Investigating the Role of Personality and Behavioral Characteristics in Explaining Students' Entrepreneurial Intention (Case Study: Shahed University)

This paper investigates the effect of three personality traits, including risk taking (RTP), locus of control (LoC), and proactive personality (PP), on students' entrepreneurial intention, given the mediating role of planned behavior model (TPB). It is also the purpose of this study to examine the difference between the first group, having entrepreneurship education or previous experience (themselves or their parents), and the second group not having these characteristics. This research is a quantitative and a correlation- descriptive study. Data were collected using a questionnaire and classified random sampling. Statistical population is all students of Shahed University. In this study, Structural Equation Modeling and Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) were used in a sample of 443 individuals. The results confirmed the validity of the TPB model in predicting students' entrepreneurial intention. RTP and LoC had a direct and positive effect on entrepreneurial intention but PP did not have a significant direct effect on entrepreneurial intention. In examining the mediating effect, it was found that all three components of the TPB mediate the relationship between personality traits and intention, either partially or competitively or fully. The two groups of students also had significant differences in some relationships