Investigating the Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Enhancing Students' Entrepreneurial Behavior

Entrepreneurship is a vital pillar in the economic and social progress of societies, playing a prominent role, especially in job creation and reducing unemployment.  Given the importance of this issue, entrepreneurship education in universities is recognized as a key tool for cultivating potential entrepreneurs and strengthening essential skills in this field.  This research aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship education on students' entrepreneurial behavior. This research is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of approach. The study population included experts in the field of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship management, and university entrepreneurs. For the selection of participants, a purposive sampling method of the snowball type was used, and with the theoretical saturation criterion, 15 people were selected as the sample size. In this research, thematic analysis using MAXQDA2024 software was used to analyze qualitative data. The research results showed that entrepreneurship education improves entrepreneurial behavior in various dimensions, including entrepreneurial intentions and purposes, intellectual and attitudinal skills, networking and mentoring, the supportive role of the government, and the duties of universities. In particular, entrepreneurship education provides a basis for improving students' motivation and ability to start new businesses.  The findings also showed that entrepreneurship education provides a basis for improving and developing support networks and access to the resources needed to launch start-up businesses. The findings of this study provide significant achievements for policymakers, planners, and instructors of higher education in Iran and can help promote the culture of entrepreneurship and the country's economic growth.