Entrepreneurial Intention of Undergraduate Students from a Municipal Public University of the State of São Paulo - Brazil

Abstract

The central proposal of this paper is to to study the entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students, both beginners and those in the process of completing, at a Municipal Public University in the State of São Paulo - Brazil. Therefore, the research method used a quantitative approach, using a closed questionnaire with a Likert scale, developed by Liñan and Chen (2009) called the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire. The data analysis was divided into 2 stages: the reliability analysis by Cronbach's α and the exploratory factor analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that the entrepreneurial career is perceived as favorable by the students of management, economics, and accounting sciences from different periods, being more attractive than formal work. However, pursuing an entrepreneurial career is not necessarily a positive alternative in the opinion of those around the survey respondents to the point of being encouraged by families, friends, and colleagues. Finally, students consider that their knowledge about the mechanisms to support entrepreneurial practice is limited within the analyzed institution.