Understanding the Entrepreneurial Intention among Final Year Engineering Students in Coastal Karnataka

Entrepreneurs are the job creators and are a crucial part of wealth creation for any nation. To produce high valued products, individuals with technical skills are required. In this paper, the entrepreneurial intention among the final year engineering students of the coastal Karnataka region is analyzed using 5 parameters which are attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and university and environment support. Ajzen model of Theory of Planned Behavior is the basis for the research frame of this study. Convenience sampling method was adopted to collect data using a questionnaire from the final year engineering students studying in coastalKarnataka.Spearman Correlation Coefficient was calculated to find the association between entrepreneurial intention and attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, need for achievement and university environment and support. The correlation coefficients were in the range of 0.523-0.583 between entrepreneurial intentions and need for attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and university environment and support. The Spearman Correlation Coefficient between entrepreneurial intention and need for achievement was 0.297 which is less than the coefficients obtained for other parameters.This indicates there is less positive association between the entrepreneurial intention and need for achievement as compared with other variables among the final year engineering students of Coastal Karnataka region.