Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences

About: Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences is a education organization based out in Seinäjoki, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Competence (human resources) & Population. The organization has 103 authors who have published 216 publications receiving 2004 citations.

Development of entrepreneurial intention in higher education and the effect of gender : a latent growth curve analysis

Abstract: Purpose – The objectives of this study are threefold: first, to analyze the development of intentions of individuals over time; second, to explore potential gender differences in intention development; and third, to analyze the relatedness of the initial level and development of the antecedents of intentions to the initial level and the development of intentions. Design/methodology/approach – Ajzen's Theory of Planned behavior is applied. Longitudinal data were collected in the fall of 2010, 2011 and 2012 in seven different universities of applied sciences, with students representing seven different study fields. In our data, there are 192 individuals with all three measurement waves and 104 individuals with two measurement waves. The analysis of change on multi-wave panel data is done using latent growth curve analysis with structural equation modeling. Findings – Our empirical results are threefold. First, entrepreneurial intentions of higher education seem to decrease during their studies. Second, ther...

Beyond intentions – what makes a student start a firm?

Abstract: Purpose – Entrepreneurial intentions have been extensively studied in student populations, with results suggesting that higher education does not promote formation of entrepreneurial intentions (e.g. Varamaki et al., 2013). However, the gap between intending to start a business and actually doing something to start one remains. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions with higher education students andto analyze the antecedents of actual behaviors related to start-ups with higher education students. The authors use theory of planned behavior (TPB) for both analyzing the intentions and analyzing the actual behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply Ajzen’s (1991) TPB to entrepreneurial intentions of higher education students and test their relevance as antecedents of actual behaviors. In addition to the basic elements of TPB (attitudes, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC)) the authors test the impact of entrepreneurial cha...

Ties that blind? How strong ties affect small business owner-managers’ perceived trustworthiness of their advisors

Abstract: This research investigates how a strong personal relationship (strong tie) between a small business owner-manager and his professional or informal advisor affects the relationship between the advisor's recent performance and the owner-manager's perceptions of the advisor's trustworthiness in terms of ability, benevolence and integrity. A negative moderating effect could point to a ‘tie that blinds’: the owner-manager may be less critical in evaluating the advisor's perceived trustworthiness in light of their recent performance, because of the existing personal relationship. A conceptual model is constructed and examined with survey data comprising 153 young Finnish businesses. The results show that strong ties increase the owner-manager's perception of the advisor's integrity, disregarding their recent performance. For professional advisors, strong ties reduce the impact of recent performance in the owner-manager's evaluation of their ability. For informal advisors, a strong tie makes it more likely that ...