"My Old And My New Family" The Impact of Family Relationships on Students' Entrepreneurial Intentions: An Italian Study

Abstract

Previous research that explored entrepreneurial intentions through the Theory of Planned Behavior has found that intentions are reliable predictors of entrepreneurial behavior. Less however is still known about background factors that might drive intentions. Scholars have found that family financial support and prior family business exposure can influence intentions to start a business. By focusing on the entrepreneurial intentions of a wide sample of Italian university students, we aim to uncover if some characteristics of the family of origin (i.e. having self-employed parents and older siblings) and of their family of formation (i.e. living with a partner) are related to their entrepreneurial intentions. Our results suggest that having self-employed parents, older siblings and living with a partner increase the entrepreneurial intentions of the individuals. The effect of such family-related variables is mediated by cognitive variables (perceived behavioral control, subjective norms and attitude towards entrepreneurship).

Keywords: entrepreneurial intentions, young graduates, family, theory of planned behavior (TPB)