Enterprising spirit rejuvenated: entrepreneurship education in shaping company employees' career commitment and turnover intentions

Abstract

Purpose – Entrepreneurship education is widely regarded as a fundamental means of fostering individuals' entrepreneurial intentions. In this paper, we delve into a distinctive empirical context: the integration of entrepreneurship education within Indonesia’s nationwide higher education system since 2010. Our goal is to investigate how prior participation in mandatory entrepreneurship training by company employees influences their inclination to leave their current employment and initiate a new business. Design/methodology/approach – We employed structural equation modeling to analyze empirical data (n = 337) collected from full-time Indonesian employees in established companies. Findings – Our findings indicate that previous engagement in entrepreneurship education predicts employees' entrepreneurial intentions, leading to reduced commitment to their current careers and an increased likelihood of having intentions to pursue new ventures. By comparing two groups of participants, our results suggest that government-mandated entrepreneurship education in Indonesia has a more substantial impact on employees' entrepreneurial intentions and turnover intentions. Originality/value – This study, based on a unique sample from Indonesia, explores the entrepreneurial entry of organizational employees and the long-term effects of entrepreneurship education.