Factors that Hinder Ndergraduate Students from Venturing into Businesses While Studying

Although various government assistance and support are made available to aid undergraduate students to start their own business while studying, readiness among the students to engage in entrepreneurial activity is still low. It is essential to determine the factors that hinder undergraduate students from venturing into business while studying, as the future working environment largely depends on the enthusiasm, the agility, and the creativity of these generations. Studies on the factors that cause undergraduate students not to opt entrepreneurship are indeed imminent. Hence, this study is meant to enhance our understanding the link between business start-up challenges and entrepreneurship intentions in explaining why undergraduate students are more likely to seek employment, instead of generating their own income. This study utilized the case study methodology and selected several undergraduate students from a research university in Malaysia as the research setting. This study discovered five factors, including lack of family support, lack of resources, lack of social networking, fear of risk, and aversion to stress, which hinder undergraduate students from starting a business. These insights are useful for academic, entrepreneurial educators, advisors or consultants, and policymakers to enhance entrepreneurship intentions in supporting entrepreneurship activities among undergraduate students. Keyword: Entrepreneurship intention, undergraduate students, lack of family support, lack of resources, lack of social networking, fear of risk and aversion to stress Introduction The entrepreneurial activities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are important to improve the economy and the well-being of the country (Hatten, 2006; Hoelscher and Elango, 2012; Urbano and Aparicio, 2015; Malaysian SMEs, 2017). Entrepreneurship has emerged as a national agenda in many nations, including Malaysia, due to its potential in advancing both the people and the nation (Zahra and Wright, 2016). 5 International Conference on New Ideas in Management, Economics and Accounting Paris, France November 2-4, 2018 62 Small businesses are trendy in the present entrepreneurship as they contribute to employment, political, and social well-being of people, apart from promoting innovative power and competitiveness (Thurik and Wennekers, 2004). Nonetheless, limited business experience, lack of social capital, and reluctant to take risk are the major reasons these undergraduate students are unwilling to venture into business (Shandhu et al., 2011; Qunlian, 2011; Shamsuddin et al., 2017). In this line, Sharma and Madan (2013) indicated that undergraduate students are inclined towards seeking jobs after graduation. It is critical to highlight the challenges of starting up a venture among undergraduate students to boost their entrepreneurial intentions. According to Akmaliah and Hisyamuddin (2009), Malaysian students are keen in becoming self-employed, but they lack confidence in becoming an entrepreneur. Data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor highlighted that self-confidence has a very high impact on the relevant skills to support one’s own business (Reynolds et al., 2001; Arenius and Minniti, 2005). Additionally, based on the outcomes of different schools of thought, it is clear that selfconfidence is a construct that determines the true feelings of a student's belief in his judgment, quality, and abilities (Gelaidan and Abdullateef, 2017). In 2014, the Ministry of Education conducted a study called ‘Graduate Detection Study’ and reported only 2% of graduates who ventured into business after graduation. The problem with business start-up is that it is not only about penetrating the market, but also how to survive in the market (Eftekhari and Bogers, 2015). In fact, several issues appear to either hinder undergraduate students from entering the business market or upon entering the trade arena leading to their businesses failure (Raeesi et al., 2013). Hence, in order to encourage the growth of entrepreneurs among undergraduate students, as well as to assist them to face any imminent obstacle confidently, it is important for them to sculpt a specific concept for business, knowledge regarding financial resources to start a business, and possession of funds necessary to start their own business activity (Staniewski and Szopiński, 2015). The Government has highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship development and entrepreneurship with the establishment of the Malaysian Entrepreneurs Ministry since 1995 (Shandhu et al., 2011). Based on the Eleventh Malaysian Plan (11MP), the development of SMEs has always become a government concern (Malaysian SMEs, 2017). The Master Plan aims to boost the contribution of SMEs to the Malaysian economic by 2020 (Malaysian SMEs, 2017). The establishment of this special ministry for entrepreneurship and an agenda established in 11MP are timely to resolve the issue of changing the job landscape in Malaysia. Graduate unemployment is becoming a major problem in Malaysia and it was reported that the number of unemployed graduates was 5 International Conference on New Ideas in Management, Economics and Accounting Paris, France November 2-4, 2018 63 approximately 3.4 percent in 2017 (The Statistics Portal, 2018). This data also suggest that economic development seems to be creating an insignificant number of jobs than it used to, thus making it more difficult for people to compete for employment. The problem of graduate unemployment can be resolved if they take their own initiative to create their own income by venturing into business (Ahmad and Xavier, 2012). Although the aspect of entrepreneur motivation has received significant research attention, studies pertaining to undergraduate students’ motivation to start entrepreneurship are in scarcity. The understanding of “why undergraduate students choose not to become entrepreneurs” is under researched. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors that deter the undergraduate students from starting a business. This research is important in the quest of developing the national economy, as the goal is to minimize the problem of graduate unemployment (Kuriakose & Joseph, 2015). Not surprisingly, studies related to SMEs appear to mainly focus on the motivation among entrepreneurs than the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs (Ismail, et al., 2009; Yeng-Keat and Ahmad, 2012; Sivarajah and Achchuthan, 2013; Raeesi et al., 2013; Ambad & Damit, 2016). Research on the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs, particularly on factors that hinder undergraduate students from starting a business, are important due to the fact that the future work environment largely depends on the enthusiasm, the agility, and the creativity of these generations (Kvedaraite, 2014). According to Halim et al., (2017), Malaysia is the center of attention amongst foreign investors, politicians, and researchers due to its fast-growing economy. As such, there is a need to identify the factors that impede undergraduate entrepreneurship for a healthy economic development. Understanding the challenges towards entrepreneurship will also help policymakers in designing high-impact strategies to reduce the obstacles faced by these undergraduate students in venturing into business. The present study is an effort to bridge this gap in the literature. The paper is organized as follows. The subsequent section discusses the underpinning theories and followed by the methodology adopted in this study. Sections on case study approach, as well as results and discussion, come next. Finally, the implication, the conclusion, and future directions are highlighted. Theoretical Background Underpinning Theories This study is underpinned by the psychological theory and the social networking theory. 5 International Conference on New Ideas in Management, Economics and Accounting Paris, France November 2-4, 2018 64 Psychological Theory Researchers have concentrated on the assortment of marvels from the underpinning theory of entrepreneur's psychological aspect (Busenitz and Barney, 1997). Entrepreneurial psychology is part of entrepreneurial activity that is vital in planning procedures to decide the achievement of the association (Dess et al., 1997). The innovation and willingness to take entrepreneurship risk give entrepreneurs a competitive edge (Miller and Friesen, 1982). Miller (1983) proposed a theory of entrepreneurship action by combining the main dimensions of a firm, such as innovation, efficiency, risktaking, and proactive actions. A proactive attitude is closely related to the recovery and creation of new resources (March, 1991; Lumpkin and Dess, 2001). According to Churchill and Lewis (1986), the psychological theoretical context is used more widely to determine one's personal measure of entrepreneurial intentions (Churchill and Lewis, 1986). Another imperative variable in business activity is self-productivity, an exceedingly viable indicator of inspiration and learning for the past two decades (Zimmerman, 2000). Entrepreneurship is viewed as an element that is related to one’s understanding that helps in the thinking process of taking up the challenges along with the opportunities by overcoming threats (Gerba, 2012). The concept of risk-taking is linked with the entrepreneurial process when an entrepreneur is always ready to engage in business risk after making certain arrangements (Brockhaus, 1980). This concept also means that the ventures will always be ready for business commitments to specific resources to achieve higher returns on the transactions that are yet to be identified (Brockhaus, 1980; Miller, 1983; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Social Networking Theory An assorted cluster of research customs has formed the current state of social networking theory (Liu et al., 2017). According to Grabher and König (2017), personal networks have become a more important way of entering an increasingly uncertain market for work, r