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    used to explore their intentions was the Shapero model,which offers a range of antecedents as key determinantsfor entrepreneurial intention.

    The study discussed in this article had severalaims: first, to explore the entrepreneurial intentions ofFrench HE students using Shaperos intention model

    Before there can be entrepreneurship there mustbe a potential for entrepreneurship. For there to beentrepreneurial potential, there must be potentialentrepreneurs. This paper presents initial findings froma survey of the entrepreneurial intentions of highereducation students in France. The theoretical context

    Entrepreneurship intentionamong French Grande

    cole and universitystudents

    An application of Shaperos model

    Rita Klapper and Catherine Lger-Jarniou

    Abstract: Arguably, entrepreneurship is still a recent phenomenon inFrench society, and its higher education establishments are stillexperimenting with ways to teach entrepreneurship and enterprisecreation. This paper presents a unique opportunity to compare andcontrast the entrepreneurial intention of French higher education studentsat three different establishments (a management Grande cole, an

    engineering Grande cole and a university) using the Shapero intentionmodel. The study found that most of the students wanted to work in largeorganizations and were not intending to create a new company or work ina family business. There were significant differences, however, betweenmanagement and engineering students in terms of their entrepreneurialenvironment, which may affect their attitudes to new business creation.The authors conclude that, while enforced learning through entrepreneurialcourses and seminars may initially be off-putting, such initiatives mayhave longer-term beneficial impacts on entrepreneurial intention.

    Keywords:entrepreneurship in France; entrepreneurial intention;

    Shapero; Grande coleRita Klapper is Associate Professor at ESC Rouen, Rue de Marchal, 76000Mont Saint Aignan, France. Tel: +33 2 32825838. Fax: +33 2 32825833.E-mail: [email protected]. Catherine Lger-Jarniou is AssociateProfessor and Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Paris DauphineUniversity, Place de Lattre de Tassigny, 75775 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 44054398.Fax: +33 1 44054125. E-mail: [email protected].

    INDUSTRY & HIGHER EDUCATION April 2006 97

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    as a theoretical basis; second, to compare and contrastthe entrepreneurial intentions of students at differenteducational establishments (a management Grandecole, an engineering Grande cole and a publicuniversity); and third, to compare and contrast theentrepreneurial intentions of students who had attendedentrepreneurial courses with those who had not.

    The article begins with a summary of the status ofentrepreneurship in France and actions taken to date inentrepreneurship education. After an exposition of thetheoretical background and the research methodologyand a presentation of the three establishments in whichthe survey was conducted, the research findings arediscussed and conclusions are offered.

    The French context for entrepreneurship actions to date

    The French context for entrepreneurship education hasundergone great change since 1998. Before that time theFrench entrepreneurial environment was characterizedby Carayannis et al(2003) as follows:

    entrepreneurship is notan important activity,administration is complex, there is a lack of fund raising,a fear of the new entrepreneur, a lack of entrepreneurialactivities on the shoulders of the educational system, theacceptance of failure is not always the norm in the cultureand business creation is not an activity for young people, but

    reserved for experienced people and education is targetedat the normalization of students and discourages theexpression of creativity.

    This view is in line with the findings of Letowski(1996), whose research indicated that 78% of surveyrespondents considered that the entrepreneurial spiritwas insufficiently developed in France, especially in theeducation system.

    However, enterprise creation and entrepreneurshipare now increasingly recognized as vital for French

    post-industrial society, given their contribution toeconomic regeneration, regional economic developmentand employment generation (Fayolle, 1999; 2005). Infact, in 1999 a Law on Innovation was promulgatedwhich (a) authorized researchers to set up their ownbusiness, (b) created public incubators (innovationcentres) for hosting these new firms, (c) launched anational competition for the creation of high-techfirms, and (d) defined measures to simplify the creationand management of new firms. This legislationtriggered a long chain of entrepreneurship conferences,programmes and initiatives. One such initiativewas the creation of Maisons de lEntrepreneuriat(Entrepreneurial Houses), which are intended topromote all kinds of activities related to awareness-

    raising about entrepreneurship. Furthermore, in2003 the French government reinforced its efforts topromote entrepreneurship and enterprise creation witha Law for Economic Initiative, the aim of which is toencourage the educational sector to exploit its resourcesand expertise to stimulate entrepreneurship teachingand small business creation.

    The interest in entrepreneurship education canbe attributed to various factors. First, the prevailingeconomic conditions the changing structure of theWestern economy with downsizing by larger companiesand the movement to different markets, such as EasternEurope emphasize the importance of promotingentrepreneurship and small business creation. Second,it has been recognized that both entrepreneurshipand small business are critical to employment andinnovation, competitiveness and regional economicdevelopment (CEEDR, 2000; Storey 1994; Timmons,1994), whereas large enterprises are not necessarilynet employment creators. Third, the rapid expansion ofelectronic commerce facilitates entrepreneurial activityacross borders. Fourth, the need to renew the economictissue of the country to increase the competitivenessof the economy adds impetus to the support ofentrepreneurship.

    As a result of this policy change in France,departments, regions and large cities now competeto encourage entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship

    education has become an important subject.Furthermore, there has been a more general change inthe French cultural attitude towards entrepreneurshipover the past few years (Lger-Jarniou, 2005): asurvey in 2002 revealed that about 15 million Frenchpeople were tempted to set up their own business, atleast a third of whom claimed they had a concreteproject which could be implemented over the next twoyears. Comparing these figures with similar surveysin 1992, 1998 and 2000, it is apparent that therehas been a substantial increase in the willingness to

    create a business (Hurel, 2002). In 2003, 230,000 newenterprises were created in France, compared with175,000 two years previously.

    Entrepreneurship and education in France

    There is little doubt that entrepreneurship andentrepreneurship education are still relatively recentphenomena in France, and consequently research inthe field has to date failed to mobilize the Frenchscientific community. Similarly, interest in enterprisecreation and entrepreneurship remains underdevelopedin France in particular, enterprise creation by youngpeople: in 2001 only 60,000 people under 30 hadcreated their own company (APCE, 2004).

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    Entrepreneurship intention among French HE students

    In September 2002, at the first conference ofthe Observatoire des Pratiques Pdagogiques enEntrepreneuriat (OPPE Observatory for PedagogicalPractices in Entrepreneurship), an analysis waspresented of the various entrepreneurship-relatedactivities in higher education. Analysing 28entrepreneurial activities at 15 universities between

    1998 and 2000, Lger-Jarniou (2002) stressed thatentrepreneurship teaching was still embryonic atFrench universities, even if the number of activitieshad increased significantly since 1999/2000. She notedthat there was a great diversity of activities, in termsof objectives, duration, audience targeted and methodsemployed. About half of the programmes aimed toraise students awareness and were optional, whereasthe other half were specialized courses.

    Similarly, in an assessment of entrepreneurialactivities at French management schools, Guillot(2002) found a significant increase in the number ofentrepreneurial programmes since the early 1990s.He identified three types: general awareness-raisingprogrammes targeted at all first-year students,specialized programmes at, for example, Masters level,and individual start-up projects.

    A similar situation was identified at Frenchengineering schools. Cuzin (2002) analysed 21entrepreneurial activities at 17 engineering schools,concluding that entrepreneurship teaching was still,

    as it was at university level, at the starting gate.Most programmes were optional and were integratedinto engineering degree courses, with very fewschools offering an education specifically targetedat entrepreneurship. Like LgerJarniou (2002),he identified a need for more partnerships betweendifferent educational establishments and businesssupport organizations involved in enterprise creation.

    At present in France, some 200 higher educationestablishments take an interest in entrepreneurshipeither in a teaching context (to sharpen the students

    awareness) or as an accompaniment to study projects(OPPE, 2005).

    The French education system

    The research reported here focused on the comparisonof a French university (Paris Dauphine), a managementGrande cole (the cole Suprieure de Commerce deRouen, ESC Rouen) and a Paris-based engineeringGrande cole (the cole Nationale de Chimie de Paris,ENSCP).The traditional division between Frenchuniversities and the Grandes coles is founded on theassumption that the production of general knowledgewas the preserve of the universities while the Grandescoles were responsible for professional education.

    This division is beginning to disappear as professionaleducation at universities is becoming a reality, withuniversities also starting to offer professional Mastersprogrammes as a result of the 3-5-8 reform acrossEurope.

    The Grandes coles have traditionally playedan important role in the French higher education

    system and have often been carriers of both nationaland regional policy initiatives. In fact, David (1994,p 205) described them as carriers of history, asmany organizations and establishments have evolvedinto their present forms from recognizably similarstructures that came into existence at some time inthe past to satisfy some important social purpose.Given the recent focus of the French government onentrepreneurship and enterprise creation, the Grandescoles have had to adjust their teaching programmes tointegrate entrepreneurship courses and entrepreneurialinitiatives.

    Paris Dauphine University holds a special positionamong French universities: it is a public universitycreated in 1969 for management and economiceducation. Unlike other French universities, ithas always chosen its students through a rigorousselection process (which is not allowed in other publicuniversities). In 2004 it was attributed the status ofGrand tablissement, which gives it a similar standingto a Grande cole while maintaining its university

    status.However, the key distinction between the Grandecole and university system lies in the fact that aGrande cole is a fee-paying institution while Frenchuniversities are free of charge. Thus, as can be seenfrom Table 1, there is a much larger student body atpublic universities and Instituts Universitaires deTechnologie (IUTs) university institutes of technology.

    Theoretical background intention models

    As Bird (1988), Katz and Gartner (1988) and Kruegerand Brazeal (1994) suggest, entrepreneurship representsplanned, intentional behaviour and thus lends itselfto research using formal models of intentions.It isfrom our contexts that we learn our beliefs, attitudesand assumptions about the world. Hence Krueger andBrazeal (1994) suggest that we should also learn ourbeliefs about starting a business, which links to the ideathat entrepreneurship can be taught (Cunningham andLischeron 1991). Seen in this light, entrepreneurshipis viewed as a series of learned activities which focuson the central functions of managing a firm suchas developing formal business plans, analysingopportunities, acquiring resources and working towardgoals (Cunningham and Lischeron, 1991; Bird, 1988).

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    Intention precedes action. Intentions are constructed,even where they appear to arise spontaneously(Krueger, 2000). Arguably, entrepreneurial intentionsare crucial to understanding the overall processof entrepreneurship as they establish key initialcharacteristics. This is in line with Bird (1988), whodescribed intention as a state of mind that directs apersons attention towards a specific object or path inorder to achieve something. Thus, as Bird elaborates,entrepreneurial intentions are directed towards eithercreating a new venture or creating new values in anexisting venture.

    Bird (1988) underlines the importance of intentionmodels, with their ability to open up new areasof theory-based research, and she highlights the

    relationship between entrepreneurial ideas and theoutcomes of these ideas. Thus the focus shifts awayfrom previously studied entrepreneurial traits (suchas personality, motivation and demographics) to theexploration of attitudes and their antecedents to developa better understanding of the entrepreneurial process(see, for instance, Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Shapero,1975; Shapero and Sokol, 1982).

    Intention models may offer a coherent,parsimonious and robust framework for studyingentrepreneurial processes (Krueger, 1993; 2000). The

    predominant intention models largely focus on thepre-entrepreneurial event and integrate attitudinal andbehavioural theory (Ajzen, 1991) and self-efficacyand social learning theory (Bandura, 1986). Theyalso integrate exogenous factors that contribute toentrepreneurial attitudes and intentions.

    There are, in fact, two major models of behaviouralintention: Ajzens theory of planned behaviour andShaperos model of the entrepreneurial event. Thisstudy adopts Shaperos model.

    Shaperos intention model

    Shapero (1975) and Shapero and Sokol (1982)proposed an intentionality-based process model of the

    entrepreneurial event. The model hypothesizes that theintention to start a business derives from perceptions ofboth desirability and feasibility and from a propensityto act on opportunities. In addition, these differentfactors are dependent on the particular entrepreneurialexperiences (their breadth and how positive they were)of the person concerned. Figure 1 shows the differentelements of Shaperos model.

    Shapero (1975) and Shapero and Sokol (1982)argue that there are two key aspects of the decisionto start a business. First, the entrepreneur has toperceive a credible opportunity. Second, the decisionis motivated, according Shapero and Sokol (1982),by displacement, which might be either positive ornegative (positive displacement could be meeting

    somebody or discovering an opportunity in othercountries; negative displacement could be the lossof employment). Arguably, negative displacementprecipitates more company formations than positivedisplacement. The resulting behaviour then dependson the subjects propensity to act and the relativecredibility of alternative behaviours (Shapero andSokol, 1982).

    In Shaperos model desirability, feasibility and thepropensity to act are presented as direct antecedentsto entrepreneurial intention (Peterman and Kennedy,

    2003). Ones attitude towards entrepreneurship isindirectly influenced by prior exposure to it, which maywell have been through prior work experience and/orrole models.

    Table 1. Number of students at different French education institutions.

    Number of institutions Number of students Proportion of students (%)

    Universities and IUTs 88 1,475,500 61IUT 24 49,835 2Management schools (coles deCommerce) 228 80,337 3Management Grandes coles 186 490,500 19Engineering schools (colesdIngnieur) 160 73,460 3Other undergraduates 316,000 12Total 2,412,091

    Figure 1. Shapero's model of entrepreneurial intention.

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    The construct of perceived desirability assumes, asKrueger and Brazeal (1994) argue, two attractivenesscomponents of the theory of planned behaviour attitude towards the act and social norms whichare typically inter-related. The attitude towards theact refers to that which an individual finds personallydesirable, and in turn this depends on the likely

    personal impact of performing the target behaviour.For Shapero and Sokol (1982), perceived desirabilityis about the degree to which one finds the prospectof starting a business attractive; arguably the conceptreflects ones attitude towards entrepreneurship.Perceptions of desirability may be influenced byculture, family, peers, colleagues and mentors (Shaperoand Sokol, 1982). By comparison, perceived feasibilityis the degree to which the potential entrepreneurbelieves that she or he is personally capable of startinga business. The perception of feasibility may bedependent on financial and other support available, rolemodels, mentors and partners.

    Furthermore, the propensity to act is conceptualizedas the disposition to act on ones decisions and thus itreflects the willingness of a person to create (Shaperoand Sokol, 1982). Krueger (1993) argues that differentlevels of propensity to act (high versus low) mayinfluence the degree to which attitudes are predictiveof intention and action, and therefore suggests thatpropensity to act should be viewed as a moderating

    influence rather than a direct antecedent.To date, relatively few studies have conceptualizd ormeasured entrepreneurial potential, although interestin pre-emergence entrepreneurial activity seems tohave grown (Henderson and Robertson, 2000; Kruegerand Brazeal, 1994). A few studies, however, haveinvestigated the effect of entrepreneurial educationonintention and new venture creation see, for example,Bchard (1994), Garavan and OCinneide (1994),Klapper (2004), Peterman and Kennedy (2003), Rosaand McAlpine (1991), Vesper (1985) and Webb et al,

    1982).Peterman and Kennedy (2003), for instance,

    examined the effect of participation in an enterpriseeducation programme on perceptions of the desirabilityand feasibility of starting a business among secondaryschool students in Australia. They found thatparticipants reported significantly higher perceptionsof both desirability and feasibility after involvement inthe programme. The degree of change in perceptionswas positively related to the positiveness of priorexperiences and of the experience in the enterpriseeducation programme itself.

    Conversely, Kolvereid and Moen (1997) comparedthe behaviour of business graduates with a major inentrepreneurship with that of graduates with other

    majors at a Norwegian business school. Altogether, 720questionnaires were distributed to Masters students tostudy three measures of entrepreneurial intention: (a)the probability of starting a business, (b) the choicebetween being self-employed and an employee and(c) the probability of starting a business as a careerchoice. The authors found that the entrepreneurship

    graduates were more entrepreneurial and had strongerentrepreneurial intentions than the other businessgraduates, in terms of both actual behaviour andbehavioural intention. In addition, Dyer (1994) assesseshow entrepreneurship education can provide access torole models who can make entrepreneurship seem moreattractive. Role models such as parents are significantlypredictive of entrepreneurial activity (Brockhaus andHorowitz, 1986; Shapero and Sokol, 1982). In thislight, entrepreneurship education can be seen as a kindof socialization effort, in that it attempts to makeentrepreneurship attractive as a career path.

    Entrepreneurship teaching at ESC Rouen,Paris Dauphine and ENSCP

    ESC Rouen was established in 1871 and is the secondoldest Grande cole in France. There are three typesof entrepreneurship course at ESC Rouen, which differin both content and duration. Projet Entreprendre isa first-year project, running from December to March,

    designed to enable students to develop a business ideaand an appropriate business plan. The project wasinitiated in 1999 in response to two major concerns: agrowing interest in French society in entrepreneurshipissues and a government-driven agenda to promoteentrepreneurship teaching and training at the Grandescoles. Most contact between staff and students takesplace on a virtual basis via a shareware programme.The aim of the project is to develop in students a blendof knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable themto recognize the links between management theory and

    entrepreneurial practice (for more information aboutProjet Entreprendre see Klapper, 2005).

    ESC Rouen also runs a dominante an eleven-week intensive course with 180 teaching hours whichaims to deepen the knowledge of entrepreneurship ofsecond-year students. There are, in addition, individualshort courses such as Entrepreneurship in Europeand Female Entrepreneurship (both two-day courses),which aim to sharpen awareness of particular issues.These courses are part of the general ESC programmeand/or specialized Masters programmes.

    In 1989 Paris Dauphine became the first Frenchuniversity to offer entrepreneurship courses toundergraduates. There are currently three types ofentrepreneurship courses, which differ in content

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    and duration. First, there is a one-year major (FilireEntrepreneuriat) for undergraduates, the aim ofwhich is to raise awareness about the entrepreneurshipprocess. Six courses (234 hours) help students to builda business plan and to present it at the end of the year.Second, there is a one-year programme for postgraduatestudents, a DESS (Diplome dtudes suprieures

    spcialises), which focuses on innovation and newtechnologies. In this programme students work in teamsover four months to create a business plan togetherwith a young high-tech entrepreneur. The studentsattend a variety of entrepreneurship-related coursesand coaching is available throughout the process.Third, there is an e-learning course which leads to aMatrise de Gestion diploma, roughly equivalent toan undergraduate programme in management. Thestudents attend 24 courses, one of which focuses onentrepreneurship (students develop a business plan for aspecific project).

    The French engineering Grande cole ENSCP(cole Nationale Suprieure de Chimie Paris) isa prestigious engineering school belonging to thegroup ParisTech. During a six-day seminar onentrepreneurship, third-year chemistry studentsestablish a business plan that is based on either a virtualor real project. The course is jointly organized withParis Dauphine and aims to encourage and develop anentrepreneurial spirit in students whose first priority is

    to pursue a career in large chemical companies.Comparing the range and objectives of the coursesoffered at ESC Rouen, Paris Dauphine and ENSCP, itcan be seen that they are very similar. They aim (a) tosharpen students awareness of entrepreneurship issues,(b) to develop an entrepreneurial spirit and encourageinnovative business ideas and (c) to provide the skillsfor business plan development.

    Methodology

    As mentioned earlier this study has several purposes.First, using Shaperos intention model as a theoretical

    basis, it explores the entrepreneurial intentions ofFrench HE students. Second, it compares and contraststhe entrepreneurial intentions of students at differenteducational establishments. Third, it compares andcontrasts the entrepreneurial intentions of students whohave attended entrepreneurial courses with those whohave not. This article fills a gap in the literature in that

    it offers a unique comparison between two Grandescoles (management and engineering) and a publicuniversity.

    The project, sponsored by the OPPE, consisted oftwo stages. In the first stage, a questionnaire surveywas conducted among students at ESC Rouen and ParisDauphine between January and October 2004. Thequestionnaire was distributed among seven differentstudent populations:

    first-year ESC;

    second-year ESC; third-year ESC; Paris Dauphine MSG2; Paris Dauphine, major in entrepreneurship; Paris Dauphine, DESS; and ENSCP (second stage).

    The first-year ESC students and the University ofParis Dauphine (UPD) MSG2 students constituted thecontrol group, as they had not previously attended anyentrepreneurship courses. In general, the target group

    consisted of undergraduates aged between 19 and 24.One group of DESS postgraduate students (Mastersstudents) was included at UPD. The second stage ofquantitative and qualitative data collection was carriedout at the Paris-based ENSCP in autumn 2004.

    Table 2 presents an overview of the different studentpopulations.

    In line with the aims and objectives of the survey,the questionnaire consisted of both open and closedquestions, testing views and attitudes relevant toShaperos model. It comprised a total of 43 questions

    and a number of control variables (such as workexperience, gender, age and role models). Questions

    Table 2. Overview of student populations surveyed.

    Student group Total number ofstudents

    Returned questionnaires Had attended entrepreneurshipcourses

    ESC, 1st year (controlgroup)

    260 84 No

    ESC, 2nd year 380 47 YesESC, 3rd year 300 33 Yes

    UPD major 28 15 YesUPD DESS 28 25 YesENSCP (engineering) 100 38 YesUPD MSG2 (controlgroup)

    62 46 No

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    focused on students understanding of the termsentrepreneur and entrepreneurship, their attitudestowards entrepreneurship in general and theirpropensity to become an entrepreneur. There werealso questions relating to perceived desirability andperceived feasibility, in line with the Shapero model.

    Initial findings indicated a balanced distribution

    of female and male students. Most were single andbetween 21 and 24 years old except for the UPDDESS students who were between 21 and 26 years old.Eighty-four first-year, 47 second-year and 33 third-yearESC students responded to the survey. This compareswith 46 students in the UPD MSG2 control group, 15in the UPD major, 25 in the DESS and 38 engineeringstudents.

    Results

    Entrepreneurial experiences

    Is anybody in your family an entrepreneur or running

    his/her own business? In line with the Shapero model,several questions focused on the entrepreneurialexperiences of the students. Thus they were asked, forinstance, whether anyone in their family was runninghis or her own business. The results of the preliminaryanalysis are presented in Table 3.

    In line with the existing literature that suggests a keyrole for the father in establishing the desirability and

    credibility of entrepreneurial action for an individual(see, for example, Shapero and Sokol, 1982), we find thatthe fathers of between 12% and 40% of the respondentswere running a company. The lowest figure in thisrespect was found among the engineering students (12%)and the second-year ESC students (19%). Few studentsreported that their mother was running a company infact the numbers ranged from none among UPD majorstudents to 11% among UPD control group students,although the third-year ESC students were an exception,with 31%. Very few respondents (between none and 6%)

    had a brother or sister who was running a firm but thiswas possibly because many students had brothers andsisters who were not yet old enough to run a business.

    A greater number of respondents had grandparentswho were running their own business (between 7% and33%): the highest number was found among first-yearESC students and the lowest among third-year ESCstudents. In general, the figures seem to be higher at theESC than at Paris Dauphine. Between 16% and 39%of the respondents in both establishments had an uncle

    running a company: here the lowest figure was amongDESS students at Paris Dauphine and the highest wasamong first-year ESC students (39%). Relatively fewstudents, between none and 23%, had an aunt who wasrunning a company: the lowest figure was for UP majorstudents and the highest was for second-year ESCstudents. Between 13% and 42% of the respondents hada friend who was running a business: the lowest figurewas for the UPD major students and the highest wasfor first-year and second-year ESC students. In general,ESC students seemed to have more friends runningbusinesses than those at Paris Dauphine and ENSCP.It is also interesting to note that the statistical analysisindicates that few females (mothers or aunts) wererunning their own business, and that entrepreneurshipseems to be a rather male-dominated domain in France.

    Ranking the percentages to indicate importanceacross the different target groups, the figures indicatethat first-year ESC students are more likely to draw onan entrepreneurial environment than UPD or ENSCPstudents. The engineering students, however, have

    fewer entrepreneurs in their environment than themanagement students.

    Entrepreneurial courses and work experience.As theresults presented in Table 4 show, between 1% and30% of the survey participants had already attended anentrepreneurial course the lowest percentages wereamong first-year ESC students and ENSCP studentsand the highest were among second-year ESC students.The latter finding is explained by the fact that thosestudents participate in an entrepreneurial project in the

    first year of their studies at the Grande cole and cancontinue their studies in a dominantein the secondyear. The low percentage among first-year ESC students

    Table 3. Is anybody in your family an entrepreneur or running his or her own business?

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Father 38 19 28 33 33 40 12Mother 7 4 31 11 0 12 8

    Sister/brother 4 6 0 2 0 4 0Grandparent 33 30 7 26 13 12 23Uncle 39 34 37 30 27 16 21Aunt 13 23 11 9 0 4 3Friend 42 39 30 39 13 29 21

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    is attributable to the fact that they join the ESC afterattending a two-year preparatory school in which theemphasis is on scientific subjects such as mathematicsrather than on matters such as entrepreneurship and

    enterprise creation. Thus it is highly unlikely that theywould have attended an entrepreneurship course beforejoining the Grande cole.

    Between 60% and 87% of the respondents hadhad some kind of professional experience: the lowestfigures were for the second-year ESC students, theengineering students and the UPD control group andthe highest were for third-year ESC and UPD majorstudents. The low figure in the second year of theESC programme can again be explained by the factthat the students enter the Grande cole after a two-

    year preparatory school with little or no professionalexperience. They normally pursue a substantialplacement later in the second and third years of theirstudies, which is in line with the high percentageamong third-year ESC students. There is a high figurein the UPD major because these students have chosenthe major in entrepreneurship to be directly involvedin professional activities given their prior businessexperience. Furthermore, 57100% of the respondentshad been out on a work placement, with the lowestpercentage registered by firstyear ESC students afinding consistent with their educational background.The results also reflect the fact that a work placementis obviously an integral part of the studies of all groupssurveyed.

    Examining the percentages of the students whoindicated that they were working while studying, wefind that between 24% and 80% of the respondentsanswered positively. The lowest figure was for the

    second-year ESC students and the highest was forthe UPD major students. It may well be that thelow number for ESC students reflects the demandsof the existing education system (30 hours of classattendance plus group work per week), which make itall but impossible to work and study simultaneously.In addition, the findings may act as a social indicator,highlighting the fact that Grande cole (managementand engineering) students may have a higher disposableincome due to parental support than public-sectoruniversity students. However, Paris Dauphine cannot

    be considered as an average public-sector university,given its reputation and standing in the French highereducation system. As a result, many French middle-class or upper-class parents would consider sendingtheir children to Paris Dauphine as equally desirable assending them to a Grande cole.

    We conclude from the above analysis that thestudents surveyed generally had some professionalexperience, whether in the form of student jobs or workplacements.

    Perceived desirability

    To throw further light on their career decisions, thestudents were asked where they saw themselves goingonce they had obtained their qualification. As Table 5

    Table 4. Entrepreneurial courses and work experience.

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Have you already attendedsuch a course? (Yes)

    1 30 27 5 13 22 8

    Have you any professionalexperience? (Yes)

    71 61 83 61 87 68 60

    Have you already beenon a placement? (Yes)

    57 94 91 91 87 88 100

    I work while studying 36 24 58 37 80 46 41

    Table 5. Students aspirations.

    Where do you see yourfuture?

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Do you want to create abusiness? (Yes)

    26 18 24 24 33 32 3

    Do you want to work in anSME? (Yes)

    28 34 23 20 40 20 37

    Do you want to work in alarge organization? (Yes)

    66 68 60 67 40 68 79

    Do you want to work in afamily business? (Yes)

    7 2 23 2 0 0 0

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    highlights, the majority of the students (between67% and 97%) did not want to create their ownbusiness. The greatest negative response was from theengineering students possibly because, studying ata very well known engineering Grande cole, theycan expect enticing job offers from large chemical/pharmaceutical companies when they graduate and

    so their interest in starting up their own business isextremely limited.

    Furthermore, the statistical comparison suggeststhat students at Paris Dauphine were slightly moreprepared to create a business than were ESC orENSCP students. However, the generally low numberof students who wanted to create their own companymay again be a reflection of the French HE system,which expects the Grandes coles (and this includesParis Dauphine) to train and provide senior managersfor large organizations. Our results also need to beunderstood in light of the fact that, as outlined at thebeginning of this paper, a focus on enterprise creationand entrepreneurship is only a recent phenomenonin France. Thus it may be very difficult to instil anentrepreneurial spirit in a student population whoseparents have themselves attended a Grande cole(Klapper, 2004).

    The majority of the respondents at the HEestablishments (with the exception of the UPD majorstudents) that is, between 60% and 79% of ESC,

    UPD and ENSCP respondents wanted to work ina large organization, and between 20% and 40%envisaged working in a small or medium-sizedenterprise (SME). Virtually nobody, however, wasprepared to work in a family business, except for thethird-year ESC students. It is interesting to note thatthe UPD major students seemed to be the least seton working in a large organization (40%), and moreopen to the idea of working for an SME (33%) or evencreating their own company (40%). We need to bearin mind that these students had deliberately chosen an

    entrepreneurship course at Paris Dauphine and so werelikely to be more open to these options. Conversely,we found the highest percentages of students wantingto work in large organizations among engineering

    students, who would not consider working in a familybusiness at all and who registered the lowest numberof students interested in creating their own business.Given that the theories suggest a link between rolemodels and enterprise creation, it may be that the lackof creators in the engineering students environment,as described earlier, is not conducive to encouraging an

    entrepreneurial spirit.The inquiry then explored the reasons why

    respondents preferred other ways of employment tocreating their own company. As Table 6 shows, onlybetween 18% and 36% of the students indicated thatthey were afraid of creating a business, while between2% and 18% said that it was the negative experience ofsomeone they knew that was discouraging them fromdoing so. Between 26% and 63% thought that theylacked the necessary professional experience, with theengineering and DESS students scoring the lowest inthis respect. The latter group comprises postgraduatestudents who are in general older than undergraduatesand therefore may feel more confident about theirprofessional experience than the other groups surveyed.

    In line with these findings, between 36% and 68%of the respondents felt they had not the right skills tocreate a business, with the highest numbers being foundamong third-year ESC and engineering students. Thisresult is slightly surprising, given that the third-yearESC students had participated in an entrepreneurship

    project and some had attended a 180-hour dominantefocusing on business creation. Thus they should haveacquired at least some of the necessary skills to createa business. However, the notion of acquiring theright skills may include much wider issues than justbeing able to write a business plan. As our qualitativeanalysis has shown, students tend to be reluctantto start a business because they feel they lack theappropriate professional experience.

    In the case of the engineering students, their degreeat the Paris-based Grande cole focuses on engineering

    subjects and very little knowledge is imparted aboutbusiness management and the actual running of a firm(the questionnaire was distributed at the beginning ofthe six-day entrepreneurship seminar). This may well

    Table 6. Students reasons for not creating their own business.

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Fear 24 23 24 22 36 18 16

    Negative experiences of afriend or relative 5 2 13 3 0 18 11Insufficient professionalexperience

    46 55 63 46 55 35 26

    Lack the right tools 44 36 62 46 36 41 68

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    explain their feelings that they have not yet acquired theright tools to create a company.

    In general, we conclude that it is not necessarilyfear or the negative experience of a relative or friendthat is preventing students from creating their ownbusiness: rather, it is primarily a sense that they donot have sufficient experience and skills to embark on

    company creation. The implication, therefore, is thatmore research is needed to establish the skills requiredby entrepreneurs.

    One question in our survey was designed toinvestigate the link between professional experience andthe desire to create a business and between the presenceof entrepreneurs in the family and an inclination tocreate a business. As Table 7 shows, around one-thirdof the students (between 32% and 44%) felt that theirprofessional experience had indeed increased theirinterest in starting up a business but the engineeringgroup was an exception, with only 10% answering thisquestion positively.

    Between 8% and 48% felt that the presence of anentrepreneur in the family had promoted an interestin enterprise creation again the low end of thepercentage range was registered by the engineeringstudents, who had few role models in their immediateenvironment (see Table 3). Again, this questionsupports the finding that there was a very significantlack of interest in enterprise creation among the

    engineering students.Feasibility

    To examine how students perceived the feasibility ofenterprise creation, we asked them to indicate theiragreement or disagreement with a variety of statements,one of which asked whether everybody could be anentrepreneur (recalling the much discussed question ofwhether entrepreneurs are born or bred).

    Students answered according to a Likert scaleranging from one to five, with one representingstrongly agree and five strongly disagree. The resultsfor strongly disagree and mildly disagree wereaggregated and are presented in Table 8. As can beseen, the majority of students disagreewith the notionthat anybody can be an entrepreneur. In particular, the

    second-year ESC, UPD DESS and engineering studentsexpressed their disagreement with the statement. Thethird-year ESC and UPD major students seemed moreopen to the idea, with only 55% and 57%, respectively,registering disagreement with the statement. Thisresult may be partly attributable to the fact that thesecond-year students had just participated in anentrepreneurship project in the first year of their studiesat the Grande cole and this experience may well haveleft them highly sceptical about the notion that anyonecould be an entrepreneur. In this sense, teachingentrepreneurship may deter rather than encouragecertain students. However, as the third-year studentswere among those most open to the idea that anybodycould be an entrepreneur, perhaps this negative effecthas diminished by the time the students reach theirthird year.

    The students were also asked whether they saw afuture for entrepreneurship in France and, if so, why.The results are shown in Table 9: it is striking that onlya small minority of respondents, between 3% and 13%,

    felt that there was a future for entrepreneurship becausemany French people are entrepreneurially minded theexception was the UPD major students (31%), whoseemed more optimistic than the other populations.The engineering students were the most pessimistic.The more optimistic outlook of the UPD major studentsmay be attributable to the fact that they attend anentrepreneurship course of their choice and thus theirattitude towards entrepreneurship may be different.

    Table 7. Factors that increase students interest in enterprise creation.

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Professional experience 35 32 44 39 40 35 10An entrepreneur in thefamily

    44 48 20 46 33 25 8

    Table 8. Students responses to the notion that anyone can be an entrepreneur.

    ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Strongly disagree ordisagree

    64 83 55 65 57 79 71

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    Entrepreneurship intention among French HE students

    Of the students who thought that there was afuture for entrepreneurship in France, between 54%and 77% agreed that this was because France needed

    entrepreneurs for its economic development (moreUPD than ESC students agreed with this statement).Furthermore, between 34% and 79% of the respondingstudents felt there was a future for entrepreneurshipbecause of its importance in employment creation thehighest level of agreement with this statement wasfound among third-year ESC students and the lowestlevel was among the first-year ESC and the ENSCPengineering students it should be noted here that,in general, first-year ESC students had not benefitedfrom any entrepreneurial courses before joining the

    ESC Rouen and, similarly, entrepreneurial teachingand training are not an integral part of the syllabusof the engineering Grande cole: thus these studentsknowledge about the socio-economic importance ofentrepreneurship may be rather limited.

    Asked whether there was a future forentrepreneurship in France because many Frenchpeople want to create a business, between 23% and60% of the respondents agreed that this was the case.The lowest level of agreement with the statement wasamong the UPD major and engineering students, andthe highest level was recorded among the third-yearESC students (60%). In general, the level of agreementwith the statement seemed to be higher among ESCthan among UPD students.

    Comparison of the levels of agreement with theindividual statements shows that the students emphasizedthe economic dimension of entrepreneurship and the

    importance of entrepreneurs for employment creation.This suggests that there is a growing awareness of theimportance of these issues even among the Frenchstudent population. It is striking, however, that so fewstudents thought that French people had anentrepreneurial mindset. In general, the engineeringstudents seem again to be the most pessimistic of thegroups.

    Looking at the responses of those students whothought there was nofuture for entrepreneurship inFrance, between 15% and 38% felt that there was no

    financial encouragement in France (the highest numberwas for the UPD control group and the lowest for theUPD major students). In a similar vein, between 11% and33% felt that there was no future for entrepreneurship inFrance due to the lack of tax incentives. The results ofthis analysis are shown in Table 10.

    A very diverse picture emerged when the studentswere asked whether there was no future in Francebecause entrepreneurs had a negative image. MoreUPD than ESC students thought that the image ofentrepreneurs was too negative: ESC students mayhave a more positive attitude towards entrepreneursand entrepreneurship as they are involved inentrepreneurship from the start of their education at theGrande cole (for a discussion of an entrepreneurial

    Table 9. Is there a future for entrepreneurship in France?

    Yes, because ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    Many French people havean entrepreneurial mindset

    11 11 10 13 31 13 3

    We need entrepreneurs forthe economy

    66 54 67 62 77 65 58

    Entrepreneurship favoursemployment creation

    42 50 79 60 62 44 34

    Many French people wantto create a business

    26 41 60 38 23 39 24

    Table 10. Is there a future for entrepreneurship in France?

    No, because ESC 1st year(%)

    ESC 2nd year(%)

    ESC 3rd year(%)

    UPD controlgroup (%)

    UPD major(%)

    UPD DESS(%)

    Engineers,ENSCP (%)

    There is no financial

    encouragement

    21 26 33 38 15 30 24

    There is no tax incentive 25 33 18 29 15 17 11The image of entrepreneursis too negative in France

    21 13 29 11 39 26 13

    France is too bureaucratic 39 35 52 47 62 35 47The economic situation istoo negative

    29 15 6 11 23 22 40

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    project at ESC Rouen, see Klapper, 2005). Yet, asour analysis has shown, and as has been discussedpreviously by Klapper (2004), the students do notgenerally want to start their own company and wouldprefer to work in a large organization.

    However, there was a relatively high level of support,in particular among UPD and engineering students,

    for the statement that a future for entrepreneurshipwas difficult to envisage because France was toobureaucratic: agreement with this statement rangedfrom 35% among the second-year ESC and DESSstudents to 62% among UPD major students.

    Relatively few respondents (between 6% and 40%)felt that there was no future for entrepreneurshipbecause of the negative economic situation in France the highest percentage was among the engineeringstudents. UPD students seemed slightly morepessimistic than ESC students. However, there seemedto be no great concern about the relationship betweenentrepreneurship and the economic situation in France.

    In summary, the students identified Frenchbureaucracy as a principal reason why they thoughtthere was no or little future for entrepreneurship inFrance. Financial aspects such as incentives and theexisting tax regime were identified by some as importantdeterrents, but did not attract very many responses.

    Propensity to act

    The propensity to act was conceptualized as thedisposition to act upon ones decisions, which goes tothe volition of a person to create a business. The sectionof the survey dealing with this issue focused on thosestudents who were interested in creating their owncompany and asked them whenthey would like to startup. According to our qualitative analysis of studentsresponses, none of the students felt ready to createa business: all felt that they lacked the experience,competence and financial means, and/or did not have aprecise business idea. They said that they would rather

    wait five or even ten years before starting up their owncompany. In general, they were attracted to the servicesector, in which they would also consider creating theirown business at a later stage. The optimistic aspect ofour analysis of the qualitative data is that, even thoughthe respondents may not have had a sufficiently welldefined idea to create a company, they were just waitingto get the right professional experience to launch abusiness.

    Conclusions and recommendations forfurther research

    Shaperos model ultimately aims to assess theentrepreneurial intentions of the subjects under

    review. Our questionnaire was designed to evaluatethe entrepreneurial intentions of students at differenthigher education establishments. Both quantitative andqualitative analyses show that many students do notwant to create a business or are hesitant to set up theirown business and become an entrepreneur. Instead,they look for employment in large organizations once

    they have finished their degree at a managementschool, university or engineering Grande cole.Very few of the students questioned saw a future forthemselves as employees in SMEs or as self-employedentrepreneurs, and even fewer envisaged a career inthe family business. In general, those students at allthree institutions who were entrepreneurially inclinedwere intending to acquire more professional experienceand competences before thinking about setting up abusiness. There are a number of plausible reasons forthis, some of which relate to the students age andlack of professional experience and skills, and someof which relate to French society itself and its highereducation system, which has traditionally aimed toprepare students for senior management positions ratherthan to train entrepreneurs.

    It should also be borne in mind that entrepreneurshipeducation is not directed only towards the launch ofnew businesses: it also has much broader educationalgoals, such as raising general awareness ofentrepreneurship-related issues and supporting those

    students who want to become entrepreneurs.On an optimistic note, our analysis indicates thatFrench HE students are generally neither afraid ofcreating their own business nor handicapped bynegative experiences. However, it is interesting to notethat the UPD major students who deliberately chosean entrepreneurship course expressed the most fearabout creating a business. This suggests that the morethe students found out about entrepreneurship andenterprise creation, the more nervous they becameabout the reality of starting a business. Furthermore,

    there was a very strong consensus, in particularamong ESC students, that not everyone could be anentrepreneur this issue is particularly important as itrelates to the born or bred debate in academia whichis key to entrepreneurship education.

    We also found a growing awareness among thestudents of the importance of entrepreneurship fornational and regional economies and of its role inemployment creation. This increased awarenessmay be due to the greater emphasis now placed onentrepreneurship and enterprise creation at French HEinstitutions, which suggests that governmental andprofessorial initiatives to promote entrepreneurshipand enterprise creation in the HE sector are slowlysucceeding in bringing these issues closer to a student

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    Entrepreneurship intention among French HE students

    audience that has been traditionally untouched byenterprise creation. However, much work remains tobe done very few students in our sample thoughtthat French people had an entrepreneurial mindsetand many identified French bureaucracy as one ofthe main reasons why they saw little or no future forentrepreneurship in France.

    The comparison between management andengineering students serves to highlight key differencesbetween the groups. It was, indeed, striking howpessimistic the engineering students were towardsentrepreneurship and enterprise creation. These studentsalso had fewer entrepreneurs among family and friends,and saw less of a role for entrepreneurship in theeconomy and employment creation. The large majorityof the engineering students envisaged a career in largecompanies, although some were open to employment inSMEs. In general, they felt they lacked the right toolsfor enterprise creation and their professional experiencedid not inspire entrepreneurship. (Further research isneeded to establish what precisely is meant by the righttools, however.)

    The comparative analysis between the ESC andParis Dauphine students indicates similar responses andattitudes in these two groups this is most likely dueto the nature of the French HE system and the similarsocial backgrounds of the respondents. Even thoughthe students of the control group had not attended any

    entrepreneurship courses, their responses were verysimilar to those of the other groups surveyed.To summarize, we conclude that:

    (1) The majority of the students across the HEinstitutions want to work in large organizations.

    (2) Management students differ from engineeringstudents in terms of their entrepreneurialenvironment and their intention to create abusiness due to their professional experience.

    (3) UPD students are more prepared to create theirown company than ESC students.

    (4) The UPD major students, who had deliberatelychosen an entrepreneurship course, were moreopen to employment in SMEs and to creating theirown company, but at the same time they expressedthe most fear about starting up a business.

    (5) In relation to the perceived feasibility of starting abusiness, fewer university students disagree withthe idea that anyone can be entrepreneur.

    (6) Many of the students recognized the importance ofentrepreneurship for the economy and employment

    creations, but identified French bureaucracy as adeterrent to entrepreneurship.

    More work needs to be done to establish the influenceof education on the entrepreneurial intention of

    students, in order to explore whether formal education,and in particular management education, impedesrather than facilitates the entrepreneurial process andthus enterprise creation. In fact, it may be questionedwhether enforced learning is detrimental to the actualintention of setting up a business. This is an importantquestion: it should be remembered that the percentage

    of ESC students who did notthink that anyone couldbe an entrepreneur increased from 64% in the firstyear to 83% in the second, but dropped to 55% in thethird year. As has already been suggested, their first-year entrepreneurship project may actually have hada detrimental effect on the students perception of thefeasibility of entrepreneurship and enterprise creation hence the higher percentage in the second year. Atthe same time, in the third year the percentage ofnegative responses dropped below the level of the firstyear, so the deterrent effect does not appear to havebeen permanent and ultimately a greater number ofstudents endorsed the idea that anyone could becomean entrepreneur.

    This study should be seen as a first step towardsinquiring into student entrepreneurial intentions inFrance. It is intended that the study will be repeatedon a regular basis to compare and contrast how studentintention develops over time. Furthermore, we plan toconduct interviews with students at the different HEestablishments to develop a deeper understanding of

    the students responses in their respective contexts. Inaddition, the possibility of conducting a cross-nationalstudy of entrepreneurial intention is currently underinvestigation.

    Note1The objectives of this Observatory, created jointly by theMinistries of Education, Finance and Industry, the APCE andthe Acadmie de lEntrepreneuriat (the French associationof entrepreneurship professors), are to identify the dif ferentactivities in entrepreneurship education and to promoteentrepreneurship education in higher education institutions

    and secondary schools.

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