University education and entrepreneurial intentions of European students: insights into the Theory of Planned Behaviour complemented by skills

Despite its ever-growing volume, research on entrepreneurial intentions remains largely confined within the context of entrepreneurial education and training. To enhance our understanding of the construct within broader layers of context, we evaluate the role of skills developed during general - not specific to entrepreneurship - university education. Employing a large sample of 2553 observations from various universities and fields of specialisation, in four European countries, we explore learners' entrepreneurial intentions, conditional upon the assertions of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with the added dimension of skills. Our hypotheses are tested via a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis which enables effective identification of similarities and differences across diverse contexts. Our findings reaffirm the significance of attitudes, social norms, and behavioural control, as statistically significant predictors of learners' motivation to engage in entrepreneurial activities. This contributes to the unifying power of TPB through testing its in-breadth predictive power. Moreover, the role of skills is highlighted as the main construct affecting university student's intentions to engage in entrepreneurial activities.