Perceived Behavioral Control and its Impact on Entrepreneurial Inclination of Engineering Graduates in Karachi: An Interpretative Study

Abstract

The theory of planned behaviour has three components namely: attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC). Earlier, research studies suggested that a positive attitude is necessary to predict entrepreneurial behaviour; however, a number of studies now have concluded that perceived behavioural control has significant relationship with entrepreneurial intentions. Actual behavioural control such as family cooperation, availability of finances, necessary business skills and time is a non-motivational predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour and it is a good predictor of intentions to start one’s own business; perceived behavioural control, on the other hand, is found to have a positive and significant relationship with entrepreneurial inclination of the individuals. This is a quantitative study and explores students’ perception about their capability and inclination to start their own business. The study focuses on Bachelors of Engineering final year students. A total of four universities were selected from the ranking list of Higher education Commission Pakistan. Random sampling technique using web-based sample size calculator is used to select the sample of the students. The research instrument was based on the findings of the earlier research studies and Ajzen (2002) guidelines were used on developing a questionnaire to measure perceived behavioral control. Correlation analysis is applied to assess the relationship between perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial inclination. The research study discovers that
engineers have high inclinations towards entrepreneurship even though quantitative analysis shows that PBC and entrepreneurial inclination are linked remotely and insignificantly. The regression analysis reveals that the model fit is only 10% between entrepreneurial inclination and PBC. Thus, there are other factors that seek to define entrepreneurial inclination of the engineering graduates and PBC does not play a significant role.