Factors Determining Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Case Study from Albania

This paper attempts to explain the formation of entrepreneurial intention of Albanian students by using the Theory of Planned Behavior. It aims in understanding how the personal and contextual variables, affect the entrepreneurial intention of students in Albania. The main purpose of our study is to describe, predict and analyse an important factor of the entrepreneurial process: the entrepreneurial intention. We conduct a detailed analysis of theoretical background in order to highlight a conceptual framework of entrepreneurial intention based on the model of Shapero and Sokol (1982) taken over by Krueger (1993). We draw our model on a sample of 556 students in three public universities. We use structural equation models to test our hypothesis on the entrepreneurial intention of students. The use of structural equations, aims in creating robust latent variables out of single survey questions, by assuring the reliability of the constructs. The data were tested for multi-trait with a multi-method model. Some of our findings were consistent with the theory of Planned Behavior, while others were not. The data show a positive relationship between both attitude and subjective norms with students' entrepreneurial intentions, while, as unexpected, the self-efficacy despite their positive relationship, have a lower effect over entrepreneurial intentions.