When is entrepreneurship a career option for highly educated students? Evidence from Czechia
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Abstract
This article focuses on youths' opinions on becoming entrepreneurs. The primary objective of the research was to identify the motives, trigger events, and conditions that younger people consider when deciding to become entrepreneurs, in order to understand the decision-making process for entrepreneurship among young university students. We conducted 22 focus group discussions with 133 participants, comprising 15 initial focus groups with 94 participants (approximately half of whom were women) and seven follow-up focus groups with 39 participants. We found the Kaleidoscope career model (authenticity, balance, and challenge) highly relevant in explaining youths' decision-making. For youth, it was mainly a matter of their free choice, which depends on many factors relevant to their personal experiences. The cultural factors, including perceived family obligations, mainly constrain women.
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