THE FORMATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS BASED ON COGNITIVE MODELS AND MULTICONTEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as a driving force behind socioeconomic development and innovation. In the academic sphere, understanding the factors that prompt university students to develop the intention to create new businesses has emerged as a priority area of scientific inquiry. This article presents an integrative theoretical and empirical synthesis of the formation of entrepreneurial intention in higher education, contrasting classic models and contemporary approaches with multicontextual empirical evidence drawn from studies in Brazil, Portugal, India, and Italy. Adopting a descriptive-explanatory design with a quantitative approach, this study analyzes how individual variables (psychological characteristics, motivations, self-efficacy, and gender), contextual variables (social support networks and family history), and educational variables (pedagogical practices and training) determine the entrepreneurial intention of students from diverse fields of knowledge. The results demonstrate that personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control are the most consistent predictors of intentionality. In contrast, subjective norms exert a limited or even inverse direct influence on individuals with a strong internal locus of control. Additionally, the impact of entrepreneurship education is shown to be non-linear, often operating indirectly and mediated by self-efficacy and desire. Finally, the study highlights the critical need to transition from a technocratic pedagogy to active, problem-posing practices that foster student autonomy and creativity.