across cultures. However, it should be noted that students’ intentions to start a business are affected by determining factors in the study process. These research results could help determine what are the expected knowledge, competences or practical skills to be acquired at university.