The impact of network ties, shared languages and shared visions on entrepreneurial intentions of online university students

Abstract

There is a scarcity of research on the influence of structural -network ties (NT)-, cognitive -shared languages (SL) and shared visions (SV)- social capital (SC) dimensions on online studentś entrepreneurial intentions (EI). This paper, drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), examines this influence on a sample of 302 Spanish online university students (graduate and undergraduate). The technique employed to perform the analysis is Partial Least Squares (PLS) -Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results confirm the key role played by SL and SV in the development of EI through the catalyst role played by NT and through the mediation of the main antecedents of the TPB. In conclusion, in online universities SL and SV are needed in order to ease students’ NT and increase their EIs and should be considered when designing the university strategy and the students’ syllabus.