Does family business background matter? Career decisions of postgraduate students

Resumen

The aim of this chapter is to investigate whether the family business background of postgraduate students determines their entrepreneurial intention and behaviour. These students may start their own business, continue as a successor in the next generation of the family business, or work for others outside of the family firm. Based on social cognitive career theory, evidence from a study of 190 former students of a business administration international postgraduate programme taught in Spain indicates that students with a family business background have more self-efficacy and more entrepreneurship intention than those without this background. In terms of entrepreneurial behaviour (starting a new business or being a successor), the direct effect of a family business background is not significant, but the indirect and total effect through entrepreneurial intention is positive and significant. Therefore, these results show that intention precedes behaviour.