Entrepreneurial profile in distance learning university students. Attitude towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills as predictors of entrepreneurial intention

The assessment of the entrepreneurial intentions and skills of distance learning students has not been given much consideration, so the GUESSS questionnaire was applied to 2458 students at the National University of Distance Education. The objectives were: a) to describe entrepreneurial intentions and competences, experiences in entrepreneurship and the valuation of the university as an entrepreneurial ecosystem; b) to detect groupings with respect to the entrepreneurial profile; c) to identify influential variables of entrepreneurial intention. Quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional survey research was conducted. Multivariate cluster and multiple linear regression analyses, MannWhitney U-tests, Kruskal-Wallis H-tests and Spearman's coefficient were implemented. Entrepreneurial intention was relatively low and entrepreneurial skills were significantly developed. They rated the university favourably as an entrepreneurial ecosystem, requiring improvements in terms of entrepreneurship promotion. Two clusters of students were identified: high/ low entrepreneurial potential. The variable that best predicted entrepreneurial intention was attitude; the weight of entrepreneurial competences was not negligible. Perceived behavioural control and subjective norms did not show a strong relationship. The predictive model showed high explanatory power. Since entrepreneurship education helps to improve entrepreneurial skills and intentions, knowing the psychosocial antecedents that lead subjects to become entrepreneurs can contribute to the design of more realistic and feasible training programmes for entrepreneurship, adapted to different student profiles.