Entrepreneurial attitude: Gender differences in moroccan university students

Abstract

Higher education institutions play an important role in fostering a positive student attitude towards entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial attitude concerns one's predisposition to look favourably or unfavourably upon starting a business. Previous studies discuss whether gender might affect this attitude. The aim of this paper is to supplement the scant, Morocco-based studies by exploring whether gender influences students' entrepreneurial attitudes, taking into account their marital status and level of education. A non-parametric statistical analysis is applied to a sample of 549 Moroccan students and the results show that gender affects their entrepreneurial attitudes. Female students show a higher entrepreneurial attitude than male students, especially when they are single and at the bachelor level. These findings have practical implications for higher education institutions and policy makers.