Can regional culture values affect the entrepreneurial intentions of Sport Science students? An analysis of two Spanish regions

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a key factor in fostering the development of the countries and regions economies. The regional culture is an aspect that can affect the entrepreneurial intentions of university students and it has not been investigated in students of the sport sector. Therefore, the aims of this study are to know if there are differences between the entrepreneurial intentions and their different entrepreneurial variables among students of Sport Sciences (SS) of two Spanish universities of different regions (Valencia and Sevilla), and to know if the predictive variables of the entrepreneurial intentions of these students are different. Thus, a survey has been administered to 172 Sport Sciences (SS) students from the last course of Valencia and Sevilla. The results show that there are statistically significant (p <.05) differences between the Sport Science students from Valencia and Sevilla in the variables of perceived control behaviour, subjective norm and attitude toward behaviour. As for the predictor variables of the entrepreneurial intensions also differences were found, being in the case of the Valencia´ students the attitude towards the behaviour the only predictive variable. In the case of the Sevilla´ students all the cognitive variables related to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), as well as proactivity were predictive variables of the entrepreneurial intentions. These results are discussed, highlighting the influence of the regional culture on the entrepreneurial intentions of these students. Finally, it concludes that the culture plays an important role in the entrepreneurial intentions of Sport Sciences students and a series of practical implications for the sports politicians and governors of the different universities are presented.