COMBINING PCA ANALYSIS AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS IN MODELLING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF STUDENTS

Abstract

Despite increased interest in the entrepreneurial intentions and career choices of young adults, reliable prediction models are yet to be developed. Two nonparametric methods were used in this paper to model entrepreneurial intentions: principal component analysis (PCA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs). PCA was used to perform feature extraction in the first stage of modelling, while artificial neural networks were used to classify students according to their entrepreneurial intentions in the second stage. Four modelling strategies were tested in order to find the most efficient model. Dataset was collected in an international survey on entrepreneurship self-efficacy and identity. Variables describe students’ demographics, education, attitudes, social and cultural norms, self-efficacy and other characteristics. The research reveals benefits from the combination of the PCA and ANNs in modeling entrepreneurial intentions, and provides some ideas for further research