Technopreneurial intentions among Bulgarian STEM students: the role of university

Abstract

Entrepreneurship, innovation and technology are essential to the economic development of societies. Universities are increasingly involved in creating an internal favourable environment supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. In our work, we aimed to study the role of university for the development of technopreneurial intentions in a sample of Bulgarian STEM (STEM refers to any subjects that fall under the disciplines of science, technology, engineering or mathematics.) students exhibiting entrepreneurial intentions. The empirical findings of the study are in line with previous empirical evidence about the role of university support for entrepreneurial intentions among students; results also show that students in universities with better research in their scientific field of study are more likely to exhibit technopreneurial intention. Determinants of entrepreneurial intentions identified in the literature such as entrepreneurial role models, perceived support from social networks, willingness to take risks and gender may not be relevant specifically for technopreneurial intentions. The results of the study have important practical implications.