Date
2006
Dewey
Enseignement supérieur
Sujet
entrepreneurship in France; Grande Ecole; Shapero; entrepreneurial intention
JEL code
A23
Journal issue
Industry and Higher Education
Volume
20
Number
2
Publication date
04-2006
Article pages
97-110
Publisher
IP Publishing Ltd
Author
Klapper, Rita
Léger-Jarniou, Catherine
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Abstract (EN)
Arguably, entrepreneurship is still a recent phenomenon in French society, and its higher education establishments are still experimenting with ways to teach entrepreneurship and enterprise creation. This paper presents a unique opportunity to compare and contrast the entrepreneurial intention of French higher education students at three different establishments (a management Grande Ecole, an engineering Grande Ecole and a university) using the Shapero intention model. The study found that most of the students wanted to work in large organizations and were not intending to create a new company or work in a family business. There were significant differences, however, between management and engineering students in terms of their entrepreneurial environment, which may affect their attitudes to new business creation. The authors conclude that, while enforced learning through entrepreneurial courses and seminars may initially be off-putting, such initiatives may have longer-term beneficial impacts on entrepreneurial intention.