Entrepreneurial motivation factors: : A case study of students at the Universities of Applied Sciences in the Helsinki Metropolitan region with respect to place of origin

Abstract

According to research conducted in Finland concerning entrepreneurship, the involvement of students is minimal compared to people without educational background, and furthermore the significant number of businesses are only established by certain ethnic groups. Based on this argument, this thesis aims to identify primarily the motivational factors that inspire students to be entrepreneurs, focusing mainly on students studying in the Helsinki metropolitan region at Universities of Applied Sciences. In addition to this, the motivational factors that met the statistically significant test will be further assessed to establish whether any motivational differences are as a result of students' ethnicity or place of origin.

In order to support this argument, the theoretical section defines and analyzes the concepts of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivation, and motivational push-pull factors in detail.

The empirical section presents data collected through questionnaires sent to students of four Universities of Applied Sciences located in the Helsinki Metropolitan region (namely Arcada, Haaga-Helia, Laurea and Metropolia UAS).

To analyze the data, the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software was employed as the primary tool. The result obtained reveal that factors such as desire for independence and work-life balances were considered significant by the respondents, in motivating them to become entrepreneurs. Regarding the possible motivational difference that is based on students’ place of origin, the results reveal that, while some individual motivational disparities are apparent, the variations are insignificant within the group.