Do University Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Convert Entrepreneurial Education into Startup Action? Evidence from Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine if an environment created by a university-based entrepreneurial system can cause entrepreneurial education to be converted into a student's or graduate's desire to start up and create a business. Using theoretical models for entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and ecosystems, the study examined how entrepreneurial education affects the outcome (desire and ability) of starting a new business; as well as whether entrepreneurial self-efficacy/mindset acts as a mediator between these two variables and whether the level of support for entrepreneurship within the ecosystem will moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial education and the desired and actual outcomes of creating a new business. A survey-based methodology was used in which 201 responses were received from both public and private universities in Karachi. Reliability, validity, correlation, mediation, and moderation analyses were conducted using procedures available through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings indicate that entrepreneurial education has a significant impact upon entrepreneurial self-efficacy/mindset and startup intention/creation. Additionally, entrepreneurial self-efficacy/mindset serves as a mediator in this relationship. Furthermore, while the support for entrepreneurship in the ecosystem did not have a significant moderate effect in this relationship, it had a positive direct association with startup outcomes.