Do Entrepreneurs Come From Venus Or Mars? Impact Of Postgraduate Studies: Gender And Family Business Background

Laburpena

Online MBA programs give postgraduate students the opportunity to develop skills and abilities to discover new business opportunities and to develop entrepreneurship intention (EI) (or entrepreneurial activity intention) and start-up behavior (SUB) (or entrepreneurship activity). This paper analyzes the impacts on entrepreneurial intention and on start-up behavior developed by the graduate students of an international online Master of Business Administration (OL-MBA) program launched by three public Spanish universities that offers two specializations (Management and Finance). The students of this program come from different countries, so the impact of cultural aspects is also examined in this study. The main results show that coming from an entrepreneurial family increases entrepreneurial intention, and this result is reinforced when the OL-MBA student is female. Additionally, female students are more likely to engage in start-up behavior if she comes from an entrepreneurial family. However, this start-up behavior is reduced when female students receive entrepreneurial education or if they have children (dependency context). Other personal characteristics, such as non-risk-adverse personality, can also motivate entrepreneurial intention and start-up behavior.