Extra-curricular support for entrepreneurship among engineering students: development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intentions

This study seeks to understand the impact of extra-curricular entrepreneurship support within a University Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (UBEE) on the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions of engineering students in India. A UBEE can directly affect the likelihood that students identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities, which, affects their entrepreneurial intentions. However, there is a dearth of research investigating the impact of university entrepreneurial support initiatives on engineering students’ entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. This is especially true in the Indian context despite its start-up friendly policies. This study aims to address this gap and contribute to advance knowledge in the area of UBEE research. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, this study takes an ecosystem approach that considers the interactions and inter-dependencies among different elements of UBEE, such as entrepreneurial support initiatives and students’ beliefs and intentions to start up. This study adopts a quantitative research design. Survey data was collected from 314 undergraduate engineering students from five engineering colleges in South India and data was analysed using structural equation modelling. Results suggest that the extracurricular support programs within a UBEE significantly influences beliefs of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in students, which in turn predicts the intentions of students to startup new ventures. This study found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a mediating effect between the extracurricular support programs and entrepreneurial intentions of engineering students. Findings of this study have several practical and policy implications for government, university management and entrepreneurship educators. This study contributes to the emerging literature on engineering entrepreneurship education.