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Umair Imran Niaziowing to the fact that there is a greater level of interest in entrepreneurship in every region of the
world (Kuratko, 2005). As a result, entrepreneurship is regarded as being of the utmost
importance and a precondition for the production of employment opportunities and the actual
expansion of the economy in nations (S. Mueller, 2011). Since the beginning of the research on
entrepreneurship, which was principally conducted by Schumpeter in 1934 (Langroodi, 2021), it
has been recognized as being of enormous significance for the expansion of the socioeconomic
system (Kuratko, 2005; Volkmann & Tokarski, 2009; Yusof, Sandhu, & Jain, 2007). This
realization dates back to the early 19th century. Entrepreneurship has been shown to lead to
increased employment opportunities for young people and, as a result, economic growth, not
only in developed countries but also in underdeveloped countries (Audretsch, Grilo, & Thurik,
2007; Autio, H. Keeley, Klofsten, GC Parker, & Hay, 2001; Delmar, Davidsson, & Gartner,
2003; Zahra, Wright, & Abdelgawad, 2014). This is supported by a substantial body of research.
However, as a result of the research conducted by Shapero in 1975, the perspective of
entrepreneurial research underwent a complete transformation. This was due to the introduction
of the idea of entrepreneurial career intentions. Anwar, Thoudam, and Saleem (2022) and Arafat,
Saleem, Dwivedi, and Khan (2020) are only two examples of the numerous research that have
been carried out since then in an effort to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of
entrepreneurial intents. Anwar, Alalyani, Thoudam, Khan, and Saleem (2021); Arafat, Saleem,
Dwivedi, et al., 2020; Brinckmann, Grichnik, and Kapsa (2010); Fayolle (2008); Yeoh and Jeong
(1995); Zahra (1995); Zakeri, Jowkar, and Razmjoee (2010). Since then, ECI have been
investigated in conjunction with a variety of behavioral and socio-economic contextual factors.
The purpose of these studies is to answer the question of "what factors instigate entrepreneurial
career intention in an individual" or "why an individual would be inclined to become an
entrepreneur."
In Pakistan, approximately 445,000 students graduate from universities and approximately
30,000 students graduate from computer universities each year (Saeed and Barkan 2021). The
vast majority of these graduates enter the labor market in order to look for work; but, due to the
limited number of job possibilities available, only a small percentage of them are able to find
employment. According to Imtiaz et al.'s research from 2020, the current state of affairs
highlights the significance of ECI programs as a significant means of assisting in the
enhancement of employment levels across the nation.
Despite the fact that Pakistan currently has exactly 186 Degree Awarding Institutes (DAIs),
which are comprised of 110 public sector universities and 76 private sector universities (HEC,
2021a), there are still significant concerns among policymakers regarding the absence of ECI
programs within these institutions (A. Ali, Topping, & Tariq, 2011; A. Muhammad & Junaid,
2016). According to Sher, Adil, Mushtaq, Ali, and Hussain (2017), the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) has recommended that all universities should encourage the study of
entrepreneurship as a subject, provide opportunities for students to engage in entrepreneurial
activities, and establish networking with the industry in this regard in order to fill the gaps.
Consequently, universities have begun to move toward compliance with these much-needed
instructions by HEC. This has been accomplished by contributing to the entrepreneurial
development of their students, introducing Entrepreneurial Development Centers (EDSs),
engaging Business Incubators drives, business start-ups, and a variety of other programs of a
similar nature (Imtiaz et al., 2020).
Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that entrepreneurship is of such enormous significance on a
worldwide scale, it has not yet garnered a significant amount of popularity in Pakistan, despite
the fact that Pakistan is a developing nation with low employment rates (Hasan & Zaheer, 2021;
Imtiaz et al., 2020; Tipu & Arain, 2011). The consequence of this is that enterprises are not yet
making a sufficient contribution to the economic development of the nation, which would result
in the creation of jobs and the reduction of poverty. As stated by N. Muhammad, Ullah, and
Warren (2016), one of the reasons for the existence of such an undeveloped culture of
entrepreneurship is that the relevance of ECI has not yet been acknowledged to the extent that it
is justified. In contrast, universities in Pakistan have not yet been successful in generating
individuals who are able to create jobs rather than those who are looking for jobs (S. Khan &
Shah, 2020; Tahir & Hussain, 2016).
As a result, the primary reasons for such a low rate of entrepreneurial activity in Pakistan have
been identified as the following: a lack of support from the academic community; a lack of
support and interest from the government; a lack of entrepreneurship education, trainings,
capacity building, and competence; a lack of an entrepreneurial mindset orientation and a fear of
failure; a lack of social norms and family support; and a lack of motivation for entrepreneurship
as a career (Monitor, 2019).
On the other hand, there has only been a small amount of academic study done up until this point
in order to experimentally determine all of the behavioral and environmental antecedents that
significantly influence ECI in a holistic manner with regard to Pakistan. On the other hand,
numerous behavioral antecedents have not yet been investigated; hence, research have been
carried out with the use of TPB and EEM models in order to study the impact that these
antecedents have on the ability to predict ECI discretely. Likewise, (Colombelli, Loccisano,
Panelli, Pennisi, & Serraino, 2022; Kwapisz, Schell, Aytes, & Bryant, 2022; Liao, Nguyen, Chi,
& Nguyen, 2022) have researched the role of Entrepreneurial Mindset (EPM) on ECI, (Anwar et
al., 2022; Colombelli et al., 2022; Otache, Edopkolor, & Kadiri, 2022; Wang, Mundorf, &
Salzarulo-McGuigan, 2022; ال م ب يض, 2022) have studied the role of Entrepreneurial Education
(EPE), (A. d. S. M. Ferreira, Loiola, Gondim, & Pereira, 2022; Joensuu-Salo, Viljamaa, &
Varamäki, 2022) studied the impact of Entrepreneurial Competence (EPC) with respect to ECI.
On the other hand, a number of external factors have also been investigated through the use of a
variety of models in order to explore their impact in terms of independent prediction of ECI.
(Fadillah & Thamrin, 2019; Herdjiono, Puspa, Maulany, & ALDY, 2017; Sandi & Nurhayati,
2020; Subagia, Riono, Indriyani, & Syaifulloh, 2022) have studied Family Environment with
respect to ECI, (Z. Ali, 2022; Liu, Gorgievski, Qi, & Paas, 2022; Maheshwari & Kha, 2022; Su
et al., 2021) investigated the role of educational or university support (USP) with respect to
developing ECI amongst the university students.
Whereas, there is still lack of any holistic investigation covering both behavioral (internal) and
normative, contextual, or environmental (external) factors, to the same target populations, with
their direct and indirect relationships, in one study for ascertaining their comparative importance
in developing ECI and subsequent PEB, and tracing major-inclusive antecedents behind the
instigation of ECI for subsequent entrepreneurial behavior or vice versa in case of Pakistan.
Consequently, it is of the utmost importance to conduct an empirical investigation into the
aforementioned characteristics to determine the impact that they have on the entrepreneurial
behavior that is perceived by university graduate students in Punjab, Pakistan, using ECI
methodologies.