Entrepreneurship Education and Young Perspectives

#### **Chapter 1**

## Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan

*Jen-Chia Chang and Hsiao-Fang Shih*

#### **Abstract**

2019/2020 The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) analyzes the status of early entrepreneurship in various countries. Taiwan is higher than other countries' averages in the national entrepreneurial environment index, such as cultural and social norms, physical infrastructure, market entry control, and internal market vitality, business and legal infrastructure, transformation of research and development results, school-leaving entrepreneurship education and training, on-campus entrepreneurship education and training, government entrepreneurship plans, taxation and administrative systems, government policies and entrepreneurial financing, etc. Starting from 2020, the Ministry of Education has divided the innovation and entrepreneurship courses into two models, namely fundraising practical learning and training course modules and entrepreneurial management and action learning course modules. The themes and implementations of the courses include "Concepts and Practices in Entrepreneurship and Practice Simulation Learning Platform", "Concept Development and Practice-Business Operation-Company Establishment-Company Closure" and "Concept Proposal-Maker Practice-Business Model Briefing" and other aspects. This article will discuss, in the context of the development and current situation of entrepreneurship education in Taiwan, trends in entrepreneurship education for the next generation of Taiwan, and use examples from Taiwan's higher education system to promote entrepreneurship education to serve as a reference by education circles in other countries.

**Keywords:** entrepreneurship education, virtual fundraising, startups, higher education

#### **1. Introduction**

#### **1.1 The importance of entrepreneurship education**

According to the statistics of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan in 2019 totaled 1,491,420, accounting for 97.65% of all the enterprises and a 1.72% increase compared to 2018. The number of employees in SMEs reached 9,054,000 people, accounting for 78.73% of the working population and a 0.99% increase compared to 2018. The number of SMEs and the number of employees have hit record highs in recent years. From 2009 to 2019, the total number of newly established companies

in Taiwan increased from 31,882 to 41,870, showing an upward trend [1] and indicating Taiwan's steady and prevalent entrepreneurship trends.

The comparison of national power in the new century is determined by national economic strength and educational empowerment. The fostering of national innovation and entrepreneurial capability have become important tasks in talent cultivation [2]. According to the 2019/2020 National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI) rating results of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the world's top six countries are Switzerland, the Netherlands, Karta, China, the United Arab Emirates, and India. Taiwan ranks 7th, ahead of the United States (10th), South Korea (15th), and Japan (25th). Based on the rating results, Taiwan achieved the best performance in physical infrastructure, ranking second in the world. Taiwan also excelled in such aspects as entrepreneurial finance, government policies, taxes, administrative systems, R&D transfer, and internal market burdens [3]. Clearly, Taiwan provides entrepreneurs with a sound foundational environment for start-ups.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened the World Conference on Higher Education in Paris in 1998. In the "World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century: Vision and Action", it is clearly pointed out that "in order to assist graduates in getting a job, higher education should focus on the cultivation of entrepreneurial capability and an initiative spirit, and the entrepreneurial capability and entrepreneurial spirt should be the basic goals of higher education. In addition, graduates are no longer job seekers but will become creators of job positions" [4]. This shows that today's graduates should not limit themselves to being job seekers; instead, they should become entrepreneurs that create jobs for others. With the development of the Internet, variations in social network models, and the convenience of information acquisition, entrepreneurship is no longer a difficult task to achieve. With the rise of emerging industries such as Internet celebrities, E-commerce, cultural and creative industries, social enterprises, etc., it has been proven that creativity is all it takes to build a career of one's own.

The European Commission (2008) believes that the development of an entrepreneurial spirit is the key to breaking away from the current economic recession. Higher education institutions that have the necessary infrastructure and professional knowledge play important roles [5]. In the past, innovation and entrepreneurship mostly refer to product innovation or process innovation, while traditional entrepreneurship education mainly emphasizes the creativity, economics, management and financial issues of new ventures [6], and cultivates students with the motivation, knowledge and skills to succeed in entrepreneurship [7].

In the modern society of communication convenience, information explosion, and rapid changes, the employment environment young people are faced with is unlike that of the past. Climbing unemployment rates and epidemic turmoil all affect young people's future work conditions. Entrepreneurship can perhaps lead young people towards a different future, enabling them to search their own direction and create a bright future in spite of the chaotic environment they are in. Zhang and Cain observed in their research that more than 50% of students receiving entrepreneurship education plan to start their own business after completing entrepreneurship education [8]. Kubberød and Pettersen also found in their study that most students who have received entrepreneurial training expressed proactive views on entrepreneurship [9]. Virginia & Carlos confirmed the important role of entrepreneurship education in the development of the entrepreneurial capabilities of engineers through their study on the entrepreneurial intention of future engineers [5]. Jena also found in their study on the entrepreneurial intention of students from India that entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention [10]. Obviously, higher education shoulders a major responsibility in providing students with relevant knowledge and skills training.

*Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

#### **2. The implication of the entrepreneurial spirt**

Entrepreneurship is an adventurous action that creates value, a realization of self-accomplishment, and a dynamic process rather than a static state. Entrepreneurs must be clear about their own intentions, have adequate relevant knowledge, be emotionally involved and focused in order to create the value of innovative entrepreneurship [11]. According to the viewpoint of the ethical subject of the French philosopher Michael Foucault on practices of the self, entrepreneurship can be regarded as the entrepreneur's understanding of the self, a reflection of life situations, and an understanding of valuable viewpoints. It is also a process of connecting with group society. Schumpeter believes that entrepreneurship is the realization of a combination of innovative activities [12]. They include the development of new products, the launch of new production methods, the expansion of new markets, the acquisition of new supply sources, the development of new forms of organization, and other activities. Entrepreneurs can be seen as innovators who transfer economic resources from places of lower productivity to regions of higher productivity [13], which can be seen as an innovative entrepreneurial activity. With the changes in economic activities, the types of entrepreneurship are also different, and the essence of entrepreneurship comes from changes in employment types, such as the current gig economy or the conversion of digital work methods [14], and even the emergence of social media applications and their use in business activities have changed personal behavior patterns [15], which in turn changed the activity patterns of entrepreneurship.

The Australian school economist Kirzner was the first to propose the "theory of the entrepreneurial spirit". He believes that the core of an entrepreneurial spirit lies in a "sensitivity towards undiscovered opportunities". He also believes that entrepreneurs have a keen sensitivity towards the market environment, able to perceptively seek any market opportunities [16]. Knight believes that the entrepreneurial spirit is a concept whereby one shoulders risks and uncertainties in order to obtain profits [17]. Lumpkin and Dess believe that the entrepreneurial spirit may cover autonomy, risk taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, and competitive activeness [18]. In view of the above, the entrepreneurial spirit is expressed as a keen sensitivity towards unknown opportunities in the market environment, demonstrating the spirit and concept of innovativeness, adventurousness, competitiveness, and the courage to take risks, to be able to seek opportunities in the market undetected by others and to actively create profits.

British financial institution Hiscox conducted a survey targeting 500 successful entrepreneurs in 2011. The survey results showed that 53% of successful entrepreneurs believe that they were born with entrepreneurial capability and 13% believe that entrepreneurial capability can be obtained through education or learning. In the hearts of these entrepreneurs, the intrinsic conditions for the establishment of a successful business can be ranked in the following order: 81% of entrepreneurs believe it is analytical ability, 73% believe it is creativity, 66% believe it is strong motivation, and 63% believe it is excellent community skill [19]. Fitzsimmons & Douglas pointed out that on the level of skills, entrepreneurial capability can be acquired through training [20]. It can be seen that in addition to entrepreneurial capability having inherent characteristics, entrepreneurial skills can also be acquired through cultivation.

Entrepreneurial spirt does not just refer to the action of starting a whole new business, but widely means "solving various problems in an original way that has never been learned before (including "the problem that cannot find a suitable job in existing vacancies")" [21]. A white paper on creative education by Taiwan's Ministry of Education (2002) states: "In a broad sense, innovative capability

comprises creativity, innovative mechanisms and entrepreneurial spirit. The concrete results are the creative performances of the general public in various fields. Entrepreneurial capability is an important indicator in the knowledge economy and in social development, while creativity is an educational indicator of learning effectiveness. In a narrow sense, creativity is the basis of innovative knowledge, and innovation is the concrete implementation of creativity. 'Creativity' and 'innovation' can be described as two sides of the same coin, complementing each other. The generation of creativity relies on the demonstration of creativity and intelligence; The performance of creativity depends on the demonstration of innovative results." [22]. Drucker believe that innovation can see change as a new opportunity, which is used to develop different new businesses or provide different services [13]. The entrepreneurial spirit can be regarded as the expression of innovation [23]. The entrepreneurial spirit is an activity that requires the proper mentality and entrepreneurship education. Through appropriate training, students can acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and practical experiences of the entrepreneurial process, thereby improving their entrepreneurial inclination [10]. Innovative capability applied in entrepreneurship is the entrepreneurial spirit; entrepreneurial spirit is not just the practical activity of entrepreneurship, but more importantly, it is the spirit of entrepreneurship. This spirit can be regarded as the integration of such concepts as innovation, creativity, and willingness to try new things, which is displayed at work or in creating a career. Therefore, higher education should focus on fostering the entrepreneurial spirit of students, enabling them to strive for innovation and change in setting up start-ups or during practical work in the workplace [24]. With the rapid development of technology and the high penetration of communication technology to promote the interconnection of the global economy, economic competition has become more intense, and this phenomenon will increase the speed of innovation [25]. Entrepreneurship not only requires an entrepreneurial spirit, but also needs to follow the trend of the times and develop a suitable business model based on the current situation.

#### **3. The development of entrepreneurship education in Taiwan**

The goal of entrepreneurship education is for students to substantially interact and have a dialog with the environment they are in through concrete experiences in the social environment and within an interactive environment perceive realistic problems. They can think about, respond to, and solve problems, while at the same time they must reflect on their subjective awareness and explore their entrepreneurial intention and value concepts, and perceive their subject position throughout the entrepreneurial action [26]. Innovative entrepreneurship courses not only impart entrepreneurial knowledge to students, but also affect their non-cognitive ability. Through the learning process, students are assisted in cultivating the integration of thoughts and knowledge [27], thus shaping their entrepreneurship, adventurousness, willingness to take risks, and positive ambition when engaging in activities related to entrepreneurship.

In November 1989, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO discussed the educational philosophy in the Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first century. Entrepreneurship education was listed as the "third education passport" of learning; entrepreneurial capacity, academic and vocational education were elevated to the same status; entrepreneurship education was defined as cultivating innovative individuals, which is equally important for wage earners. Since most enterprises at present value the inventions, innovativeness, and adventure spirit

#### *Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

of wage earners, including technology, entrepreneurship, and independent work ability [4], enterprise employers hope to create new products, marketing models, and innovative operational models for the company through the wage earner's innovative entrepreneurial capability. Clearly, entrepreneurship is not only applied in entrepreneurial actions, but it is also displayed in employment-based work.

In the past, the main goal of entrepreneurship education is to encourage individuals to discover business opportunities that lead to enterprise development. Through appropriate learning processes, independent and autonomous entrepreneurship and attitudes can be developed [28]. Entrepreneurship education now emphasizes changes in attitudes, changes in knowledge and skills, feasibility, entrepreneurial intentions, socio-economic impact, entrepreneurial rate and corporate performance [29]. Emphasize that the core ability of entrepreneurship education is to cultivate students' entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial ability [30]. Entrepreneurship is a manifestation of innovation. Hence, some scholars have proposed the extension of entrepreneurship education - "innovation education" — hoping to identify, develop, and transform children's talents through various educational practices, turning students into future creators [31]. "Business start-up" or "entrepreneurial spirit" may be implemented at various stages in education, but they are most extensively covered in higher education [32], because students who enter society and the work environment after higher education are have to face a new phase and challenges, whether they seek employment or start their own business. Therefore, entrepreneurship education imparted in higher education can better enable students to apply their knowledge in the future. Entrepreneurship education from the previous classroom theory courses to the current combination of extracurricular activities, using life labs, internships, and internships to strengthen the knowledge learned in the classroom [14], or let students operate and simulate The process of starting a business allows students to truly experience the complete experience of starting a company. From Babson College's Entrepreneurship Program, Cambridge University's Graduate Entrepreneurship Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Entrepreneurship Education Program, Ireland's Kerry County Young Entrepreneur Program, and Renmin University of China's Entrepreneurship Program. In the content of the development plan, it can be found that the courses are all emphasizing the cultivation of students' entrepreneurial thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and practical entrepreneurial practice [33].

The number of students taking up innovative entrepreneurship programs in higher education in Taiwan has increased every year since 2011. Although the number of people enrolled in courses has declined slightly since 2017, the number of people enrolled still stood at more than 300,000, and in 2019 there were still 333,488 people enrolled. From 2011 to 2019, although the number of innovative entrepreneurship courses offered by technical colleges decreased from 11,846 to 8,671, the figure stabilized after 2013, with 8,000 to 9,000 courses set up. In 2020, 82 technical colleges in Taiwan offered business entrepreneurship related courses, such as entrepreneurship talent cultivation, cultural and creative industry experiential planning, entrepreneurs' experience sharing and practices, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and other micro-courses (**Figure 1**) [34].

The main objectives of innovative entrepreneurship courses promoted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) have changed and improved every year. The innovative entrepreneurship promoted from 2012 to 2014 aimed to lay the foundation for setting up innovative entrepreneurship courses in universities. From 2015 to 2016, with guiding changes in the campus entrepreneurship teaching environment as the main subject, entrepreneurship education was put into practice. In 2017,

#### **Figure 1.**

*Trend diagram of innovative entrepreneurship program courses in Taiwan's higher education from 2011 to 2019 [34].*

the companionship guidance by teams of coaches strengthened the continuity of conceptualization. From 2018 to 2019, entrepreneurship education on campus was deepened in order to cultivate students' problem-solving abilities. The "entrepreneurial management and action learning plan" and "fundraising practical learning program" were allotted. Through practical exercises, the rapid correction by student teams of innovative concepts was deepened, and the resource integration and problem-solving abilities of students were cultivated. The learning programs included formal school system inter-disciplinary curriculum module planning and non-credit short-term training courses. The course themes and hands-on activities included aspects such as "simulated learning platform of concept implementation combined with entrepreneurship practice", "concept implementation - business operation - company establishment - company closedown", and "concept proposal maker implementation - business model" [35].

In order to improve the overall quality of courses and establish an innovative entrepreneurship talent cultivation system on campus, the MOE promoted EC-SOS in 2020. In addition to continuing the "entrepreneurial management and action learning" and "fundraising practical learning" course modules from 2018 and 2019 and with the teachers' innovative teaching quality as a starting point, the capabilities of teachers have been linked with intensive course module training, and resources have been invested in the sites where teaching takes place, hoping to achieve complementary effects. This can also achieve the cultivation of talented people with entrepreneurship, start-up, and practical industrial experience, links between school R&D results and industrial needs, the enhancement of technical transfer and industry-academia cooperation opportunities, the creation of a virtuous circle of innovation and entrepreneurship, and consistency among innovative entrepreneurship campus policies, teaching imparted by teachers, and learning by students. The objectives and focuses of innovative entrepreneurship course promotion can be improved on the basis of generational changes and differences in the environment [35]. The objective of EC-SOS is to strengthen links among schools, industries, academia, and incubation organizations, thereby promoting key technology R&D in universities and colleges in line with industrial needs; campus innovation entrepreneurship course modules can also be promoted to convert

#### *Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

innovative knowledge and provide school funds, courses, and consultation to student entrepreneurship teams and innovative enterprises, thereby putting innovative incubation mechanisms into practice. An innovative start-up ecosystem can also gradually be constructed and activated on campus, thus encouraging students to have the courage to try new things.

In addition to the promotion of entrepreneurship education courses, in order to create opportunities for inter-school exchanges and paradigmatic teaching curriculum demonstrations, Taiwan's Ministry of Education has since 2016 promoted SOS-IPO. Using virtual fundraising means, a virtual entrepreneurial environment was created. Through courses conducted in stages, assistance is provided to teams, from concept development, prototype practice, to market model and market verification. The schools' maker spaces were combined to guide the course results through market verification and putting the start-up into practice, gradually implementing "entrepreneurship education" and prompting students to move towards "actual entrepreneurship". As of 2020, SOS-IPO has offered training to 64,129 students. There are 2,820 start-up teams in campuses leading to the establishment of 331 spin-off companies. The spin-off teams registered on actual fundraising platforms have raised NT\$22.18 million in total [2].

In order to create a better entrepreneurial learning environment for university and college students of innovation and entrepreneurship, the MOE has since 2020 established Taiwan's largest start-up platform Startup Terrace. As the starting point of experimental innovation and entrepreneurship applications, the platform has linked Taiwan's enterprise ecosystem, industries, and global markets. Startup Terrace has attracted at least 132 domestic and foreign teams to participate. This platform has established a bridge for contact between Taiwan and the world, making Taiwanese entrepreneurs seen by the world [1].

**Figure 2.** *The framework of SME entrepreneurship incubation measures [37].*

Under the impact of global competition, innovative transformation, and industrial upgrade, tertiary institutions in Taiwan are acclaimed for having shifted from independence and autonomy to collaboration with three sides, namely, society, industry and government. Innovation and entrepreneurship have been promoted in universities, more closely integrating the technology and knowledge of universities with industry [36]. The government has not only promoted entrepreneurship education at the tertiary education level, but has also continued to improve Taiwan's start-up services and environment. Promotional programs for counseling (the framework of entrepreneurship and incubation measures is as shown in **Figure 2**), assisting young people or women with business start-ups, or proposing relevant policies, this is all intended to optimize Taiwan's start-up environment. In order to assist entrepreneurial teams to develop and connect with the world, two programs were implemented at the Taiwan Tech Arena in 2020. The first was to domestically manage the Taiwan Tech Arena by importing world-class accelerators and domestic and foreign technology and innovation enterprises to set up bases in Taiwan and link with the supply chain resources of large enterprises; the second was to internationally connect with innovative and ecological international resources such as Silicon Valley. Teams were selected for training overseas and to participate in the InnoVex [37]. In addition to innovation and entrepreneurship education, Taiwan's government attaches importance to the business start-up situation of young graduates and provides related resources, supports start-up companies, and continues to promote the establishment of the most advantageous technology start-ups in Taiwan.

#### **4. Examples of entrepreneurship education**

Through the promotion of EC-SOS, the MOE has since 2012 adhered by the objective of improving innovation and entrepreneurship course quality in public and private universities, in hopes of establishing industrial links, linking industryacademia cooperation momentum, and promoting the startup trend. In order for readers to gain a better insight into the current situation of entrepreneurship education in Taiwan's higher education, the innovation and entrepreneurship promotion strategies promoted by two well-known universities in Taiwan are introduced below:

#### **4.1 National Yang Ming-Chiao Tung University**

The "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base" established by the National Yang Ming-Chiao Tung University is the incubation center of cross-departmental integrative school entrepreneurship and the development center of industrial accelerators and patent strategies [38]. In addition to offering entrepreneurship courses, one-stop services are created for start-up student teams. From the discovering of original technology on campus, seeking capital input, applying for government guidance, providing an entrepreneurial space, to entering domestic and overseas markets, the school assists in the commercialization of campus research results and assists students in moving towards commercialization through students' entrepreneurial ideas and innovative products. The school's entrepreneurship education courses include four aspects: basic courses, start-up initiation, team establishment, and resource expansion, as follows:

#### *4.1.1 Basic courses*

Entrepreneurship and innovation courses are linked to the unique strengths of alumni, EMBA, and technology, thereby connecting the Hsinchu Science Park, Industrial Technology Research Institute, and other industrial networks for industrial cultivation, in order to cultivate entrepreneurial leaders.

#### *4.1.2 Start-up initiation*

Entrepreneurship lab planning consists of three core parts: courses, incubation, and entrepreneurship. From the period of students' course selection to innovation and entrepreneurship initiation, start-up seminars and visits are regularly conducted with well-known foreign universities such as Stanford University.

#### *4.1.3 Team establishment*

Targeting entrepreneurship teams stationed on campus, entrepreneurial training, practical courses, and start-up seminars have been planned and imparted by successful international entrepreneurs, international angel investors, and domestic and foreign practitioners throughout. The courses are diverse and rich.

#### *4.1.4 Resource expansion*

Students were guided to expand their innovative global outlook and meet entrepreneurs from the United States, India, Japan, China, and European countries for a period of three months. The youth entrepreneurs were assisted in cultivating their international entrepreneurship.

One of the greatest features of entrepreneurship education at National Yang Ming-Chiao Tung University is one-stop service. From the development and implementation of students' initial creative idea to the final start-up actions, the school provides students with relevant consultations and services to increase students' chances of start-up success. Additionally, the school is located next to the Hsinchu Science Park. Due to the accessible location, both enterprise resources or manpower resources can be conveniently acquired, which further enable students to smoothly achieve relevant start-up success.

#### **4.2 National Kaohsiung University of science and technology**

The school has set up the Center for Entrepreneurship Education to promote innovation and entrepreneurship courses and activities [39]. Its entrepreneurship education can be divided into two parts. One is innovation and entrepreneurship courses; the other is innovation and entrepreneurship resources. The contents are as follows:

#### *4.2.1 Innovation and entrepreneurship courses*

Providing secondary expertise courses related to innovation management and entrepreneurship practice, creative innovation and entrepreneurship credit programs, maker micro-credits, inter-disciplinary practical projects, entrepreneurship practice – practical projects, innovation and entrepreneurship materials, and other innovation and entrepreneurship courses for students to take up.

#### *4.2.2 Innovation and entrepreneurship resources*

Campus Creative Idea Development Contests, Creative Star Class, Entrepreneurship Contest Scholarships and Grants, Practical Projects on Commercialized Value-Adding for University Students, Incentives for Postgraduates, Entrepreneurship Incubation Office, Micro Start-up Trials, and other activities are held for students.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Creative idea development contests*

In order to create a creative vibe on campus, the center conducts two creative idea development contests every year to encourage inter-departmental students to form teams to elicit more diverse inter-disciplinary creativity.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Creative star class*

Through training in the Creative Star Class and by guiding students through design thinking, business briefings, simulated exercises, and professional mentor guidance, the teams in the Creative Idea Development Contest can re-examine their implementation ability and strengthen the contents of proposals.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Entrepreneurship competition award subsidy*

Entrepreneurship Contest Scholarships and Subsidies Cash prizes awarded at each contest are subsidies with amounts of NT\$10,000 to NT\$20,000.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Practical project on commercialized value-adding for university students*

University students and practical projects are integrated to implement product or technology commercialization. A subsidy of up to NT\$40,000 shall be awarded for each case, provided a written business proposal is reviewed and approved.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Incentives for postgraduates*

A postgraduate student shall serve as a host. A subsidy of up to NT\$80,000 shall be awarded for each case, provided the postgraduate joins and is chosen as a finalist in an innovation and entrepreneurship contest designated by the school.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Entrepreneurship incubation office*

The center has set up seven incubation offices for potential start-up teams made up of teachers and students to apply for entry into the start-up preparatory office. Each team has an instructor and professional manager who offer companionship and guidance. They are fully supportive of the start-up team and assist in achieving start-up success.

#### *<IP_ADDRESS> Micro start-up trials*

Students and alumni are provided with a start-up space to have a chance to experience being an employer. Students will be able to creatively market products, engage in start-up trials, and directly face consumers reactions, thereby keeping abreast of current market situations.

A feature of entrepreneurship education at the school is the coordination of courses and practices. The school also provides start-up funds for students to substantively realize their start-up intention.

#### **5. The next generation of entrepreneurship education in Taiwan**

According to the 2019/2020 research survey results of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Taiwan's National Entrepreneurship Context

#### *Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

Index (NECI) is higher than that of the average of different countries. Cultural and social norms, physical infrastructure, market access control, internal market vitality, commercial and legal infrastructure, R&D result transformation, off-campus entrepreneurship education and training, school entrepreneurship education and training, government start-up plans, taxation, and administrative systems, government policies and entrepreneurial finance are some examples. In addition, the NES ranking reflects the technical transfer capability of academic and research institutions in Taiwan [1]. Taiwan ranks second in the world ranking, indicating that the government has provided many resources to support the practice of emerging and growing companies to commercialize. However, despite Taiwan's higher score in off-campus entrepreneurship education and training and in entrepreneurship education and training compared to the average score, there is still much room for improvement. This shows that more effort should be put in planning entrepreneurship education, cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit of students, willingness to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, or applying innovation and creativity at work. This will in turn lead to the creation of win-win benefits for oneself and companies.

In order to strengthen entrepreneurship education in higher education, the MOE has set up the SOS-IPO which provides a channel platform for students with innovative start-up ideas to raise funds in support of their start-up dream. In terms of off-campus entrepreneurship education, the MOE has planned the "U-start Plan for Innovation and Entrepreneurship" to encourage universities and colleges to optimize the innovation and entrepreneurship environment on campus, combine school incubation guidance resources, and provide youth with sites and resources to experiment with start-ups, cultivate entrepreneurship talents, and assist young students in start-up implementation [2]. This plan is promoted in two stages every year. In the first stage, off-campus youth groups file joint applications for start-up plans, while school incubation units file applications for guidance plans. Those that pass the selection will be subsidized with start-up funds in the amount of NT\$50,000. The subsidized teams will undergo 6-month start-up incubation counseling and training; for selected teams with excellent start-up performances in the second stage, the start-up teams that have passed subsidies in stage 1 and have completed company establishment and registration will file an application. Selected teams will receive a start-up scholarship/grant in the amount of NT\$250,000 to NT\$1,000,000. They will then receive counseling from the school incubation unit for one year. Furthermore, the MOE will carry out start-up consultation, counseling, and effectiveness tracking on start-up teams that have received subsidies and have achieved excellent performance [2].

The 2019/2020 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) conducted an analysis on the conditions of entrepreneurs from different countries during the early start-up stage. Among them, the NES ranking reflects the technical transfer capability of academic and research institutions in Taiwan. According to the GEM's E06 index, "in Taiwan, engineers and scientists have abundant resources and support towards ideas put forth and the commercialization implementation of emerging and growing companies" [1]. This makes it clear that young people in Taiwan have a sound start-up environment and many resources to support their start-up and realize their creativity. In recent years, Taiwan's government has actively promoted school entrepreneurship education and off-campus entrepreneurship education and has established platforms to assist students in raising funds to realize their start-ups. Projects are also funded to guide young people through start-ups. These measures are all intended to encourage young people to start their own business, bring new life into old economic modes, and promote economic development.

### **Acknowledgements**

This study was partially funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, with grant number MOST 110-2511-H-027-001.

### **Author details**

Jen-Chia Chang and Hsiao-Fang Shih\* Graduate Institute of Technological and Vocational Education, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

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*Entrepreneurship Education for the Next Generation of Higher Education in Taiwan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99435*

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#### **Chapter 2**

## The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship

*Hongyi Sun*

#### **Abstract**

It is widely believed that the technology-based entrepreneurship has great potential to increase wealth and competitiveness. Researchers believe that Technology-based Entrepreneurship Education (TEE) may raise students' awareness about the technology entrepreneurship and the opportunities for technology commercialization. However, TEE has a relatively shorter history than conventional entrepreneurship education in business schools and there are fewer cases. This paper will use a revised 4W1H framework to review existing models of TEE and then present the TIPE model that has been implemented at a university in Hong Kong since 2001 for master students. Educational and policy implications are explored finally.

**Keywords:** Entrepreneuship education (EE), technology-based entrepreneurship education (TEE), technology transfer (TT)

#### **1. Introduction**

The first entrepreneurship course was introduced as early as in the 1940s at Harvard University. In the 1970s, entrepreneurship education began to gain more attention and many business schools started to offer one or more courses in small business or entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education has developed very fast across the world since the 1990s until now [1–7]. Although entrepreneurship education growing fast, technology-based entrepreneurship education for engineering students was rather later and fewer [8, 9]. In a survey of 160 academic institutions, Streeter et al. [10] found that entrepreneurship-related courses have been offered in nearly 90% of the bachelor programs in business schools while less than 40% engineering bachelor programs contain entrepreneurship courses. On research side, Bailetti [11] reviewed 93 articles on technology entrepreneurship, but none of these articles is related to technology-based entrepreneurship education (TEE).

It has been widely believed that the technology-based entrepreneurship has great potential to increase wealth and competitiveness at both national level [12, 13] and regional level [14]. Researchers believe that Technology Entrepreneurship Education (TEE) may raise students' awareness about the entrepreneurial opportunities for technology and commercialization [15]. Starting a new company (entrepreneurship) or a new business in an existing company (intrapreneurship) is the final step to commercialize a new technology via providing values to the end users.

This paper will first use the 4W1H framework by Fayolle [16] to review previous TEE models and then summarize the basic factors and TEE model as well as its difference from market-driven entrepreneurship. The paper will then introduce the TIPE Model (Technology-Idea-Product-Enterprise) as a detailed example with a view to elaborate the 4W1H framework at the operational level. The PIPE model was implemented in a course titled Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship for master students since 2001 in one department and now has expanded to five master programs in systems engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, healthcare & bio-engineering and electronical engineering as an elective or core course.

#### **2. Literature review of previous TEE models**

In this section, the 4W1H framework by Fayolle [16] is used to systematically review eight previous models on TEE courses or programs in engineering schools. The 4W1H framework by Fayolle [16] contains five dimensions: i.e., "For whom" (the audience or students), "Why" (the objectives), "What" (the contents), "How" (the teaching methods) and "For which results" (the evaluation and assessment levels). Another dimension is added in this paper, i.e., "By who" (the offering schools/departments). This structure is very similar to other review papers on entrepreneurship courses or programs (e.g., [9, 17]). The structured review is illustrated in **Table 1** and elaborated below.

#### **2.1 The audiences (whom)**

The reviewed models serve either undergraduate or postgraduate students or both (graduate students in US terms in some reference such as [15]). They range from a single course, a minor program or a multi-semester program. For those undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in engineering schools, a concern is how the credits from those entrepreneurship courses can be recognized in an engineering field. Lacking space and time for elective credits in engineering degree programs is a major and common barrier to entrepreneurship courses for engineering students Standish-Kuon, [8]. This is not a big problem in the business school since entrepreneurship courses are accepted as management or management related courses. For master level courses or programs, it is not very clear whether the TEE course is a credit bearing course in a master program or an extra curriculum course (e.g., [21]).

#### **2.2 The objectives (why)**

Markham et al. [15] believe that TEE may raise their awareness about the entrepreneurial opportunities to promote technology commercialization. There are basically two types of objectives among the reviewed programs/courses, namely, a) nurturing students' generic entrepreneurial skills and enhance entrepreneurial awareness [18, 23], b) nurturing students' entrepreneurial skills and enhance entrepreneurial awareness based on new technologies. Three courses claim their objectives are launching, managing, and growing technology-based businesses which can be regarded as TEE (e.g., [15, 21]). Therefore, not all entrepreneurship programs/ courses for or by engineering schools are necessarily TEE. Some course or programs offered by engineering schools can be similar to those offered at the business school except the audiences are engineering students.

#### **2.3 The contents (what)**

All entrepreneurship courses and programs offer pretty similar set of contents including creativity, innovation, opportunity identification and business plan.

#### *The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99287*

**Table 1.**

*The review of previous TEE models based on the 4W1H framework [16].*

However, TEE courses and programs provide unique contents on technology search and identification, new product development and intellectual property etc., which normal EE courses may not need to cover. This is perhaps the major uniqueness of TEE in terms of the content.

#### **2.4 The method (how)**

Talking about the teaching methods, the business schools have traditionally used case study method but more new methods are being adopted such as action learning, project-based learning and team learning. Whether the entrepreneurship projects will be presented to real investors for investment depends on the relationship with industries and the support from the universities.

In relation to teaching approach to initiate the entrepreneurship project, EE in business schools is mostly based on the market-pull approach while TEE courses in engineering schools are technology-push approach [24, 25]. The "Turning Technology into Business" approach is a clear example of technology-push [21]. Business schools follows the following path: Market opportunity, customer need, a product idea and business plan while. In contrast, the TEE course follows the path from technology identification, business idea, product concept, and then business plan with a view to transferring the technologies and at the same time solve a problem.

The two different approach was even reported in the same university, for example, MIT [25]. The grand challenge project by the X Prize Lab at MIT takes a very obvious "market-pull" approach. Students identify a market need first via the empathy with customers and then think about how to solve it later. However, the Innovation Teams course at MIT takes a technology-push approach by which students develop commercialization strategies for MIT ready technologies.

#### **2.5 The results (for which)**

Talking about the assessment of the results, there are two levels on the reviewed courses and program [16]. One level is the contribution to the community development and economy and the other level is the success of the programs in terms of startup new companies. However, as an education course or program, there is a missing in the assessment of students learning. No references report the detail learning assessment criteria and the methods to assess the learning objectives of the courses or programs, which most teachers will be interested to know.

#### **2.6 The deliver (by who)**

Traditional entrepreneurship courses and programs are mostly offered by business schools, the offers are very obvious. However, for those entrepreneurship courses in engineering schools, who offer these courses is a concern and an important issue. Standish-Kuon (2002) reported three models in terms of who is the host schools of engineering entrepreneurship courses, namely, business school (model A), engineering school (model B) and combined (model C). Among the TEE courses/programs reviewed in this paper, two are offered by business schools [9, 20, 21], four are offered by engineering schools [15, 19, 22, 23] and only one is offered jointly by engineering and business school [18].

After reviewing and comparing the above eight TEE models, it can be found that technology-based entrepreneurship (TEE) education programs offered by engineering schools or in collaborations with business schools aim to teach engineering students to identify business opportunities from existing or under developing technologies with a view to transferring and commercializing the technologies

from universities to research laboratories. The teaching approach by TEE is mainly based on technology-push strategy. The audiences are mainly science and engineering students but business and other students are not excluded. Technology-based entrepreneurship education (TEE) incorporates the key elements of conventional entrepreneurship education, but concentrates on the creation of economic value from technology and innovation [20]. The direction and objectives of TEE are very obvious and unique. However, a major problem with the programs and courses reviewed is that they miss a clear and simple model on the operational level. The model and details are still general (maybe due to space limitation in the papers) and the assessment of student learning is mostly missing.

It is necessary to distinguish the EE by business schools from the TEE in engineering schools since the audience and teaching approaches are different [18]. Back to the 1990s, there has been EE courses offered to science and engineering students. However, these courses are not necessarily technology-based entrepreneurship but similar to traditional EE. The only difference is the audiences (target students). Authors suggested that TEE programs should be designed differently especially when it is taught to engineering students [18, 20]. In the next section, a model for TEE at a university in Hong Kong will be introduced.

#### **3. The TIPE model for teaching technology entrepreneurship**

The TIPE is an acronym stands for Technology, Idea, Product and Enterprise. The TIPE model is a step-by-step concise and effective teaching tool that aims to help students to identify technologies, generate new business ideas, design a new product and finally develop a simple business plan. The PIPE model was implemented in a course titled Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship for a master program and doctor students since 2001. The TIPE model will be introduced following the 5W1H model [16] as highlighted in **Table 2** and elaborated below.

#### **3.1 The audience (for whom)**

A course based on the TIPE model was first offered in 2001 for a master program in manufacturing engineering and engineering management. The students are both part-time and full-time. The class sizes range from 50 to 80. So as to the background, most students have a bachelor degree in engineering or science subjects while a few from management schools majoring in information systems or technology management. For the moment, about 60% are from mainland China, 15% from Europe (mostly from France) and 25% from local.

Now it is planned to be expanded to 5 master programs in its college of engineering including system engineering and engineering management (core), bio-engineering (core), mechanical engineering (elective), e-commerce and computer science (elective), and electrical and electronical engineering (elective). For this expansion, two or more classes will be offered due to the number of students increase.

#### **3.2 The deliverer (by who)**

The course was developed and offered by the Department of Advanced Design and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering. The course was run by one lecturer plus one tutor plus one or two guest speakers with entrepreneurial experiences. Students can also join entrepreneurship competitions run by Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and the other external organizations.

*The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99287*

> **Table 2.**

*The PIPE model for teaching technology-based entrepreneurship.*

#### **3.3 The objectives (why)**

The course based on the TIPE model aims to train students to identify business ideas from new technologies of their interest with a view to commercializing the technologies via new startups. The objective is shortened as turning engineers into technology entrepreneurs or technology transfer service and consultation in the future. One uniqueness of this TIPE model is the step by step process along which the learning objectives of students can be elaborated and implemented. Along the 4 steps of the PIPE model, the student learning objectives under the outcome-based education theory are:

#### **3.4 The content (what)**

The content of this course is highlighted by the TIPE model, including abilities to identify technologies, generate new business ideas, design a new product and finally develop a simple business plan, which are corresponding to discovery, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The course was designed to be a 39-hours course bearing 3 credits according to the credit calculation formula by the university. The course was run in one semester. So far there is no concern about the credit in terms of time and space for this technology entrepreneurship course since it is either a core or elective designed into the master and doctor programs.

The content of this course is at the stage of preparing technology-based entrepreneurship. Implementation is not a compulsory due to time limitation. In the future, the implementation or execution should be considered. That means more hours or courses will be needed. One course is not sufficient to deal with both preparation and the implementation.

#### **3.5 The method (how)**

The TIPE model was designed to guide student-centered learning from multidisciplinary perspectives. The course is based on a team project. The team contains of 5–8 students. The final outcome is a business plan to pitch to an industrial panel. The project is also the learning vehicle, by which students work together and learn collaboratively. The course is process-oriented. It goes step by step along the TIPE model. Students know where they are at any time. However, process orientation does not mean the learning is a linear process instead, there are a lot of back and forth along the process, which students have to get familiar with. The course following the philosophy of learning by doing or experiential learning. It is student centered: i.e., the course is for the students, the project is run by the students, and ideas come from the students. At each step, students know what to do and how to do. Teachers are more or less a facilitator and helper. Case studies are used to the minimum level while mini-cases are presented as examples to stimulate students. The technology-push action case is encouraged for engineering students. For example, we normally started with previous student examples of our university. The following is a recent one:

#### *The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99287*

An engineer developed a tiny equipment that can generate various types of smell and registered in the US and China Patent Offices. That research project finished! A group of students who were involved in an entrepreneurship competition try to use this patent technology to develop new products. The end of the day, the proposal is a new VR with smells of flowers! They joined the local competition and earned the ticket to join the poster competition in the US Grand Challenge Scholar Program.

Then two assignments will follow the mini-cases for students to practice the concept "from technology to product ideas":

To initiate the team projects, the students will be encouraged to search patents database of the university as well as any other public patents sources that the students may get access to with a view to looking for technologies that they are familiar with and interested in. They can also talk to their technical professors that they are familiar with during previous bachelor studies about this possibility to commercialize the professors' technologies. In the past years, roughly 40% technologies are from university patent data base, 30% from public patent websites, 10% from students' previous studies and 10% from others sources such as their own research, companies and parents.

Although technology-push approach is strongly recommended in this course, it does not mean the market-pull approach is excluded. A few students who do not have technological backgrounds may come out of business ideas based on a market need. But they are encouraged to look for technologies to solve the problem so that their projects are still regarded as technology-based. If they still cannot make a technologybased project, they are advised to join other teams based on technologies.

#### **3.6 The assessment (for which result)**

There are two levels of assessment criteria and assessment scheme, one is about the assessment of student learning while the other is about the effectiveness of the course in terms of startup or contribution to the community. As a credit bearing formal course, the top important one is the assessment of student learning since the all students joining the course has to be graded.

The student outcomes assessment under the TIPE model cover two aspects, namely, the accomplishment in terms of the learning objectives and the preparation of a simple business plan. The assessment scheme is based on continuous assessment philosophy at 4 major milestones by presentation or discussion with the lecturer/tutor, as shown in **Table 2**. The assessment reports include: the technology search report, the business idea report, the product design report and finally the Business plan report for pitching to industry panel.

The whole assessment scheme includes class activities and assignment (30%), group project (30%), final test (30%) and within team peer assessment (10%). The within team peer assessment was introduced recent years since it was found that some students tended to take a lift during the whole semester. It was also found that the peer assessment can pretty easily identify those who take a free ride.

The course based on the TIPE model can be regarded as successful from education perspective. Students' feedback are very positive and the teacher got teaching excellence award twice for this course. However, there is no data to justify whether it is a successful course in term of real technology commercialization and startups. There are mainly two reasons to explain this.

First, the master program is a one year program for full-time students and two years for part-time students. For the moment, the course is in the last semester and focuses on the preparation stage and does not require the implementation due to time and resources limitation. The part-time students will be busy with their work and will not have additional time to follow up the startup of a companies, while the full time students will leave the universities for jobs one year after and do not have time to utilize the startup supports from the TTO and the government. Some students are international and will go back to their home countries after the graduation.

Second, although the university encourages technology commercialization and promulgated a very clear policy on technology commercialization, the academic promotion and annual evaluation of the faculties (researchers) are still based on academic performance like publishing academic papers and raising research fund. Academic faculties are happy to support the students who selected their technologies in their project but will not have time and incentives to go further for real commercialization afterwards.

#### **4. Discussions and implications**

Technology-based Entrepreneurship is related to discovery, creativity, invention, innovation and technology, which are likely to be confused and are difficult to be taught in one course [26]. It is not useful to discuss which covers which since there are overlapping. The TIPE model distinguishes discovery, creativity, and innovation and entrepreneurship, focuses on the core of these concepts and then integrates them into one model. It is based on the technology-push approach to support technology transfer, although the market-pull approach is not forbidden since a few students do not have strong engineering backgrounds.

The PIPE model is not only for designing and developing a TEE course, but most importantly also for the students to learn the course by doing the projects. The model should be simple and clear without too complicated managerial theories and concepts. Engineering students are relatively logical and linear thinkers and are action oriented. They are weak in management theories. So the model has to be simple, concise, visual and easy to remember and understand at the first glance and then can be elaborated step by step. **Figure 1** is the simplified visual version of the TIPE model shown to students in the first introduction class. The diamonds stands for so-called diamond thinking, starting with divergent thinking and ending with convergent thinking.

The TIPE model has been running for many years and will be expanded to more master programs. The preparation of this paper provides an opportunity to study previous TEE models, review the TIPE model and the course, identify limitations and explore implications for future development. The paper and the program trigger the following discussions.

#### **Figure 1.**

*The TIPE model for teaching and learning technology-based entrepreneurship.*

#### **4.1 The collaboration between business schools and engineering schools for an interdisciplinary program**

Talking about the content, the course based on the TIPE model covers only the stage of preparing technology-based entrepreneurship. Implementation is not a compulsory. In the future, the implementation or execution should be considered. One course is not sufficient to deal with both preparation and the implementation in one semester. That means more hours or more courses are needed for the implementation in terms of investment, marketing, company management, and company registration etc. For a master program in engineering direction, there will be space and time limitation to include more management courses. So a more entrepreneurship oriented program jointly offered by business and engineering school may solve the problem. This focused program may be run by the college of engineering, instead of individual departments. If students are weak in management, it will be difficult to implement the business plan.

This limitation is not alone with the TIPE model. Audretsch et al. [27] found that technological entrepreneurs out of the university context focus much more on the scientific and technological aspects of their start-up ideas than managerial aspects. When reviewing a TEE self-study manual by Swamidass [28], Hutchinson [29] found out the major weakness is the insufficient coverage of business model and the business plan. This is perhaps a common problem in other TEE courses as well. How to turn engineers into entrepreneurs need not only technology but also managerial contents. With only one course on entrepreneurship is a good beginning to plant the seeds of technology entrepreneurship but may not be sufficient to prepare technological entrepreneurship in terms of business model and business plan, which can be two separate courses in a MBA program by business schools. This problem is related to both the content, the length of the course or program and the deliverers of the course. This implies that the collaboration between business school and engineering school is necessary to develop an interdisciplinary comprehensive program on TEE.

#### **4.2 The balance between technology-push and market-pull to see the two sides of the same coin**

As the previous models of TEE, the teaching methods in the TIPE model include team-based project, student centered learning, and pitch to an industry panel etc., which will be maintained in the TIPE model in the future. However, these methods are not really unique with TEE. What is really unique and special with TEE is the way to initiate the entrepreneurial project. As reviewed before, there are two opposite approaches to initiate entrepreneurial projects, namely, market-pull and technologypush [24]. It is very obvious that the TIPE model is based on the technology-push approach. Having said that, it does not mean market is ignored along the TIPE process. Comparing the two different approaches used simultaneously by two programs, respectively, at MIT, Wolfson [25] believes that market-pull and technology-push is the two sides of the same coin of entrepreneurship. A successful startup needs both a well-defined problem to solve and a well-formed technology that solves the problem. However, a project has to start somewhere, either market or technology. Technologybased entrepreneurship from the technology transfer perspective will start with technology normally. But no matter where to start with, the market need or the problem (the pain) and the technology or solution will meet sooner or later. It is only a time issue. In fact, it is better for the technological solution and the market need to meet as early as possible to justify the match or fit. Whenever talking about a match, it involves two sides, like a man and a women in love. Consistent with the discussions on the content, TEE students need to know both technological and managerial

concepts like customer and market need in order to match and integrate both. Munro and Noori [24] has recommended the integration between the market-pull and the technology-push approaches in new product development. The balance mindset between the technology and the market should be introduced into TEE.

While we emphasize the priority of technology-push in this paper, it does not mean all technology-based entrepreneurship course always starts with a technology. Kang and Lee [30] report a capstone course of technology entrepreneurship at a software department, where students identify a social problem first and then try to solve the social problem with technologies like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and sensors.

#### **4.3 The balance of short term and long terms effectiveness of TEE**

In the assessment of the TEE effectiveness at community level, some TEE models report cases of startup after the course running. Number of startups is attractive and impressive and should be encouraged. However, the number of short term startups may not reflect the real future potential of TEE from education point of view [10]. Pretty much research on what factors influence the intention and action of students and finally becoming entrepreneurs in the future has been conducted in the context of EE in business schools. The effectiveness of TEE from a long term perspectives has not been well researched. Such research on TEE seems to be at the preliminary stage without solid theoretical basis (i.e., Militaru et al. [31, 32]). The theory of planned behavior (TPB)[33] and empirical research methods (i.e., [7, 34]) can be applied in the TEE context as well.

#### **4.4 Downstream entrepreneurship policy**

As discussed before, there are two levels of outcome of entrepreneurship courses. One is student learning in terms of achieving learning objectives while the other is the effectiveness of the course in terms of startup or contribution to real technology transfer and commercialization. Since a course normally lasts just one semester, it normally ends with preparation of a business plan and there is not enough time and resources to implement what students have proposed in the course. Therefore, there should be relevant downstream policies for going further.

Nelson and Monsen [35] reviewed several references on technology commercialization and concluded that technology commercialization coves a broad range of activities, including startups, spinouts, licensing, collaboration, contract research, consulting and open innovation [36–39]. Therefore, it is necessary to explore relevant policies in the following areas:

How to encourage students to go further to implementation? Where students can find investment? Where students can find managerial training and supports? Where students can find support to explore potential clients and market? Where students can find suppliers and materials? Are there sufficient incubation capacity in the community? Are there relevant tax polices for new technology start-up?

#### **5. Conclusions**

This paper reviewed previous models on TEE and reveals that entrepreneurship education (EE) and engineering entrepreneurship education (EEE) are not very different except audiences and delivering departments. However, TEE and EE are quite different in terms of the objectives, the contents and especially the teaching

*The TIPE Model for Teaching Technology-Based Entrepreneurship DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99287*

approaches. What makes TEE special is the technology-push approach and the possibility to be linked with another stream of research and education, namely, technology transfer (TT).

The TIPE model introduced in this paper distinguishes technology, creativity, and innovation and entrepreneurship and then integrates them into one processoriented model. It helps to remove the confusion among creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The TIPE model belongs to the category of TEE in term of the audience, objectives and teaching approach. The TIPE model is implemented in a one-semester course for master programs in an engineering school. The step by step continuous assessment of student learning was reported. However, the effectiveness in terms of students' startups cannot be justified yet since it focuses on the preparation stage due to time limitation.

There are a few limitations of the paper which can lead to future research. First, compared with entrepreneurship education at business schools, there are not many examples of technology-based entrepreneurship models to review. This can be enhanced in the future if more cases emerge. Second, although the TIPE model have been implemented for some times, we did not conduct assessment yet. The assessment models by Kazakeviciute et al. [9] and Purzer et al. [40] can be adopted for this purpose. Finally, this paper reviews the TEE at a course level, future research can also review TEE at program level. There was report of technology entrepreneurship course for PhD student [41], which was not included in this paper since this paper covers only undergraduate level. Of course, the policy issues for downstream technology entrepreneurship action will be a new area of future research. Whatever, the review and the model in this paper can be a reference for any teacher to develop technology-based entrepreneurship education courses.

#### **Acknowledgements**

This paper was supported by the Strategic Public Policy Research Funding Scheme from the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the Government of the HKSAR (S2020.A1.033.20S) and an Applied Research Grant (ARG 9667215) by the City University of Hong Kong.

#### **Author details**

Hongyi Sun

Department of Advanced Design and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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#### **Chapter 3**

## The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students in Vietnam

*Cuong Nguyen*

### **Abstract**

For recent decades, entrepreneurial intent and start-up movement have gained the intensive attention from business graduates and policymarkers around the world. Recently, Vietnam strategized to become a "start-up" nation and entrepreneurship has emerged as an important issue for both academic research and economic development policies. This fact has drawn scholar's attention to what intrinsic and extrinsic antecedents and determinants might shape such decisionmaking away from seemingly more secure corporate and government jobs toward an entrepreneurial career. Since that phenomenon, the entrepreneurial intention is widely discussed and studied worldwide. Across emerging economies in Asia, entrepreneurial intention studies have been conducted in many countries. However, the reason and determinants of entrepreneurial intention still lack empirical. The call for further research in entrepreneurial intention encourages the research question: "What intrinsic and extrinsic determinants impact the decision (intent and agency) of business students in Vietnam to become entrepreneurs?". This book chapter provides the answers and implications for the research question mentioned.

**Keywords:** entrepreneurial intention, antecedents, determinants, business students, Vietnam

#### **1. Introduction**

This chapter reports the results and implications of the antecedents and determinants of entrepreneurial intention among business students in Vietnam from the author's doctoral thesis [1]. It is essential to investigate the antecedents and determinants that influence Vietnamese people's entrepreneurial intention to promote entrepreneurial activities. In this research, the target to research entrepreneurial intention is young business graduates and business students in Vietnam. Kent [2] Entrepreneurship at the school level aims to nurture students as job creators and not job seekers. Moreover, people mostly decide to establish their firms between the ages of 25 to 34 [3]. Therefore, it is significant to measure the entrepreneurial intention of young business graduates and business students in the Vietnamese context. The significance of entrepreneurship has been widely appreciated. The entrepreneurial intention is considered the first step in establishing new ventures leading to

entrepreneurial activities. It is significant to transform a potential entrepreneur into a nascent one. Many academic pieces of research on different aspects of entrepreneurship are on the rise [4]. Among those aspects, the entrepreneurial intention has become an exciting topic for academicians in developed countries and rising among developing countries and especially emerging economies, including large transitional economies like China and Russia. Inevitably, the changes in market structure and economic policies in developing and transitional economies tremendously expand new venture creations and entrepreneurial activities. As a result, to understand and identify better the external and internal factors and mechanisms that impact entrepreneurial intent and agency, this book chapter will contribute in four ways:

Firstly, scholars will add a new theory that includes a comprehensive conceptual framework of intrinsic and extrinsic factors and their related relationships. Scholars can use this theory to understand Vietnam's entrepreneurial structure better and develop it into a complete integrated model in the future.

Secondly, the work benefits from a new theory for entrepreneurial research scholars in Vietnam, but it also determines which decisive factors are vital, universal, and identify with differences in the context of research in Vietnam.

Thirdly, this book chapter is intended to enrich references to startups' characteristics, motives, and prefixes. The theoretical and experimental overview results from model testing will provide additional experimental evidence in the Vietnamese context.

Lastly, the stakeholders of entrepreneurial activities will have more facilities to promote their entrepreneurial intention among Vietnamese youth. Angel investors or hedge funds in the entrepreneurial sector can rely on the project's research results to better view the entrepreneurial movement of Vietnam's youth. In addition, policymakers can refer to the recommendations in the works to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese youth to start their businesses to solve jobs for young people and enhance socio-economic development for Viet Nam. Entrepreneurial strategies must nurture a supportive and favorable business environment to transform potential entrepreneurs into nascent ones. Nascent entrepreneurs will not only be self-employed but also will be job creators for others. Business graduates tend to be self-employed and are less attracted to be organizational employees [5]. In rigorous recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention research, many Vietnamese academicians started researching the topic [6–11] but it is still not sufficient literature in comparison with other emerging economies Asian region. This fact calls for further researches on entrepreneurial intention in the Vietnamese context.

#### **2. The outlook of entrepreneurial intention research**

#### **2.1 Global perspective of entrepreneurial intention**

The intention to start a business or decision to become an entrepreneur has become an increasingly popular phenomenon among business graduates worldwide [12] and more recently in an emerging economy, Vietnam [13]. The intention to start a business is of interest to academics studying startups because the intent of a purposeful behavior can be a press against that behavior [14]. This fact has attracted the attention of scholars about the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can shape entrepreneurial decision-making [4, 15]. Since that phenomenon, the intention to start a business has been discussed and studied widely worldwide. For instance, Fatoki [16] studied entrepreneurial intention of students in South Africa. Teixeira

*The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99798*

et al. [17] researched entrepreneur's intention and Entrepreneurship in European countries. Across emerging economies in Asia, research on entrepreneurial intention has been conducted in Singapore, China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Vietnam [1, 6, 13, 18–22]. However, the reasons and decisive factors of starting a business still lack experimental evidence [4, 23]. Researchers worldwide have called for further research into entrepreneurial intention, which encourages the development of the research question of this work: "What intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the decision of business students in Vietnam to become entrepreneurs?". Antonioli et al. [24] report two types of motivation for performing a task: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. When reality motivates a person to act for pleasure or challenge requires something and not external benefits, pressures or rewards [25]. Extrinsic motivation is a structure that involves an operation carried out to achieve some results. Extrinsic motivation is, therefore, the opposite of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation refers to carrying out an operation to enjoy the operation rather than its tool value [25].

#### **2.2 Vietnamese perspective of entrepreneurial intention**

In order to promote entrepreneurial activities, it is essential to study the prefixes and decisive factors affecting the entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese people. In this research, the survey subjects are graduates who have started their businesses and business students in Vietnam. Kent [2] argues that universitylevel unemployment aims to train students as job creators and not job miners. Moreover, people mostly decide to set up their company between the ages of 25 and 34. The importance of startups has been appreciated and widely appreciated in the current society of Vietnam. The intention to start a business is an essential in entrepreneurial research. The decisive factors of starting a business in general still lack empirical evidence [4, 23], especially in the Vietnamese context. In order to seriously recognize the importance of entrepreneurial research and entrepreneurial intention, many Vietnamese scholars have begun to study this topic [1, 6, 7, 9–11], but it still does not have enough theoretical basis compared to other emerging economies in Asia. According to Nguyen and Phan [26], young Vietnamese have great enthusiasm, openness, responsibility and materialistic entrepreneurial characteristics, and relatively low risk and confidence. The needs and motivations of youth entrepreneurship include physical and psychological needs. Tran et al. [13] state that the situational element is considered to be the antecedent of personal attitudes and, in return, is expected to affect business intentions. Nguyen [1] investigate the significant and direct relationship between subjective norms and entrepreneurial intention in the context of Vietnam's transition economy. The results show that although structural support has a positive impact on business attitude and control of perceived behavior, it also has a negative impact on subjective norms and entrepreneurial intentions. Phong et al. [21] suggest that if business students in Vietnam lack confidence in their ability to start a business, they should receive more training and education to develop soft skills, rather than focusing solely on textbook knowledge. Do and Dung [27] shows that subjective norms did not directly affect entrepreneurial intention; however, they had a strong indirect influence on entrepreneurial intention through entrepreneurial self-efficacy, attitude toward entrepreneurship, and perceived behavioral control. Maheshwari [22] suggested that educational support has no impact on entrepreneurial intentions, but individual factors such as self-efficacy, risk propensity and need for power and all the Theory of Planned Behavior's components influenced entrepreneurial intentions. Nguyen [28] tried to predict the influences of various factors on the entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates and

postgraduates in Vietnam. This fact requires further research on the intention to start a business in the socio-economic context of Vietnam.

#### **3. Research methods**

This chapter consists of three papers consecutively. The first paper consists of two parts: part 1-A and part 1-B. Part 1-A investigates the entrepreneurial intention of business students in Vietnam by applying Planned Behavior Theory (TPB) [29, 30]. Part 1-A uses Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and data were collected from 250 Vietnamese business students. The results are consistent with many previous studies that concluded that attitudes toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms and perceived behavior control are positively related to starting a business. Part 1-B investigates the entrepreneurial intention of international business students in the context of Vietnam becoming a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and it is now officially known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Part 1-B uses Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and multiple regression data from 372 international business students. The study results confirm that attitudes toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavior control positively affect students' entrepreneurial intention. Subjective norms do not make a significant impact on the intention to start a business.

The second paper [31] assess the influences of demographic factors, experience with previous self-employment and family background on the entrepreneurial intention of business students in Vietnam. The sample size include 272 respondents who come from Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry. FPT University and Nguyen Tat Thanh University. Data analysis methods include Independent Sample T-test and One-way ANOVA. Demographic factors include gender, age and education level, family background, including parental employment status and parental immigration status.

The third paper [32] aims to qualitatively investigate the intent to start a business using the theoretical framework provided by Planned Behavior Theory (TPB). The study uses two stages of a face-to-face interview in a semi-structured direction. In the first phase, a select set of samples sampled without probability was used to interview 20 business students (12 men and 8 women, ages 21 to 26). The second phase is a post-hoc study on the entrepreneurial motivations of 15 Vietnamese entrepreneurs (10 men and 5 women, aged 28 to 45). Post-hoc is a logical fallacy in which an event is believed to be the cause of a later event simply because it occurred earlier. The study results confirm the validity of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in explaining the entrepreneurial intention of business students and the practical experience of small business owners already. Theory of Planned Behavioral (TPB) contributes mainly to explaining the decision to become an entrepreneur of business students. The study also found that other factors such as contextual factors, driving factors from the external environment and factors that wish to improve and innovate could influence the entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese youth.

#### **4. Results**

The chapter concludes with an integrated conceptual framework that includes intrinsic and extrinsic factors to understand Vietnamese entrepreneurial intention better. The implications for theory can support future research on an integrated research model. The research question of this chapter is "What intrinsic and

*The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99798*

extrinsic determinants impact upon the decision (intent and agency) of business students in Vietnam to become entrepreneurs?". The following table concludes the influences of the Theory of Planned Behavior [29] on Entrepreneurial Intention (**Table 1**).

The first paper affirms the validity of the application of TPB planned behavior theory in predicting the intention to start a business in Vietnam. However, part 1-B does not affirm that subjective norms are a significant decisive factor to the entrepreneur's intention of international business students in Vietnam. Therefore, these findings from this work raised conformity to include subjective norms in the model to measure entrepreneurial intention. In addition, Elfving et al. [33] stated that proven social norms are poorly capable of predicting predictability, both theoretically and experimentally. In addition, Antonioli et al. [24] report that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are also influenced by the context in which individuals are present. Social norms hinder or enhance an individual's intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation in performing a behavior. This reasoning also applies to motivating startups. Therefore, further research is needed to clarify the Planned Behavioral Theory model [29] in various contexts worldwide. The goal is to assess conformity and whether subjective norms are the deciding factor for starting a business.

The following table illustrated all contributions of the second paper to the theory by identifying the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention (**Table 2**) [31]:

The second paper [31] determines whether demographic factors, family backgrounds, and prior exposure to self-employment affect students' entrepreneurial ideas. These findings are expected to contribute to the literature by identifying the premises of entrepreneurial intention among business students in the Vietnamese context. These findings confirm that Vietnamese students are more likely to choose to start a business as a career option than female students. From the findings, it is clear that gender is an essential factor in starting a business. In the context of Viet Nam, women are more likely to spend time and effort taking care of family life than participating in business activities. Recent research in Vietnam confirms that Vietnamese men are more likely to participate in entrepreneurial activities than women [34]. Besides, Kaya et al. [35] confirm that male students are more likely to establish their own firms than female students in Northern Cyprus and East Germany.

Meanwhile, other studies report that there are no meaningful differences between men and women regarding starting a business [36–40]. This fact calls for more research to investigate what obstacles or barriers prevent women from participating in business activities. Comparative research between different contexts should be conducted to determine whether gender is an essential determinant of entrepreneurial intention. Another contribution to the theory is that the results in this section confirm no significant difference between the age group and the entrepreneur's intention of the business student. This result is surprising because it is not consistent with many previous studies. In general, people believe

**Table 1.**

*The influences of the theory of planned behavior [29] on entrepreneurial intention.*

#### **Table 2.**

*The confirmation of demographic and family background factors as antecedents of entrepreneurial intention in Viet Nam.*

that they will mostly decide to set up their company between the ages of 25 and 34 [3, 23], and older people are less likely to start a business than young people [41–44]. This fact has led to Vietnam calling for further research to determine if age is an essential determinant of entrepreneurial intention, especially in different contexts worldwide. Based on the above study results, it is not enough to conclude whether the intention to start a business will decrease over time or other unknown factors that reduce the entrepreneurial intention of the elderly. At the educational level, this find concludes that there is no significant difference between the educational levels in terms of the entrepreneurial intention of a business student. This result is not a surprise because the relationship between higher education in the general and entrepreneurial spirit, in general, is not so strong and remains controversial [45, 46].

As a result of the study, there is insufficient clear experimental evidence to conclude that education is an essential factor in the intention to start a business in Vietnam. However, this result generated a call for more research as other researchers still confirmed a positive relationship between education and entrepreneurial spirit [47–51]. Regarding past experience and self-employment experience, the surprising results are not confirmation that students with prior self-employment experience show greater dependence than students with no experience. Self-employed before. These results are in contrast to other studies that confirm a positive relationship between prior experience in self-employment and entrepreneurial intention. Previous self-employment experience should be an essential element of entrepreneurship [50, 52–57]. Regarding family background, the results did not identify any relationship between family background and entrepreneurial intentions of business students. There is not enough statistical evidence to conclude that children of self-employed parents exhibit higher entrepreneurial intentions than children whose parents are not self-employed. The results also do not confirm that children of immigrant parents have higher entrepreneurial intentions than children of nonimmigrant parents. These results contribute to the literature by affirming that family background does not significantly affect entrepreneurial intention. Meanwhile, the relationship between role models and entrepreneurial spirit has been confirmed by numerous studies around the world [40, 50, 52, 58–62].

The third paper [32] uses in-depth interviews to further probe into the realities of individuals, to understand the decisive factors in the theory, including the whole complexity and cause-and-effect relationship in the field of study. The study results in the third paper confirm the validity of the Planned Behavior Theory (TPB) model in predicting actual entrepreneurial behavior through the lens of quad quadstudy of pre-and post-entrepreneurial behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior

*The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99798*

(TPB) has provided reliable atheisms for explaining the intended entrepreneurial and role factors in the model to entrepreneurial decisions or self-mastery decisions. Therefore, TPB's affirmative results help scholars study the decisive factors and the prefixes of entrepreneurial intention. Many scholars have supported this result [20, 29, 63–65]. However, TPB may not fill gaps in the theory. This fact shows the complexity of the intention to start a business. The TPB model may not consider contributing other factors such as environmental factors to the factors that drive the entrepreneur's intention of business students in Vietnam.

#### **5. Conclusion**

The first and second papers assessed the impact of factors on entrepreneurial intention and examine hypotheses related to demographic factors and the selfbusiness experience of business students. The contribution to the theory benefits scholars of Vietnam's entrepreneurial intention research by confirming the suitability of Ajzen's Planned Behavioral Theory (TPB) model in predicting entrepreneurial intention and determining which structure is strong, universal, consistent with contextual differences. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the decision of business students to become identified entrepreneurs. These decisive factors are essential factors of intrinsic motivation: self-determination, capacity, task participation, curiosity, enjoyment, and interest. External motivations include competition, reviews, recognition, money or other tangible incentives, and criticism by others. The popularity of the entrepreneurial phenomenon draws the attention of scholars to what decides students want to become an entrepreneur. Business decisions imply critical decisions that choose a student's career. Different approaches in economics will guide judgment decisions, such as choosing safe wage jobs or investing seriously in creating a new business. In addition, students can make career choices in favor of a specific type of self-business. This work enriches the theoretical overview of the characteristics, motives and markets of startups. In addition, it also provides theoretical and experimental results for the development of the private, financial and labour economy sectors.

The third paper [32] confirms the validity of the Planned Behavior Theory (TPB) model in predicting actual entrepreneurial behavior through the lens of quad quad-study of pre-and post-entrepreneurial behavior. Kapasi and Galloway [66] claim that TPB helps gain personal information. However, in the way TPB is used in entrepreneurial research, it cannot provide information about other factors. These factors are primarily external and contribute to the trend of becoming an entrepreneur of business students. The results from the paper using a method of dosing revealed three additional factors that contribute to the actual business experience of small business owners and self-entrepreneurs. These new elements include the driving factors, the desire for innovation, and contextual factors. These new elements show each interviewer's critical understanding of their own experiences of the real-world business entrepreneurial story. According to Khan et al. [67], the driving factors and context factors are decisive external factors of the intention to start a business. The factors that desire to innovate are the intrinsic factors of the intention to start a business. Khan et al. [68] also reported that improving predictable entrepreneurial intention is associated with micro-variables or intrinsic factors (motivations) and macro variables or external decision-making factors (infrastructure and business environment factors).

Furthermore, Lee et al. [69] discuss that to understand the intention of starting a business, it is the individual's story in the context and experience of their life and thus facilitates such an understanding of startups. Therefore, for studies, it is

necessary to find ways to understand the experiences of individuals and the relevant meaning. Especially with complex phenomena, the pursuit of a decision method is essential [70]. In addition, many previous studies confirm that the perception that generates behavioral intention is essential. Scholars also point out that experiences exposed to the process of self-trading or startups create the existence of cause and effect relationships [71]. The third paper's contribution helps to emphasize that the trim approaches to studying entrepreneurs intention are significant because it allows small business owners and self-entrepreneurs to tell their entrepreneur journey. Through this, scholars can understand many other factors, including complex phenomena that affect real entrepreneurial decisions [32].

#### **6. Recommendations**

#### **6.1 Recommendations for entrepreneurial policymakers**

Entrepreneurial policymakers can develop an action program based on the research results of this work. Policymakers can support the private sector and create the right conditions to promote the entrepreneurial movement among young people, especially business students in Vietnam. The conditions need to be improved, including administrative, legal, financial management, organization, and entrepreneurial courses for all interested people. From there, Vietnam can build a business community of young entrepreneurs and enhance economic development. Corporate policymakers must recognize a strong correlation between private sector development and a country's economic growth [72]. Entrepreneurship and small business are the leading solutions to unemployment reduction and economic development issues [73]. This work shows that Controlling perception behavior is a significant deciding factor in the entrepreneurial intention of business students in Vietnam. Like other emerging markets worldwide, Vietnam still has a developing legal system and needs to be reformed to develop a dynamic market economy. In fact, despite the many efforts, Vietnamese entrepreneurs have been able to find alternatives to weak management structures and enhance competitiveness in the context of Vietnam's deep integration into the world economy. The challenge for start-ups in emerging economies is that entrepreneurs continue to work in the same thinking system as before and play a role in driving structural change to encourage the development of the financial system, legal structure and labour market. These factors are the foundations needed to facilitate strongly developed entrepreneurial activities [74]. In addition, Phan and Wang [54] said that if the government can identify characteristics and determinants to promote startups, then the government can develop programs to turn entrepreneurial enthusiasts into real entrepreneurs, with real business projects implemented. Therefore, the Government of Vietnam needs to improve the business environment by stabilizing macro policy, removing barriers, improving the business investment environment to improve people's attitudes toward entrepreneurship, especially among business students. The research results from the third paper in this work strongly support these policies to encourage startups. In terms of macroeconomic policy, the Government of Vietnam needs to consistently implement macroeconomic stability measures, control inflation and reduce lending rates for Vietnamese entrepreneurs. These policies should be anticipated and forecasted for people to be able to develop their business plans. Government officials must also monitor the implementation process to ensure that local governments implement policies correctly.

On the other hand, the Vietnamese government needs to remove barriers to startups, reviewing the rules and regulations related to startups not to obstruct

#### *The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99798*

entrepreneurial activities. In business law, the government must avoid criminalizing business activities. In particular, the government must eliminate the conditions of sub-business that prevent business activities. The government must also maintain the transparency of policies, facilitating entrepreneurs' access to information and technical support and financial support. Moreover, the government should create an environment that encourages fair competition across all business elements in Vietnam. As a result, entrepreneurs in the private sector will not notice that they are discriminated against during access to business resources. Vietnamese policymakers can also develop programs to strengthen Business Student Awareness Behavior Control for entrepreneurial penmanship by providing loans to support young entrepreneurs. The Government of Vietnam needs to set up funds to support startups effectively, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises. Policymakers should encourage private models for venture capital funds such as venture capital funds, angel investment funds, and community capital savings for poor households. Financial services for newly established enterprises must be consistent with the characteristics of business activities. In addition, the Government of Vietnam must constantly improve infrastructure to suit the needs of enterprises such as transport systems connecting economic regions in a synchronization, electricity production and distribution systems, high-speed Internet systems, water systems, waste treatment and well-planned industrial parks. The Government must help businesses and entrepreneurs access government assistance programs to facilitate the exploitation of social resources in society. The digitalized management system will help provide much necessary information for students in a successful entrepreneurial business. The government should also positively increase business awareness to assess their business capacity to start a business. Therefore, people's perception of entrepreneurial intention will be increased, and they are likely to start their business ideas.

The results of this work also affirm that the attitude to startups is a significant decisive factor for the entrepreneur's intention to start a business in Vietnam. Therefore, corporate policymakers should improve the dissemination of information about business opportunities to understanding market needs. From there, individuals can outline business ideas that often come from addressing the needs of people's everyday lives. Harnessing business opportunities from the practical demands of the market will help young entrepreneurs have a higher chance of success and more opportunities to expand their business. The government needs to disseminate typical entrepreneurs who overcome difficulties to accomplish their business goals in the media. Successful examples of young entrepreneurs should be appreciated in society, especially among young people. In addition, successful entrepreneurs should also share tips to overcome the initial difficulties in the entrepreneurial process. The dynamic and creative spirit will create a positive attitude of society with the entrepreneurial movement. A positive attitude to the entrepreneurial movement can be improved by honoring and acknowledging the economic and social contributions of successful young entrepreneurs in society. Therefore, it can create positive social pressure to encourage newly-ed students to set up their company instead of becoming ordinary employees for companies.

Furthermore, the results of the second paper [31] also call on the Vietnamese government to increase the provision of information regarding its commitment to global integration so that entrepreneurial activities can have a higher international orientation. With the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) ratified, greater economic integration between member countries will bring many opportunities for entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam. Indeed, the Government of Vietnam must announce a timely and fast free trade agreement for people and businesses. The government needs agencies to guide and explain the content of commitments to partners. In addition, the Government needs to establish a coordination mechanism among authorities on integration commitments through providing information and advice to individuals and startups to support them to expand their business effectively on a global scale.

The study results also showed that male students intend to start a business higher than female students in Vietnam. Other studies also report that women are less likely to set up businesses than men [54, 59]. Vietnamese policymakers need to provide support programs to encourage female graduates to become young entrepreneurs from this perspective. Support programs can include particular loans at low-interest rates for women to start their business or lower the tax rate for female entrepreneurs within five years of their company's founding. Besides, Harris [75] confirmed that limited financial and social resources often limit women's entrepreneurial spirit. Vietnamese policymakers should also provide several training programs to equip female students with practical knowledge and skills to run a successful business. Although the study results found no relationship between family background and entrepreneurial intention, family business households still play an essential role in Vietnam's economy. Therefore, the government should encourage the transition from business household to business and complete the entrepreneurial stage quickly. In particular, the government must make a solid commitment to reforming the administrative system in the business registration process. The Government needs to support newly established enterprises to operate effectively so that business households are no longer afraid of converting into enterprises. The government must build a network of services to support businesses through the development of private service providers following the characteristics of startups in the first place.

#### **6.2 Recommendations for higher education institutions in Vietnam**

The recommendation of this research work for higher education institutions in Vietnam is that educators can enrich and guide entrepreneurial education programs in the training program. This policy guides and prepares students in basic concepts and concepts of how to become successful entrepreneurs in the future. The research results of this work confirm that the factors of perceived behavior control and The Desire to transform perception are the decisive factors that determine the entrepreneur's intention of business students in Vietnam. Therefore, the Vietnamese government needs to improve the entrepreneurial education ecosystem to promote the entrepreneurial movement in Vietnam, especially among students in higher education institutions. Educational and training institutions need to develop an entrepreneurial curriculum from secondary education to increase creativity, critical thinking, and teamwork. These soft skills are essential for young people to start their own business in the future. Wang and Wong [76] recommend that promote entrepreneurship, and it is necessary to encourage and develop young entrepreneurs when they are students. Students' awareness of the entrepreneur's spirit and establishing their own business will influence students' career choices in the future. Business knowledge is introduced to young students who can navigate their future career paths. Universities and colleges must supplement entrepreneurial training programs for all business students.

Moreover, students in the technical and professional vocational training sectors must be equipped with knowledge and skills to start and run a successful business. Therefore, students can start their own business by combining technical expertise with business knowledge to minimize business failures and enhance their confidence in the entrepreneurial process. Before students graduate and enter the workforce, universities and other educational institutions should develop entrepreneurial career orientation programs to encourage graduates to set up their

*The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99798*

businesses in the future [76]. Well-aware business students and graduates improve perceived behavior control by providing solid knowledge of building and running a successful business. Educational and training institutions should also use their graduates networks to invite graduates who have set up successful companies to share practical experiences in the entrepreneurial process. Successful examples from entrepreneurs can promote subjective norms to influence student business intention. It can also change student attitudes to Entrepreneurship by enhancing their desire for success as entrepreneurs. For example, successful entrepreneurs can prove that they can have better financial security, independence and freedom of power, and higher societal status. Therefore, students can start their own business by combining technical expertise with business knowledge to minimize business failures and enhance their confidence in the entrepreneurial process. Before students graduate and enter the workforce, universities and other educational institutions should develop entrepreneurial career orientation programs to encourage graduates to set up their businesses in the future [76]. Well-informed business students and graduates improve perceived behavior control by providing solid knowledge of building and running a successful business. Educational and training institutions should also use their graduates networks to invite graduates who have set up successful companies to share practical experiences in the entrepreneurial process. Successful examples from entrepreneurs can promote Subjective positive norms to influence student business intention. It can also change student attitudes to Entrepreneurship by enhancing their desire for success as entrepreneurs. For example, successful entrepreneurs can prove that they can have better financial security, independence and freedom of power, and higher societal status.

#### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **Author details**

Cuong Nguyen Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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