The moderating role of gender on entrepreneurial intentions: a TPB perspective

Abstract

Purpose: To disentangle the ways in which social norms shape entrepreneurial intentions of university students and to analyse the moderating effect of gender that may arise. Design/methodology/approach: We have used the entrepreneurial intention model based on Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) literature and moderated by students’ gender affecting this intention. We tested some hypotheses using data from undergraduate business students in Spain and their entrepreneurial intentions. Findings: Our results suggest that perceived behavioural control and attitudes affect the entrepreneurial intentions of university students towards entrepreneurship while subjective norms do not. Furthermore, our findings reveal that the moderating effect of gender has a positive influence for women in the relationship between those subjective norms and the perceived behavioural control. However, as to some research done so far, the moderating role of gender does not seem to have a particular effect on predicting entrepreneurial intentions when moderating TPB dimensions.Practical implications: Given the socio-economic benefits attributed to entrepreneurship, the results allow the design of more effective education initiatives and policies. Originality/value: This research provides support for the application of the TPB, allowing for a better understanding of gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions.