Attitude is the key to self-employment: analysis of student’s attitudes towards self-employment using the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore the role of attitudinal obstacles
and facilitators of the students at Luleå University of Technology to
becoming self-employed. This was conducted through Icek Ajzen’s theory of
planned behavior which measures behavioral antecedents: intentions,
attitudes, norms and control and their belief constructs.

The survey contained 1384 respondents, of which 979 answered a
web-based questionnaire and 405 answered a paper-based questionnaire. The
survey was conducted from March 5 to April 4, 2004. Both questionnaires were
conducted on the student’s free-time where as the paper-based questionnaire
approached the students in the classroom did the web-based questionnaire get
sought out by the students online. The SPSS statistical program was used to
calculate frequencies, mean values and standard deviations. Differences were
tested with chi-square test.

Many students showed a positive intention, a positive attitude, and a high
level of control over becoming self-employed. They also believed that they
would not receive much social support if they were to become self-employed.
The students showed that they were not willing to become self-employed at the
present time even if they had future intentions to. The underlying reasons to
this unwillingness were the lack of creativity which presented itself in the
lack of ideas, lack of knowledge and fear of unknowns. The driving factor to
why both female and male students saw self-employment as a viable option was
the ability to self-realization. Males placed substantially more importance
on income. The paper-based students had the least amount of experience in
self-employment and were the most interested in learning about self-
employment.

Four hinders to self-employment have been made manifest: lack of interest to
change, lack of social support, lack of desire to change, and the incapacity
of becoming self-employed. All four of factors are rooted in the students’
lack of correct knowledge about being an entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial
spirit has been shown to be driven by determination and the desire for
achievement and not a focus on the individuals’ capabilities. A presentation
of the truth of what self-employment is and what it takes to get become
self-employed would be necessary in increasing the number of individuals
choosing self-employment as viable employment.