The International Journal of Management Education 19 (2021) 100450

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The International Journal of Management Education

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijme

Entrepreneurship education versus management students’

entrepreneurial intentions. A PLS-SEM approach
Omar Boubker a, *, Maryem Arroud b, Abdelaziz Ouajdouni b
a
Department of Management, Laayoune Higher School of Technology, Ibn Zohr University, Quartier 25 Mars, BP, 3007, Agadir, Morocco
b
Department of Management, National School of Business & Management, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tangier, Morocco

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper analyses the effect of students’ entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial in­
Partial least squares tentions in Morocco. The developed model suggests that entrepreneurial intention is supposed to
Entrepreneurship education depend on four variables, specifically: entrepreneurship education, attitude towards entrepre­
Management students
neurship, perceived social norms and perceived entrepreneurial capacity. We are using structural
Social norms
Entrepreneurial capacity
equation modeling (SEM-PLS) to test the proposed model, based on a sample of 98 management
Skills students from the Laayoune higher School of Technology. The findings indicate that there is a
statistically significant relationship between management student’s entrepreneurship education,
attitude towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. As a result, universities are
invited to offer training modules in entrepreneurship in order to improve the level of students’
entrepreneurial intent.

1. Introduction

The field of research in entrepreneurship has attracted the interest of scholars, practitioners and public authorities in recent years. It
is seen as a veritable mine of innovation and socioeconomic development (Leff, 1979; Naudé, 2009; Saberi & Hamdan, 2019; Urbano &
Aparicio, 2016). As it is recognized that training and education in entrepreneurship constitutes a solid strategic tool for regional
development (Galvão et al., 2018).
Morocco is one of the African countries where the rate of entrepreneurial activity among adults is low. This is confirmed by the
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey, which shows that the kingdom occupies an unenviable place (Bosma & Kelley, 2019).
To remedy this problematic situation, Morocco recently launched the integrated business financing program (Intelak Program), in
order to improve the Moroccans’ ranking as regarding the entrepreneurial activity. The major advantage of this program finds itself in
the absence of personal guarantee to access financing (land, equipment, etc.).
In this perspective and considering the importance of entrepreneurship as an engine for creating added value, Morocco through the
Ministry of National Education, Professional Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research launched the National Statute for the
Entrepreneurial Student (NSES), which aims to promote student entrepreneurship. At this level, the SALEEM pole (Structuring and
support for entrepreneurship in the Maghreb) point to support the creation of the national system of student entrepreneurs in higher
education structure, as well as the creation of support poles students with entrepreneurial project ideas, as well as the creation of
support poles dedicated to students with entrepreneurial project ideas, being inspired by the French experience.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (O. Boubker).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2020.100450
Received 14 April 2020; Received in revised form 23 August 2020; Accepted 9 December 2020
Available online 19 January 2021
1472-8117/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
O. Boubker et al. The International Journal of Management Education 19 (2021) 100450

Thus, it would allow students of the Moroccan Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) to integrate a business creation project into
their university career, which will be accounted as an internship or graduation project credits. As a result, the selected students will
have access to training and a wide support network (teacher, external entrepreneur and professional mentor).
Considering the relatively high unemployment rate among Moroccan university graduates (17.9%), HEI’s are strongly invited to
offer training courses promoting students’ self-employment. As a result, entrepreneurial intent among Moroccan university candidates
has become a major concern of public actors. On the other hand, the study of the entrepreneurial intention determinants remains
mainly unexplored in the Moroccan context after the launch of student entrepreneur’s status. In this context, our study aligns with
research that has attempted to identify predictive factors of students’ entrepreneurial intent (Abdennadher et al., 2015; Adekiya &
Ibrahim, 2016; Ambad & Damit, 2016; Bachiri, 2016; Barba-Sánchez & Atienza-Sahuquillo, 2018; Boudabbous, 2011; Chabaud et al.,
2017; Herman, 2019; Ilouga et al., 2013; Jakopec et al., 2013; Jemli, 2018; N. Krueger, 1993; Maâlej, 2013; Sahut & Benredjem, 2017;
Salhi, 2018; Wahidi, 2017). The objective of this study is to provide an empirical insight into the entrepreneurial intention phe­
nomenon, through the construction and validation of a research model.
This article presents the results of a study carried out among students of Ibn Zohr University, more specifically students of the
Laayoune higher School of Technology (LHST) and El Ouatia study and training center (ESTC).
Therefore, the research questions are as follows:

❖ What kind of pedagogy learning should be included in entrepreneurship education?

❖ How can entrepreneurship education impact management students’ entrepreneurial intentions?
❖ In which ways, management students’ entrepreneurial intentions level can be improved?

To answer those questions, we start with a literature review on the subject studied. Then, we will focus on modeling the entre­
preneurial intent of students. Thirdly, the methodological approach used will be revealed. Finally, the article will present and discuss
the main results obtained, revealing and concludes on the contributions, but also on the limitations of this work and its outlooks.

2. Literature review and hypotheses development

In addition to the large and diverse literature regarding the determinants of entrepreneurial intention, researchers, practitioners
and politicians’ interests for this issue. Furthermore, the need to deepen this topic is still relevant (Al-Harrasi et al., 2014; Douglas,
2020; Fietze & Boyd, 2017; Liñán et al., 2011; Liñán & Fayolle, 2015).
Admittedly, several factors are likely to influence the young people entrepreneurial level (Ahmed et al., 2019), only influence
modalities are different from one researcher to another. In large part, the empirical research has studied this problematic calls upon
two reference models: Ajzen’s model of planned behavior and Shapero’s model of the entrepreneurial event. In this regard, we
mobilize these two models in an integrative vision in order to identify the factors favoring the students’ entrepreneurial intentions
(Krueger et al., 2000; Schlaegel & Koenig, 2014).

2.1. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

The TPB had only three indicators preceding individual intention: attitude towards the concerned behavior, perception of social
norms and perceived behavioral control (Fig. 1). The intent level has a direct influence on behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen,
1975; Krueger et al., 2000).
As Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) point out, the attitude measures the individual’s level of appreciation for a given behavior. Social
norms emanate from social environment influence (opinion of parents and relatives …) on individual behavior. Thus, behavioral
control can be defined as an individual’s perception of the difficulties to overcome in order to implement a given behavior, depending
on the availability of resources (Tounés, 2006). The intention of an individual refers to “how hard people are willing to try, of how much of
an effort they are planning to exert, in order to perform the behavior” (Ajzen, 1991, p. 181). Accurately, specialists agree absolutely on the
importance of mobilizing TPB to study the phenomenon of entrepreneurial intention (Lortie & Castogiovanni, 2015).

2.2. Shapero’s model of the Entrepreneurial Event (SEE)

The problem of entrepreneurial intention has been popularized by the famous model of the Entrepreneurial Event. Both authors use

Fig. 1. Ajzen’s model of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1987, p. 48).

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O. Boubker et al. The International Journal of Management Education 19 (2021) 100450

the concepts of perceived desirability and entrepreneurial feasibility. The perceived desirability touches on the attitudes associated
with behavior and perceived social norms. The perception of feasibility takes the place of perceived control, attributing to an in­
dividual’s beliefs about their ability to perform an action (Fig. 2).
Shapero-Krueger Model has been taken up by several researchers (Al-Harrasi et al., 2014; Krueger, 2017; Krueger et al., 2000).
The major contribution of Shapero and Sokol’s (1982) is to propose a new vision of the entrepreneurial event on four levels. The
first one is linked to displacement (negative, intermediate and positive situations). On the second level, the perceived desirability of
entrepreneurial act closely connected to the individual system value. As far as the third level, the perceived feasibility determined by
the individual’s vision of the availability of the essential resources to the entrepreneurial acts (socio-economic and politico-cultural
environment). The fourth and final level is determined by the psychological disposition for entrepreneurial action (Shapero &
Sokol, 1982).

2.3. Students’ entrepreneurial intentions

The study of students’ entrepreneurial intention determinants has aroused the interest of several researchers in many countries.
Indeed, various research examining factors affecting entrepreneurial intention highlights the important role of entrepreneurship
education (Table 1).

2.4. Research model and hypotheses

Based on 24 most cited papers having studied the entrepreneurial intentions, Liñán and Fayolle (2015) proposed a classification in
five group’s category (G1. Core entrepreneurial intention model; G2. Personal-level variables; G3. Entrepreneurship education; G4.
Context and institutions; G5. Entrepreneurial process).
Ajzen’s theory highlights the context of entrepreneurial action measured by attitude (psychological factors), social norms (socio-
cultural factors) and perceived control (contextual factors). While, Shapero-Krueger Mode has the privilege of emphasizing the
importance of the entrepreneurial act preference, measured with two variables: perceived desirability and feasibility.
In sum, empirical studies confirm that Ajzen’s model of planned behavior and Shapero-Krueger Model contribute to well explain
the entrepreneurial intention process. However, the weight of the explanatory variables for this phenomenon differs from one context
to another.
Following on from the previous studies, we can formulate three hypotheses as follows:
Hypothesis 1. Attitude towards entrepreneurship positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Hypothesis 2. Perceived social norms positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Hypothesis 3. Perceived entrepreneurial capacity positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Considering that academic training has a clear impact on personal career choice, we have to mention that the entrepreneurship
education at universities also influences the preference of laureates between salary or entrepreneurial careers. As indicate Fayolle et al.
(2006, p. 10), “an education program in entrepreneurship, even if it mainly consists in raising students’ awareness of entrepreneurship,
should have a short-term positive impact on the intention to undertake”. This conclusion is confirmed by several empirical studies in
different research contexts (Adekiya & Ibrahim, 2016; Chen et al., 2015; Maresch et al., 2016; Rideout & Gray, 2013; San-Martín et al.,
2019; Sánchez, 2013; Souitaris et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2014).
Thus, the study by Souitaris et al. (2007) affirms that entrepreneurship training programs contribute to improve science and en­
gineering students’ entrepreneurial intention. Recently, Maresch et al. (2016) conclude that entrepreneurship education positively
influences the business students’ entrepreneurial intention. In this way, entrepreneurship education plays a crucial role in building
future entrepreneurs, by inculcating them an essential combination of core competencies, actually based on learning to know, learning
to do and learning to be in order to create a new business project (Dutta et al., 2011).
In our study, we support the idea that training in entrepreneurship and project management has a positive effect on management
student’s entrepreneurial intentions. This brings us in line with the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 4. Entrepreneurship education
positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Our research model is as follows (Fig. 3).
According to Bachiri (2016, p.118) attitude towards entrepreneurship refers to students’ perception to become an entrepreneur.
Krueger et al. (2000, p. 417) say that perceived social norms reflects students’ perceptions of what important people in their lives think
about performing a new business. Boissin et al. (2009, p. 34) define perceived entrepreneurial capacity as the “degree with which a
student thinks he can successfully start a new business”. Entrepreneurship education refers to “the whole set of education and training
activities (…) that try to develop in the participants the intention to perform entrepreneurial behaviors, or some of the elements that
affect that intention, such as entrepreneurial knowledge, desirability of the entrepreneurial activity, or its feasibility”, (Liñán, 2004, p.
163). Adekiya and Ibrahim (2016, p.118) emphasise that entrepreneurial intention refers to “intentionality among university students
to engage in entrepreneurial practices after graduation”.

3. Research method

This section describes the method used to evaluate the measurement and structural model.

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Fig. 2. Shapero-Krueger model.

3.1. Questionnaire development and measurement instruments

To measure the model variables we used existing scales providing in Appendix A (Table 2).

3.2. Data collection method and sample

A questionnaire survey was carried out among students of the Laayoune higher School of Technology.1 We focused on professional
bachelor students of human resources management (PB-HRM) and those of the university diploma of technology in management
techniques (DUT-TM). These terminal students on their university course have undergone training in entrepreneurship and project
management, for a duration of 50 h.
In their entrepreneurship teaching, professors/lecturers have traditionally used a wide range of lectures, case studies, feasibility
plans, guest lectures, field visits and internships (Kuratko, 2005). By respecting the principles of teaching entrepreneurship recom­
mended by Klapper and Neergaard (2017, p. 151), the entrepreneurial pedagogical program adopted at the LHST aims to develop
entrepreneurial attitudes, skills and competencies of students (Fayolle et al., 2006).
The training is given in co-construction mode through the competition of student groups on the realization of a fictitious entre­
preneurial project: role plays, simulation, case study, teamwork, cooperative learning (Béchard, 2000). The teaching pedagogy
adopted is presented below in Fig. 4.
The objective of this training program is to provide students with the means skills to start a business (Yu Cheng et al., 2009).

3.3. Sampling method

Due to the lack of a sampling frame, we have chosen an empirical sampling method. Thus, we used a reasoned choice to constitute
the sample of our study (Royer & Zarlowski, 2014).
The questionnaire was administered face to face, at the end of the entrepreneurship & project management module, related to the
academic year 2018–2019. In addition, data was collected over a One-week period in April 2019. A total of 98 management students
from LHST who validated this module agreed to take part in this survey (Table 3).
Referring to the study sample, 65.3% are females while 34.7% are males. 54.1% of students studied at professional bachelor level
(BAC+3),2 while 45.9% at university diploma of technology level (BAC+2). The age of the majority of respondents (68.4%) is between
19 and 23 years old. Among the students surveyed, 54.08% have already worked in associative activities, while 60.2% have never
participated in such activities. 84.7% of the students questioned declare that they have no family background in entrepreneurship
activities. A large part of the students who answered our questionnaire advocate to learning by doing pedagogy (58.1%).

3.4. Data analysis method

The majority of publications in prestigious entrepreneurship journals use the quantitative method (Rispal & Jouison-Laffitte,
2015). This approach contributes to the enrichment of the entrepreneurial discipline. Given the benefits of quantitative methods,
we have used the Partial Least Squares Path Modeling Method (Hair et al., 2019), to test the research model and hypothesis, using
SmartPLS 3 (Appendix B).

4. Results

To analyze the data, we followed a Partial Least Squares Path Modeling, as assessed by the measurement models. Also, we will
present and discuss the structural model testing results.

4.1. Assessing measurement models

The convergent validity involves the verification of three indices: factor loadings, average variance extracted (AVE) and composite
reliability (CR). After removing nine items with poor outer loading value (PEC2; PEC6; PEC7; PEC8; PEC9; PEC10; PEC11; PEC13;
PEC14), the measurement model of Perceived Entrepreneurial Capacity was reduced to five items. The results of convergent validity

1
LHST is a higher education establishment of Ibn Zohr University which offers professional training.
2
Before adopting the new Bachelor system starting September 2020.

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Table 1
Previous research.
Authors Sample size & Analysis Method Results

Autio et al. (1997) 1956 technology students from Finland, Sweden, USA and The entrepreneurship image as a career alternative and encouragement
UK. from university environment influences the students’ entrepreneurial
conviction.
Kolvereid and Moen 374 graduates - siviløkonom, Norway. Entrepreneurship education programs and training courses contribute to
(1997) Correlation analysis & logistic regression improve students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Krueger et al. (2000) 97 US business undergraduate students. Entrepreneurial intention is linked to perceived feasibility and attitude
Regression analysis. towards action.
Autio et al. (2001) Students from Finland, Sweden, USA and UK. Perceived behavioral control is the most important determinant of
students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Audet (2001) 150 students of 3rd year business administration, Concordia Perceived desirability and perceived feasibility better explain intentions
University, Quebec. when the achievement horizon is long term.
Kennedy et al. (2003) 1075 Australian students. Standard multiple regression. Perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, and subjective norm
contribute to explain students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Tounés (2006) 178 management students (BAC + 5), France. Entrepreneurship training positively influence students’ entrepreneurial
Variance analysis & multiple regression intentions
Guerrero et al. (2008) 719 university students, Spain. Structural equation model. A positive relationship between credibility and entrepreneurial
intention.
Boissin et al. (2009) 655 Grenoble Students, France. Factor analysis and MLR. The results confirm the explanatory power of the theory of planned
behavior.
Piperopoulos (2012) 603 first year and final year students studying business and Students’ entrepreneurial intentions and aspirations deteriorate during
management at 2 public HEIs in Greece. Case study research their four-year studies in universities. Moreover, faculty members lack
methodology. the mentality towards entrepreneurship education.
Maâlej (2013) 94 graduates of the High School of Commerce, Sfax. Tunisia. The attitudes related to behavior and the social norms contribute to the
PCA and multiple linear regression. explanation of the entrepreneurial intention.
Dehghanpour and 601 individuals from Iran. Binary logistics regression Fear of failure, entrepreneurial desirability, and entrepreneurs’ status in
Farashah (2013) society, self-efficacy, education and training are significant predictors of
entrepreneurial intention.
Schlaegel and Koenig 98 studies. Meta-analysis. Proposal of an integrative model of entrepreneurial intention.
(2014)
Belwal et al. (2015) 200 students. Convenience sampling & proportional The students’ willingness to create a new business, their sociable
allocation method. attitude, confidence and effective connections with established
entrepreneurs impact their entrepreneurial intention.
Mohamad et al. 2300 graduates from Universiti Utara Malaysia. MLR Entrepreneurship education impacts the level of entrepreneurial
(2015) intentions.
Adekiya and Ibrahim 255 final year students of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. Perceived appropriateness, perceived effectiveness, and entrepreneurial
(2016) Inferential statistics. training have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial
intention.
Bachiri (2016) 65 students from Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco. Attitude towards behavior and perceived behavioral control explain the
Analysis of variance and LMR. students’ entrepreneurial intention.
Tognazzo et al. 1500 students from the university of Padova, Italy. The learning experience plays an important role in students’
(2017) Regression Analysis. entrepreneurial skills and attitudes.
Tchagang and 646 students of the University of Yaoundé II, Cameroun. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a psychological mechanism by which
Tchankam Structural Equation Modelling. socio-demographic variables act on entrepreneurial decisions.
(2018)
Jemli (2018) 484 observations spread over two periods from Tunisian Entrepreneurship education has no impact on the students’
engineering students. PCA & Multiple linear regression. entrepreneurial intention.
Puni et al. (2018) 357 students from the public university in Ghana. Linear Entrepreneurship education (entrepreneurship knowledge acquisition
multiple regression. and opportunity recognition) affect positively entrepreneurial intention
and self-efficacy.
Gieure et al. (2019) 276 students from 74 universities across 34 countries. Effective entrepreneurship education and training equips students with
Structural equation modelling. entrepreneurial skills, thereby promoting their entrepreneurial
intentions.
Fragoso et al. (2019) 600 university students from Portugal and Brazil. Cross- The personality traits, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial attitude are
section design. strong predictors of entrepreneurial intention.
Badri and Hachicha 200 students from the universities of Sfax and Sousse, The students’ socio-cultural background, their profiles in terms of
(2019) Tunisia. Ordered logistic regression. knowledge in new business start-up and their personal characteristics
are the most determinants of entrepreneurial intention.
Ladd et al. (2019) 1658 graduate students in an international business pitch The entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the link between
competition. Cross-sectional variation. entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intention.
Paray and Kumar 309 students. Regression and ANOVA technique. Entrepreneurship education stimulates the entrepreneurial intention in
(2020) interdisciplinary students of higher education institution.
Aboobaker and 330 final-year students. A self-administered & structured Entrepreneurial training and education positively influence students’
Renjini (2020) questionnaire entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, Human capital significantly
mediates this relationship.
Zhang et al. (2020) 668 tourism and hospitality students. Structural Equation Entrepreneurial education positively influences students’
Modelling. entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, social worth and risk-taking can
strengthen the formation of entrepreneurial intention.
Shah et al. (2020)
(continued on next page)

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Table 1 (continued )
Authors Sample size & Analysis Method Results

169 Students from higher education institutions, Oman. Attitude toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms and self-efficacy
Structural equation modeling- Partial Least Square influences positively the entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover,
entrepreneurship education moderates this relationship.
Ndofirepi (2020) 308 vocational education students in Zimbabwe. Entrepreneurship education predicts the need for achievement, risk-
Exploratory factor analysis & Confirmatory factor analysis taking propensity, internal locus of control and entrepreneurial goal
(Linear Structural Equations) intentions. These variables contribute to explain students
’entrepreneurial intentions.

Fig. 3. Predictive model of the management student’s entrepreneurial intentions.

Table 2
Measurement instruments (37 items).
Variable No. of items Adopted from Scale

Attitude towards Entrepreneurship 5 items Bachiri (2016) Likert-type seven-point scale

Perceived social norms 4 items Boissin et al. (2017)
Perception of entrepreneurial capacity 14 items Boissin et al. (2009)
Entrepreneurship education 8 items Adekiya and Ibrahim (2016)
Students entrepreneurial intentions 6 items Liñán et al. (2011)

Fig. 4. Entrepreneurial pedagogical program adopted using a learning-by-doing approach (Source: The authors).

occur as follows (Table 4).

Discriminant validity is guaranteed by checking two criteria: Root Square of AVE (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), and Cross Loadings
(Hair et al., 2011). As seen in the table below, it’s possible to verify the discriminant validity of the five latent variables, in terms of the
Fornell and Larcker criterion (Table 5).
Furthermore, the variance shared between constructs measured by the correlations between constructs is lower than the variance
shared by a construct with its indicators (Table 6).
In sum, we can confirm the measurement model’s validity. The overall model of this research is composed of five measurement
models, showing the links between items and latent variables, and a structural model representing the supposed relationships between
the five latent constructs (Fig. 5).

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Table 3
Profile and characteristics of respondents.
Attributes Characteristic Frequency %

Age Up to 19 5 5.1
19 to 23 67 68.4
Above 23 26 26.5
Gender Male 34 34.7
Female 64 65.3
Education level BAC +2 (Diploma of Technology in Management Techniques & Second-year university 45 45.9
level)
BAC + 3 (Professional Bachelor in Human Resource Management) 53 54.1
Family background in entrepreneurship Yes 15 15.3
activities No 83 84.7
Associative experience Yes 39 39.8
No 59 60.2
Training wishes Fictitious project – Learning by doing pedagogy 57 58.1
Entrepreneurs testimonials 21 21.4
Theoretical course 20 20.4

Table 4
Convergent validity results.
Construct Item Outer loading Cronbach’s alpha (α > Rho-A Composite reliability AVE
(>0.7) 0.7) (>0.7) (>0.7) (>0.5)

Attitude towards EA1 0.773 0.926 0.939 0.944 0.772

Entrepreneurship EA2 0.877
EA3 0.924
EA4 0.899
EA5 0.912
Perceived Social Norms PSN1 0.761 0.770 0.774 0.852 0.591
PSN2 0.811
PSN3 0.775
PSN4 0.726
Perceived Entrepreneurial PEC1 0.785 0.853 0.864 0.895 0.630
Capacity PEC3 0.734
PEC4 0.723
PEC5 0.774
PEC12 0.777
Entrepreneurship education EE1 0.811 0.917 0.921 0.932 0.633
EE2 0.824
EE3 0.704
EE4 0.797
EE5 0.777
EE6 0.790
EE7 0.798
EE8 0.798
Students Entrepreneurial EI1 0.812 0.915 0.922 0.935 0.706
Intentions EI2 0.886
EI3 0.940
EI4 0.863
EI5 0.742
EI6 0.782

Table 5
Discriminant validity results [Fornell-Larcker criterion].
Latent Constructs AE EE EI PEC PSN

Attitude towards Entrepreneurship (AE) 0.879

Entrepreneurship education (EE) 0.535 0.796
Students Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI) 0.659 0.627 0.840
Perceived Entrepreneurial Capacity (PEC) 0.592 0.577 0.582 0.793
Perceived Social Norms (PSN) 0.592 0.515 0.427 0.529 0.769

4.2. Assessing structural model

The coefficient of determination of the management students’ entrepreneurial intention is moderate (R2 = 0.561); which indicates
that this endogenous latent construct is explained by up to 56.1% (Chin, 1998). Additionally, the values of the effect size (f2) are

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Table 6
Discriminant Validity - loading and cross-loading criterion.
Items Attitude towards Entrepreneurship Perceived Social Norms Perceived Entrep. Capacity Entrep. Education Entrep. Intentions

EA1 0.773 0.505 0.488 0.449 0.410

EA2 0.877 0.548 0.605 0.521 0.643
EA3 0.924 0.551 0.549 0.486 0.604
EA4 0.899 0.547 0.440 0.422 0.601
EA5 0.912 0.459 0.515 0.473 0.596
PSN1 0.494 0.760 0.471 0.412 0.376
PSN2 0.409 0.811 0.376 0.431 0.331
PSN3 0.360 0.775 0.234 0.350 0.283
PSN4 0.545 0.726 0.520 0.382 0.306
PEC1 0.566 0.446 0.825 0.452 0.471
PEC3 0.450 0.489 0.785 0.338 0.378
PEC4 0.423 0.358 0.743 0.458 0.422
PEC5 0.436 0.422 0.785 0.443 0.447
PEC12 0.469 0.401 0.827 0.561 0.558
EE1 0.499 0.486 0.469 0.811 0.532
EE2 0.425 0.464 0.508 0.824 0.543
EE3 0.327 0.401 0.322 0.704 0.430
EE4 0.448 0.386 0.451 0.797 0.434
EE5 0.393 0.317 0.414 0.777 0.462
EE6 0.553 0.455 0.578 0.858 0.537
EE7 0.429 0.383 0.448 0.790 0.475
EE8 0.418 0.374 0.454 0.798 0.552
EI1 0.600 0.495 0.485 0.481 0.812
EI2 0.581 0.275 0.520 0.546 0.886
EI3 0.611 0.385 0.604 0.593 0.940
EI4 0.534 0.280 0.479 0.495 0.862
EI5 0.522 0.364 0.308 0.526 0.743
EI6 0.467 0.362 0.513 0.516 0.783

Note: Items with high significance are bolded.

Fig. 5. Measurement and structural model results- Output SmartPLS.

acceptable for the two exogenous latent variables; attitudes towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, which are
0.214 and 0.158 respectively. In contrast, the f2 index of the perceived entrepreneurial capacity is low (f2 = 0.042) (Cohen, 1988).
However, the perceived social norms has no significant effect on the students’ entrepreneurial intention (f2 < 0.02). Finally, the value
of the Goodness of Fit of the Model of this study (GoF = 0.611 > 0.36) is large enough to consider sufficient global PLS model validity
(Wetzels et al., 2009). Finally, as can be seen in Fig. 6, the predictive power of the model is acceptable (Q2 = 0.348).
According to the empirical finding, it turns out that the management students’ entrepreneurial intentions mainly depend on two

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variables: entrepreneurship education and attitude towards entrepreneurship. Furthermore, these results show that the relationship
between the perception of social norms, perceived entrepreneurial capacity and students’ entrepreneurial intentions is not significant
(Table 7).
The first hypothesis states that there is a direct positive and significant effect of attitudes towards entrepreneurship on management
students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The finding allowed this hypothesis to be accepted (H1. β = .425; t-value = 2.828; p = .005), with
a risk threshold below 0.01 (p < .01). As is seen, attitudes towards entrepreneurial act contribute with 21.4% of students’ entre­
preneurial intentions explanation, meaning that this variable can be considered as a predictor of management students’ entrepre­
neurial intentions. The second hypothesis proposes that there is a positive relationship between perceived social norms and
management students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The results allowed this hypothesis to be rejected (H2. β = − 0.101; t-value = .880; p
= .379). The third hypothesis, which states that perceived entrepreneurial capacity has a significant effect on students’ entrepreneurial
intention, is statistically not significant (H3. β = .185; t-value = 1.727; p = .084). These empirical results allows us to reject this
hypothesis. The fourth hypothesis, which predicts that entrepreneurship education has a direct positive and significant effect on
students’ entrepreneurial intentions, was accepted. The relationship between these two variables is positive and significant (H4. β =
.345; t-value = 2.970; p = .003). Entrepreneurship education contributes with 15.8% of students’ entrepreneurial intentions
explanation.

5. Discussion and conclusions

Drawing on the TPB, the objective of this research was to identify the variables likely to influence the entrepreneurial intentions of
Moroccan students, by questioning the role of entrepreneurship education. The empirical findings provide an insight into the various
variables that affect students’ entrepreneurial intentions.

5.1. Discussions

Our study shows that attitudes towards entrepreneurship influence management students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Several
studies have tested the TPB confirmed this relation (Ajzen, 1985, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Similarly, we can note the presence of
a considerable empirical studies in entrepreneurship which concludes that attitudes towards the entrepreneurial act constitute one of
the entrepreneurial intention’s determinants (Adekiya & Ibrahim, 2016; Alam et al., 2019; Bachiri, 2016; Fragoso et al., 2019; Karimi,
2019; Maâlej, 2013; Shah et al., 2020; van Gelderen et al., 2008). At this level, Krueger et al. (2000) based on an empirical study with
97 former students of a business school, confirm that the perceived feasibility and attitude towards action contribute to the explanation
of students’ intentions toward entrepreneurship. Similarly, based on a sample of 94 students graduating from the Sfax higher business
school, Maâlej (2013) shows that attitudes associated with behavior and social norms contribute to shaping the students’ entrepre­
neurial intention to become an entrepreneur. Karimi (2019) found a similar positive association by studying a sample of 250 university
students. More recently, Fragoso et al. (2019) show a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and
students’ intention of creating new ventures. Shortly, in the Moroccan context, attitudes towards business creation are a crucial
element which authorities and universities can play to improve the level of intention among university students.
The results indicate that social norms can not be considered as a predictor of students’ entrepreneurial intentions. These results are
lined with the conclusions of Bachiri (2016) which indicates that this variable has no apparent influence on students’ entrepreneurial
intentions. In addition, Fragoso et al. (2019) also indicate that social recognition does not affect students’ entrepreneurial intention to
create a new venture in Portugal and Brazil. The findings of our study seem contrary to several previous empirical studies, such as

Fig. 6. Structural model analysis results.

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Table 7
Result of hypothesis testing.
Hypothesis path β-value t-value p-value Decision

H1 Attitude towards Entrepreneurship → Students Entrepreneurial Intentions .425 2.828 .005 Supported
H2 Perceived Social Norms → Students Entrepreneurial Intentions - .101 .880 .379 Not supported
H3 Perceived Entrepreneurial Capacity → Students Entrepreneurial Intentions .185 1.727 .084 Not supported
H4 Entrepreneurship education → Students Entrepreneurial Intentions .345 2.970 .003 Supported

Ajzen (1991); Alam et al. (2019); Engle et al. (2011); Shah and Soomro (2017), who suggested that the perception of social norms or
subjective norms, can plays a crucial role in the determination of students’ entrepreneurial intentions. However, this is not the case of
the Moroccan society, where students’ entrepreneurship is neither recognized nor valued.
The empirical evidence allows us to conclude that perceived entrepreneurial capacity has any significant effect on students’
entrepreneurial intention. A possible explanation for this result could be related to the fact that management students in Moroccan
HEIs do not have enough self-confidence or low self-esteem to create their own business.
These findings do not support the conclusions drawn from previous empirical studies which show that entrepreneurial capacity
have a positive influence on students’ entrepreneurial intentions (Fragoso et al., 2019; Naktiyok et al., 2010; Soomro et al., 2020). For
instance, according to the study conducted among 245 undergraduate students, it was argued that entrepreneurial self-efficacy better
contributes to the explanation of students’ intentions to start a new business (Naktiyok et al., 2010). Soomro et al. (2020) also
confirmed this relationship by investigating business students from public Pakistan’s universities.
The present study highlights the crucial role of entrepreneurship education to explain students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Thus,
entrepreneurship teaching is considered as an ineluctable practice in the students’ entrepreneurial intentions development. The
students who participated in our study benefited from entrepreneurial training based on learning by doing approach. By allowing
direct contact between teachers, students, and young entrepreneurs, this teaching method helps to foster students’ entrepreneurial
intentions and improve their entrepreneurial behavior (Ferreira et al., 2018). Also, entrepreneurship education impacts students’
entrepreneurial inspiration and helps to improve their entrepreneurial mind-set, through ambiguity tolerance, risk propensity, and
alertness to opportunity (Cui et al., 2019).
A great number of papers have found that entrepreneurship education explains students’ intentions to start a new business
(Adekiya & Ibrahim, 2016; Brüne & Lutz, 2020; Kolvereid & Moen, 1997; Mohamad et al., 2015; Paray & Kumar, 2020; Puni et al.,
2018; Tounés, 2006; Zhang et al., 2020). These results are almost validated in different research contexts. Kolvereid and Moen (1997)
based on an empirical study with 374 Norwegian students, state that entrepreneurship education programs and training courses
contribute to improve students’ entrepreneurial intentions. In the same vein, among the French students, the positive and significant
influence of entrepreneurship training on students’ entrepreneurial intentions was observed by Tounés (2006). Gieure et al. (2019), in
his study based on 276 students from 74 universities in 34 countries, confirms that entrepreneurship training provides entrepreneurial
skills and make more conductive the development of their entrepreneurial intentions. Also, researchers showed that entrepreneurship
training contributes to the explanation of entrepreneurial orientation through its three dimensions; proactiveness, innovativeness, and
risk-taking (Al-Awlaqi et al., 2018). More recently, Zhang et al. (2020) conducted a study using the structural equation modeling
method, with a sample of 668 tourism and hospitality students, from which they claimed that entrepreneurial education positively
influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions. However, there are also, some empirical studies that stressed a negative relationship
between entrepreneurial education program and intention to become an entrepreneur (Oosterbeek et al., 2010).

5.2. Theoretical and practical implications

The present study provided a simplified model of the management students’ entrepreneurial intentions determinants. The results
show that entrepreneurship education and attitude towards entrepreneurship are an important background of entrepreneurial in­
tentions in the Moroccan HEIs. Identifying factors that affect students’ entrepreneurial intentions play a key role in developing policies
and training programs in order to promote entrepreneurial behavior within university students. The findings from this study present
theoretical implications and provides a number of useful practical suggestions for universities, entrepreneurship teachers, and public
authorities.
In terms of theoretical implication, our research findings highlight the role of entrepreneurship education in understanding the
students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, this study develops a new vision of management students’ entrepreneurial in­
tentions. The present study helps to the entrepreneurship literature by considering the entrepreneurship education using learning by
doing pedagogy in the context of HEIs. Thus, the results of the present research suggest a theoretical implications.
Firstly, our study contributes to a better understanding of the management students’ entrepreneurial intention determinants. A
second theoretical contribution is the mobilization of the theory of planned behavior to predict management students’ entrepreneurial
intentions. We extend the use of TPB to entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on entrepreneurial education. With our study, we are
able to give evidence of the positive effect of attitude towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education on students’ intentions
to create a new business. In particular, we may consider entrepreneurship education as a bridge to students for entrepreneurial career
choice (Ahmed et al., 2020). Shekhar et al. (2018) identified six regulating variables in entrepreneurship education program partic­
ipation, which are, entrepreneurial self-efficacy; desirability, life transitions, entrepreneurial intent, opportunities and barriers, and
information and resources. Additionally, the introducing of an entrepreneurial learning approach could help sport students to improve

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their employability and their social skills (Ratten & Jones, 2018). Thirdly, our study contributes to the current literature addressing the
influence of entrepreneurship education on students’ entrepreneurial intentions by showing that the learning-by-doing approach
focused on group discussions and simulations of business plan development, constitute an effective teaching approach.
From the practical perspective, the obtained knowledge from this research will help to answer questions regarding the necessity of
entrepreneurship education programs in order to improve students’ entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial activity. The study
suggests the need to incorporate entrepreneurship education programs into the curriculum in Moroccan universities.
Additionally, the results inspire us to more explore the entrepreneurship teaching methods and investigate its impact on entre­
preneurial intentions and behavior towards business creation in the long term. Thus, the Moroccan HEIs are called upon to accomplish
two complementary missions. The first one is related to the entrepreneurship training program deliverance which is going to improve
student’s entrepreneurial intention. While, the second mission which consists of students support in order to develop creative business
ideas, by setting up academic incubators of entrepreneurship and innovation.
There is a growing consensus about the crucial role of collaboration win-win in entrepreneurship education between HEIs and
entrepreneurial ecosystem (Ferreira et al., 2018); such as entrepreneurs, companies, financial institutions, incubators and accelerators,
governmental and non-governmental organizations … (Bischoff et al., 2018). Therefore, Moroccan HEIs are invited to engage in this
close collaboration, in the same the stakeholder engagement is necessary for entrepreneurship education success.
Considering the teachers’ central role in entrepreneurship education (Srivastava et al., 2019), entrepreneurship training must be
oriented towards developing three complementary competencies: attitude (self-efficacy, ambiguity tolerance), knowledge (self-in­
sight) and skills (marketing, financial, problem-solving …). To do this, teachers are solicited to provide a learning-by-doing approach
based on action learning in academic entrepreneurship education, with integrating theory with practical applications (Brook & Pedler,
2020). In order to foster entrepreneurial behavior among management students’ active methods could be used in entrepreneurship
teaching, such as case studies, group discussions, business game simulation, business plan development, and guest speakers (Neck &
Corbett, 2018).
To overcome the barriers of time and place, Moroccan universities must introduce e-learning systems and methods to incorporate
education (Gentile et al., 2020). E-learning is considered a tool to improve students’ entrepreneurial skills and competencies
(Radović-Marković et al., 2017). This allows students to easily access courses anytime and anywhere, regardless of the distance to the
university (Gorbunovs et al., 2016), and promote the development of their skills by following specific online entrepreneurship courses
(Jafari Moghadam et al., 2012).
Our study also offers practical suggestions for public policy. In developing countries like Morocco, entrepreneurship education and
training programs may be considered as a veritable strategic tool for regional development to enhance entrepreneurial activity, to
create new businesses opportunities and consequently new jobs (Bischoff et al., 2018; Galvão et al., 2020). Thus, in order to generate
new business with positive impacts on local and regional development, we invite the policymakers in Morocco to develop public
policies promoting entrepreneurship education programs which involve different regional stakeholders, e.g., support structures;
professional mentors; chambers of commerce, industry and services; General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises and Phosboucraa
foundation.

5.3. Limitations and future research

This paper presents some limitations due to the small size of our sample of Moroccan management students, and the reduced
number of variables used to predict the entrepreneurial intentions phenomena. Future studies can be explored to predict management
students’ entrepreneurship intention by broadening our sample with many more Moroccan universities. As well, it would be inter­
esting to investigate the place of emotional intelligence, personal characteristics, and socio-cultural background, in predicting the
management students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
Further empirical studies are needed to address how entrepreneurship education could motivate students in other disciplines, e.g.
sports students, engineering students (Ratten & Usmanij, 2020; Yi & Duval-Couetil, 2018). Future studies could also explore the role of
digital academic entrepreneurship in empowering students’ entrepreneurial skills, and impacting their motivation and behavior to
launch a new business.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Omar Boubker: Writing - original draft, Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, using SmartPLS.
Maryem Arroud: Writing - original draft, Data curation, draft preparation and data collection. Abdelaziz Ouajdouni: Writing -
review & editing, writing; translation and reviewing.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2020.100450.

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O. Boubker et al. The International Journal of Management Education 19 (2021) 100450

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