Abstract
This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to determine factors that affect intentions of final year Saudi Business students to become entrepreneurs before and after the completion of an Entrepreneurship Course at university. Second, it reports results of a longitudinal quasi-experimental study that focused on the impact of such course on intentions and behaviors of students to start a new business by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a validated theoretical framework. Data were collected in two waves before and after the completion of an Entrepreneurship Course within a period of four months later. A sample composed of 151 Business college students (109 males and 42 females) at Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) at Riyadh was considered in this study from a population of 330 students. Analyses included hierarchical and multivariate regressions to identify the most significant factors that affect intentions and behaviors in the two waves. Analyses also included tests of significance of changes in TPB antecedents (attitudes toward behavior; subjective norms; and perceived behavioral control), intentions and actual behaviors of students immediately after the completion of the course. The results show small but non-significant changes in attitudes, subjective norms and intentions, but a slightly significant change for perceived behavioral control and strongly significant change for actual behaviors of students. Findings suggest that the TPB could be considered as a useful framework to predict intentions and behaviors of students and measure how an entrepreneurship course might influence students' entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors. We draw some implications for researchers about the role of entrepreneurship education in developing entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors.