Factors influencing entrepreneurial intention: a cross-country comparison of five countries

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education plays a crucial role in shaping university students' entrepreneurial intentions by equipping them with the cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal competencies necessary for entrepreneurial engagement. This study investigates the effect of four key variables: entrepreneurship education, curriculum design, lecturer competency, and university support, on students' entrepreneurial intentions across five countries: Malaysia, T & uuml;rkiye, the UAE, Indonesia, and China. Utilizing a structured quantitative design, data were collected from 1,065 university students through a validated self-administered questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression techniques were employed to examine the relationships between educational, demographic, and institutional factors. Findings from pooled and country-specific analyses reveal that university support is the most consistent and powerful predictor of entrepreneurial intention, followed by curriculum structure and entrepreneurship education. Lecturer competency, while statistically significant in some contexts, exhibited adverse or negligible effects, raising concerns about the pedagogical alignment between instruction and entrepreneurial relevance. Significant demographic predictors include gender, age, year of study, and prior business experience. However, the relative influence of these demographic factors varies across national contexts. Students with previous business experience consistently reported higher entrepreneurial intentions, particularly in Malaysia and China. Theoretically, the study expands the Theory of Planned Behavior by integrating educational inputs as antecedents to attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Practically, it emphasizes the importance of experiential curricula, institutional support mechanisms, and instructor development in enhancing the outcomes of entrepreneurship education. Future research should adopt longitudinal and mixed-method designs to capture the evolving nature of entrepreneurial motivation across different educational ecosystems.