Examining How University Entrepreneurship Components Influence Student’s Entrepreneurial Intention Evidence from Ethiopian Universities

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of key entrepreneurship ecosystem components such as entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial support, availability and accessibly incubation centers and industry collaboration, on students’ entrepreneurial intentions in case of Ethiopian universities. A sequential explanatory research design was employed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. A data were collected through survey questionnaires from 256 students drawn from seven selected Ethiopian universities using a multi-stage sampling approach. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between ecosystem dimensions and entrepreneurial intention. The research finding shows that EE have a positive significant influence on EI (β = 0.254, p = 0.003), confirming that education plays a foundational role in enhancing students entrepreneurial intention. IC have a positive significant on EI (β = 0.225, p = 0.001), indicating a positive relationship between the availability of incubation facilities and students’ entrepreneurial intentions. In addition ES has a highly significant positive impact on entrepreneurial intention (β = 0.357, p < 0.001), suggesting that institutional and external support mechanisms significantly influence students’ willingness to engage in entrepreneurial activities. IDC also have a strong positive significant effect on EI (β = 0.559, p < 0.001) implies that collaboration between academic institutions and industry partners greatly enhances students’ entrepreneurial intention. The study advances entrepreneurship research by assessing ecosystem dimensions, revealing key drivers of entrepreneurial intention, and broadening ecosystem theory within underexplored Sub-Saharan African university settings.