Implication of attitude of graduate students in Oman towards entrepreneurship: an empirical study

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to assess the implication of attitude of graduate students in Oman towards entrepreneurship. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and a multivariate regression model were used to assess the attitude and identify its influencing factors. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, with a sample of 165 students, selected from four colleges in Muscat. Results show that although graduates in Oman have a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, preference to start their own business after graduation is low. Increasing graduates’ business knowledge and understanding of business risk, in addition to promoting entrepreneurship education can positively influence their attitude towards entrepreneurship. The government, higher education institutions and business incubators have an important role to play in changing the attitude of graduates towards entrepreneurship, and setting effective entrepreneurship strategies. Recommendations for future research have been made at the end of the paper

A systematic literature review on entrepreneurial intentions: citation, thematic analyses, and research agenda

Entrepreneurial intention is a rapidly evolving field of research. A growing number of studies use entrepreneurial intention as a powerful theoretical framework. However, a substantial part of this research lacks systematization and categorization, and there seems to be a tendency to start anew with every study. Therefore, there is a need to take stock of current knowledge in this field. In this sense, this paper carries out a review of the literature on entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 409 papers addressing entrepreneurial intention, published between 2004 and 2013 (inclusive), have been analyzed. The purpose and contribution of this paper is to offer a clearer picture of the sub-fields in entrepreneurial intention research, by concentrating on two aspects. Firstly, it reviews recent research by means of a citation analysis to categorize the main areas of specialization currently attracting the attention of the academic community. Secondly, a thematic analysis is carried out to identify the specific themes being researched within each category. Despite the large number of publications and their diversity, the present study identifies five main research areas, plus an additional sixth category for a number of new research papers that cannot be easily classified into the five areas. Within those categories, up to twenty-five different themes are recognized. A number of research gaps are singled out within each of these areas of specialization, in order to induce new ways and perspectives in the entrepreneurial intention field of research that may be fruitful in filling these gaps