Influential factors of social entrepreneurial intention in Bangladesh

Abstract

The concept of social entrepreneurship (SE) is gaining attention in developing economies for the purpose of greater societal welfare maximization. Still, findings in the field of SE studies have been riddled with conflicting results and counterstatement. Also, the determinants of developing SE are not robustly investigated in developing economies like Bangladesh. This context has mobilized the authors of this current study to focus on determining student's intention to pursue SE as their career choice. Hence, the study aims to examine the predictive determinants of social entrepreneurial intentions (SEI) among Bangladeshi students. The study has investigated the influence of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, social support, prior experience, and educational support on SEI. The survey was conducted from a public university of Bangladesh, and 231 students participated in the study. Questionnaire items under each construct variable have been adopted from pre-tested research studies. Five-point Likert scale questionnaire was applied to measure the variables. SPSS version 23.0 has been used for statistical analysis through which correlation and multiple regression analysis were conducted to measure the impact of the independent variables on SEI. Results exhibited that self-efficacy, social support, and educational support positively and significantly predicted SEI, while prior experience does not influence SEI.