Relationship between entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial career option among Palestinian undergraduate students

An important aspect needed for promoting entrepreneurship is the encouragement of individuals by endowing them with the required skills and knowledge for recognizing the opportunities and turning these opportunities into successful ventures. Entrepreneurial opportunities recognition is considered as a specific human capital that can be learned through entrepreneurship education which has an effect on entrepreneurial career option. Based on the insights of the dynamic view of the human capital theory this study investigated the mediating role of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition (EOR) on the relationship between entrepreneurship education (EE) in terms of (Know-what, Know-why, Know-who and Know-how) and entrepreneurial career options (ECO) among Palestinian undergraduate students from business program. Furthermore, there are 4199 students in 13 Palestinian universities, and this comprised the study population. Data of the study was collected from final year students across six universities in Palestine during the 2016/2017 academic session using structured survey questionnaires. The study used the structural equation modelling Smart-PLS (3.0) to test the data obtained from a sample of 291 respondents, and to analyze the hypotheses. The findings revealed a significant positive association between EE, Know-why, Know-who, Know-how and the students' entrepreneurial career options. However, the study found no significant association between Know-what and the students' entrepreneurial career options. In addition, the study established that EOR significantly mediate the association between EE and the students' entrepreneurial career options. On the contrary, the study revealed that entrepreneurial opportunity recognition does not have a significant mediating effect on the association between know-what and ECO. The findings of the study provide important insights to academic institutions, educators and policy-makers to further comprehend the influences of EE, Know-why, Know-who, Know-how and EOR on students' entrepreneurial career options. The study recommended, that policy-makers should create an entrepreneurship education program that encourages students' entrepreneurial career options. Finally, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research were discussed.