INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS TO CREATE A COMPANY

Jhoany Valencia-Arias¹*, Alexandra Montoya-Restrepo² Iván Montoya-Restrepo³ Diana Arango-Botero^4
1Prof. Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, COLOMBIA, jhoanyvalencia@itm.edu.co
²Prof. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, COLOMBIA, lamontoyar@unal.edu.co
³Prof. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, COLOMBIA, iamontoyar@unal.edu.co
⁴Prof. Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, COLOMBIA, dianaarangob@itm.edu.co
*Corresponding author

Abstract

The entrepreneurial intentions of university students can be generated by the occurrence of a precipitating event, either in a positive or negative direction. These motivations are intrinsic (associated with the individual) or extrinsic (coming from abroad) and mark the entrepreneurial intention of university students since it is the stage of life where they are defining their life trajectory and where the greatest educational effort must be made to turn them into entrepreneurs. The objective of this study is to identify the different motivations (intrinsic and extrinsic) in university students of engineering programs, as it is the knowledge field with the greatest possibilities of generating technological ventures. The study population has been taken to include engineering students from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellín and the Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano. For this purpose, an exploratory-descriptive design of field and transversal character is used through a quantitative methodological design through which 645 self-administered questionnaires were applied. The results show that, although the majority of students have experienced a precipitating or triggering event towards entrepreneurship, a very low proportion of them have actually carried out entrepreneurial activities. Likewise, among the findings we can observe that one of the most representative triggers in university students regarding entrepreneurship is related to economic independence and the possibility of having a significant increase in their income, as well as in the quality of life of themselves and their families, which acquires a greater impulse in the current Latin American scenario, due to the socioeconomic particularities of developing countries. Finally, with regard to the family environment, the respondents stated that they consider their families to be a great support and entrepreneurial reference when creating their own business. In this sense, the intention of entrepreneurship is strongly linked to the family figure, either because it has instilled entrepreneurship and as such is surrounded by family businesses that drive towards the creation of their own business; or it can also originate a motivation towards entrepreneurship by the fact that people want to provide their families with better economic stability and a better quality of life. 

Keywords: event, entrepreneurship, intention, motivation, university students