Relationship of gender to the position of Slovak university students on the socio-economic determinants of the business environment and the development of entrepreneurship

Abstract

The current competitive environment and globalization processes create pressures on education processes at universities. Increasing business opportunities, business creation and business development is also one of the forms of unemployment. To do this, education for entrepreneurship at various levels of education is essential, as well as active support for infrastructure resources in the economy. High school students represent a significant group of young people with a sufficient knowledge base, analytical, creative and practical skills that are essential to building entrepreneurial self-confidence. Many research studies declare gender differences in the approach to entrepreneurship that have an impact on decision-making processes in the application of graduates of higher education. To eliminate these differences, it is important to explore in more detail the factors that cause them. This was also an incentive for our research. We realized online survey among students of Slovak universities in 2017. Our objective was to find which socioeconomic determinants of entrepreneurship are dependent on gender of students at Slovak universities. We wanted to know also how propensity for entrepreneurship is influenced by gender. From our results we can conclude that gender of students is significant determinant of attitude toward both entrepreneurship environment (p < 0,05) and especially entrepreneurship propensity (p < 0,001). Men are more self-confident from the viewpoint of actual and possible entrepreneurship than women. The results of our research can be beneficial to relevant policy makers as well as to experts involved in the development of regional development plans, business support and education experts, etc. © 2018 by author(s) and VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center.