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ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PRIOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE ON STUDENT ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDE – CASE OF CROATIA

According to Eurostat, the EU’s agency for statistical services, at the beginning 2014, the youth unemployment rate for the 28 EU member states equalled 23%, as compared to the overall unemployment rate of 11%. Croatia’s youth unemployment rate is currently one of the highest in Europe, at 42%. In recent years, at EU 28 and the national levels, the growing youth unemployment is increasingly associated with the stimulation of entrepreneurial activity. The student population is potentially oriented to business start-up and self-employment. There are numerous studies, analysing the students’ entrepreneurial intentions and behaviour, but much less attention is paid to the impact of personal and family entrepreneurial experience. In this context, this study focuses on the entrepreneurial experience and family background to explain the entrepreneurial attitude of the selected student population at the Faculty of Economics Split. In the research, based on the theory of planned behaviour, prior entrepreneurial experience is defined by the comprehensive set of perceptual variables: respondents’ work experience before or during the studies, family entrepreneurial background and family business ownership. The empirical results are relevant in the context of stimulating the entrepreneurial activity as a solution to the problem of youth unemployment, as well as to strengthen and support the attractiveness of student entrepreneurship.

Croatia, student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intent, youth unemployment, business start-up

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