Entrepreneurship as a Career Choice: Does Entrepreneurship Education Matter

Abstract

Building upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study measures the impact of entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial career choice through entrepreneurial intention and attitude towards entrepreneurship among business graduates of Kabul based private higher education institutions (HEIs). Data were collected from 99 business graduates. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses in the research model using Smart-PLS 3.2.6. The results showed that entrepreneurship education had a direct and strong impact on students to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship education also strongly impacted the attitudes and the intention of the students towards entrepreneurial behavior. Also, the entrepreneurial intention had a significant effect on a students' choosing entrepreneurship as a career. However, surprisingly, attitude towards entrepreneurship had a negative weak and insignificant relationship with entrepreneurial career choice. The intention to become an entrepreneur mediated the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship as a career. However, attitude towards entrepreneurship did not mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurship as a career. The findings suggest the policymakers inside and outside universities should foster entrepreneurship education because it has a strong direct effect on entrepreneurial behavior.