University Departments and Self-Employment Intentions of Business Students: A Cross-Level Analysis

This study examines how characteristics of university departments impact students’ self–employment intentions. We argue that four organizational–level factors (entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship support programs, industry ties, and research orientation) increase such intentions. Using a data set of 1530 business students and 132 professors at 25 university departments, this study shows that entrepreneurship education and industry ties are related to self–employment intentions only for the males in our sample. A negative effect of the department's research orientation was found. Our study suggests that the organizational context plays an important but gender–specific role in shaping future entrepreneurs. Implications of our findings are discussed.