Intenção empreendedora: validação de modelo em universidades federais de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is seen as promoting the generation of new knowledge, new technology, and the ability to enhance the role of entrepreneurs in society as agents of development in their local and regional context. A promising field for research is on higher education, given its key role of promoter and developer of entrepreneurial intentions. The objective of this research is to apply and validate the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire - EIQ as measurement instrument of entrepreneurial intention in Brazil, in a regional context. The EIQ is a psychometric measuring instrument proposed by Liñán (2008), Liñán and Chen (2009) and reviewed by Liñán, Urban and Guerrero (2011), whose base is the Theory of Planned Behavior of Ajzen (1991). Thus, the research was with students who attend graduate of Management and Production Engineering at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul and the Federal University of Grande Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The methodology used in the study was quantitative. The survey data was conducted by applying the EIQ, with a sample of 505 students of the two institutions of higher education. The data were first exploited through Microsoft Excel 2007 software, then statistically analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling with partial least squares model paths (PLSPM), using the SmartPLS 2.0 M3 software. It was found that the constructs showed significant positive relationships and explaining 13% of the variance of Personal Attitude (AP), 21.2% of Perceived Behavior Control (PBC) and 57.3% of Entrepreneurial Intent (IE). The relationship between attitude and intention showed the greatest strength from the relationships observed denoting the consolidated role of theoretical observed relationship between attitudes and intentions. The main results indicate that the EIQ was validated in a regional context. Thus, there was understanding that this thesis has contributed to validation of a psychometric scale regional context and Brazil.