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Purpose: This study investigates the different environments in which high school students go through in their formative years and whether these environments affect their intention to study entrepreneurship as a career choice. Bronfenbrenner's social-ecological theory has been used as a backdrop to capture these environments. Four variables chosen are family support, school environment, self-efficacy and global awareness. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 1770 high school students were chosen through simple random sampling within Gujarat state. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to predict the overall effect of all the environments on Entrepreneurship Education Intention (EEI) of these students. Findings: Findings reveal that self-efficacy has the most substantial influence on intentions. Family support and global awareness have a combined significant effect on self-efficacy, which further translates to a significant impact on high school students' intentions. School environment has an effect on global awareness, which in turn has a negative effect on students' willingness to study entrepreneurship in India. Research limitations/implications: The study has implications in curriculum design and theory development. The study also provides schools with a framework to understand how to orient their students toward entrepreneurship. Originality/value: This paper uses a novel theory that has not been applied in studies related to entrepreneurship education and proposes a model for the same. This novelty also reflects in our findings which have subsequent implications for theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether satisfaction of employers with skill competencies of fresh engineering graduates (EGs) in India is impacted by their expectations and perceptions. Applying Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), the authors have also proposed and tested whether such effects on employers' satisfaction are mediated by (dis)confirmation. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a survey of employers' representatives using a structured questionnaire. The proposed mediation model has been tested on a sample of 284 with Confirmatory Factor Analysis by applying structural equation modelling in AMOS. Findings: The structural model has been constructed with six latent constructs in accordance with extant literature. Excluding some observed variables, the structural model was found to have a good model fit. The measurement model is in accordance with ECT. Three of the four independent variables (two related to employers' expectations and one to employers' perception) exert significant influence on employers' satisfaction, with (dis)confirmation as a mediator. Practical implications: Industry–academia partnerships need to be an integral feature of any curriculum to bridge the gap between course curricula on one hand and employers' expectations and perceptions on the other. Originality/value: Past research on employability of EGs has mostly explored a direct association between employers' perception and satisfaction. The authors study contributes to literature by examining the role of employers' expectations in addition to their perception as precursors of their satisfaction, using the framework of ECT. Outcomes reported are of relevance to multiple stakeholders in technical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of the contextual antecedents on the individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) of university graduates, which, in turn, affects their entrepreneurial intentions (EIs). Design/methodology/approach: Primary data were collected in the form of 510 valid responses from engineering students across two technical universities in India, through a structured questionnaire consisting of scales adapted from the extant literature, and the data were empirically validated in this study. The reliability and validity measures of the constructs were validated through the confirmatory factor analysis, and the proposed hypotheses were validated using structural equation modelling. Findings: The results of this empirical analysis validate that the contextual antecedents have a significant positive impact on students' entrepreneurial orientation (EO), which, in turn, has a significant positive influence on EIs. Research limitations/implications: This analysis depicts the significance of EO as a perceptual driver at the individual level and substantiates that the availability of resources such as startup capital, access to business information, social networks and supportive university context significantly affects the decision-making process of an individual to venture into an otherwise uncertain occupation of entrepreneurship. Practical implications: The study has the likely potential to help university administrators and policymakers to allocate resources, develop strategies and provide effective entrepreneurial learning in entrepreneurship-oriented courses aimed at honing entrepreneurial skills and self-confidence of the university students. This holistic model can be used as a tool for resource planning and prioritising in order to provide the desired contextual support essential for fostering the IEO of the university students towards adopting entrepreneurial career, thereby assisting them to achieve their career goals and the broader objective of nation-building. Originality/value: This study adopts an innovative approach to empirically validate the EO construct at the individual level, which has been studied at the organisation (firm) level till today. This research explores the relevant contextual antecedents and analyses their impact on IEO as well as the explanatory capacity of IEO to explain students' EIs in the contextual backdrop of universities in a fast transitioning economy like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]