External factors in forming entrepreneurial intentions of Lomonosov Moscow State University students for 2020–2024

The implementation of «The Scientific and Technological Development Strategy of the Russian Federation» and national projects is impossible without an inflow of new entrepreneurs. Young people including students are most active in business creation among the entire Russian people. The object of this study is students’ entrepreneurial intentions, and the subject is external factors that influence its formation. The empirical basis is a survey of 1917 students from various faculties of Moscow State University who took courses on entrepreneurship and the creation of technological startups in the period of 2020-2024. We confirmed the connection of students' entrepreneurial intentions with the following factors: the presence of entrepreneurs in the family or in the surroundings, societal assessment of entrepreneurial career, the university environment and the direction of study. We find that the proportion of students who have opened or plan to open a business in the short term is higher among students who have entrepreneurs in their family or among friends. The number of students with entrepreneurs in their surroundings is increasing with each additional year of study. More than half of students positively perceive how the public assesses the choice of an entrepreneur's career, while the presence of entrepreneurs in surroundings significantly affects this perception. We reveal that the students studying in such areas as business and management, public administration and political science have the highest indicators of entrepreneurial intentions, with minimal indicators belonging to chemistry, law and economics. We determine which factors can be influenced to stimulate the entrepreneurial intentions implementation among students, who will have an important role in the development of technological entrepreneurship and commercialization of scientific developments in near future.

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