An Examination on the Entrepreneurial Intention among Thai Students at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)

Government funding for the enhancement of entrepreneurship and enterprise activity has been given a priority for a number of years. The higher education sectors have responded by increasing the amount of education given to students to prepare them for an entrepreneurial
future. However, many students do not turn out to be an entrepreneur after their graduation.Students’ behavior and decision to involve in entrepreneurship can be explained by their intention. Therefore, this paper aimed at (i) exploring the level of entrepreneurial intention among Thai students who are currently studying at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), and (ii)examining the entrepreneurial intention among these students according to the internal factors(personal attribute of students) and external factors (environment) and the potential connection or
relationship between them. A structured questionnaire was used and it was personally distributed to 150 respondents. The finding of the study shows that the Thai students show a high level of internal factors (i.e., need for achievement, locus of control, risk taking, and self-confidence).The finding also reveals that there is a significant relationship between the external factors (i.e.,
market, financing, society, and university) and entrepreneurial intention among Thai students.