Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Youth: The Role of Access to Finance

Authors

  • Valentina Diana Rusu Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
  • Angela Roman Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
  • Mihaela Brindusa Tudose Faculty of Industrial Design and Business Management, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.33.1.28716

Keywords:

Entrepreneurial intentions, New business, Access to finance, Youth, Education

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the role of access to finance as one of the determinants on the decision to enter into entrepreneurship of students regarded as potential entrepreneurs. For achieving our main objective, we created a questionnaire. As a method of analysis, we run the least square logistic regression, with entrepreneurial intentions as a dependent variable and knowledge, education and availability of financial resources as predictors. We also included gender, university and locality as control variables. The sample is formed of 181 students from two universities from the North-Eastern region of Romania. The results reveal that access to finance is a significant determinant of the decision to enter into entreprenenruship for young people. Moreover, we show that the relation between access to finance and entrepreneurial intentions changes according to gender, university and locality of origin. Female students’ entrepreneurial intentions are influenced by the availability of bank loans and personal savings, while in case of male students - only by the availability of funds coming from family and friends. The funds coming from family and friends also determine students' entrepreneurial intentions coming from rural or urban areas. Entrepreneurial intentions are negatively related to education for male students and those coming from an economic profile university, and positively related to business knowledge only for students from rural areas. The results obtained could be important for financial resources providers (because they offer insight into how easy access to finance stimulates the entrepreneurial intentions of youth), for education providers (who can adapt their training programs and extracurricular activities to strengthen entrepreneurial intentions), and for decision makers (which may adopt appropriate policies to stimulate the economic development of an area).

Author Biographies

Valentina Diana Rusu, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

Valentina Diana Rusu is PhD (in Finance) and a Senior Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Department, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. Her research interests focus on Small and Medium Enterprises, entrepreneurship, competitiveness and financing decisions. She has published over 60 papers in journals indexed in top international databases. Also, she was an active participant to over 60 scientific conferences both at national and international level. She is a reviewer for several journals and scientific events.

Angela Roman, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

Angela Roman is Professor PhD Hab. (in Finance) at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (Romania), Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Finance, Money and Public Administration. Her main teaching and research activities are focused on subjects like: Banks, Entrepreneurship, Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, International Finance and Monetary Policy. She has authored and co-edited several books and published over 180 papers in journals indexed in international databases, as well as in proceedings of international conferences. Also, she is member of editorial boards and serves as a reviewer for several international journals.

Mihaela Brindusa Tudose, Faculty of Industrial Design and Business Management, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, Romania

Mihaela Brînduşa Tudose is currently Lecturer PhD at the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Industrial Design and Business Management, Department of Engineering and Management. Her research activity resulted in writting of books (one of which was awarded the AGER prize in 2007 for editorial debut) and over 80 scientific papers published in specialised journals or presented at international and national conferences. The research areas addressed are: corporate finance, organizational competitiveness, entrepreneurship and performance management.

Additional Files

Published

2022-02-28

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Journal General Track