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INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
uplifting the standard of living of individuals which ultimately leads towards the uplift of
society as a whole.
Many countries take different initiatives to support such intentions and develop the pool
for successful entrepreneurs. Examples of such initiatives are different programs
supported by international, national and private agencies like UNCTAD EMPRETEC
program which was started in 1988 in association with UNDP to promote
entrepreneurship in developing nations. In addition, there are many education centers,
funding institutions, competitions for business plans (Bajaba, 2009) to boost the
entrepreneurial intentions and mitigate the barriers in the way of entrepreneurship.
In Pakistan government has taken some initiatives to boost up the entrepreneurship such
as setting up Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) in 1988
which was entrusted with the responsibility to encourage the development of small and
medium enterprise by facilitating the SMEs in securing finance and providing the
business ideas and support information. Moreover, SMEDA is also responsible for
conducting researches in the relevant field to identify the opportunities and to develop a
data base useful for entrepreneurs of Pakistan. There are 3.2 million business enterprises
in Pakistan which contribute 30% to GDP and Rs. 140 billion to overall exports of
Pakistan (SMEDA, 2009) shows an impressive progress of entrepreneurial development
in Pakistan.
The main focus of this study is to consider the environmental factors that contribute
towards the entrepreneurial intentions of business students in Pakistan. This study focuses
that whether the favorable environmental factors lead the students to start their own
venture and that some unfavorable environmental factors may harm student‘s
entrepreneurial intentions. We have chosen business students because they know what
business is really is? How it is started? How it would be managed? What factors
contribute towards the success or failure of the business? What environmental perquisites
are necessary for starting up a new business venture? (Gelderen et al., 2009)
2. Literature Review
The role of entrepreneurs in the economic prosperity is widely discussed topic in the
literature. The determinants of entrepreneurial intension have explored in various studies.
Some researcher adopted the personality approach to study this phenomenon who
advocates that there intensions are developed by personality traits. Raijman, (2001) and
Segal et al. (2005) found a positive relationship between risk taking behavior and
entrepreneurial intentions. Townsend at el. (2008), found that self confidence trait leads
towards the starting up a new venture by providing confidence in ones action and future
outcomes of the ventures. Zampetakis (2008) discussed the impact of perceived
desirability to become entrepreneur on relationship of creativity, proactivity and
entrepreneurial intention and provided support for significant affects and also
demonstrated the importance of creativity in entrepreneurial process. Luthje and Franke
(2003) also found the strong positive affect of personality traits on entrepreneurial
attitude. Gelderen et al. (2006) found that two traits i.e. sensitivity to business
opportunities and perceived importance of financial security are most important
explanations of entrepreneurial intentions and interest. Some other researchers seek to
explain the phenomena through demographical differences as Zhang et al. (2001) found
that females have a strong genetic influence while males have zero genetic influence on
COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 207
JANUARY 2011
VOL 2, NO 9