Selected contextual factors and entrepreneurial intentions of students on the example of Poland

The article analyses the influence of contextual variables on students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The research seeks to extend previous findings concerning the impact of various contextual factors on entrepreneurial intentions. The main focus was on public policy, business environment and education as the contextual traits. The study answers the following questions: What role do contextual variables play in the formation of the entrepreneurial intention of young people? What factors comprise a latent variable — contextual factor? What is the relationship between various contextual factors? The survey was conducted among students of the Faculty of Engineering Management at Bialystok University of Technology (Poland). Data were collected from the sample of 332 respondents. This research used a causal quantitative methodology using structural equations (Structural Equation Modelling, SEM). The impact of education (E) on the business environment (BE) and of the business environment (BE) on public policy (PP) was confirmed. A direct influence of contextual factors — education (E), business environment (BE) and public policy (PP) — on entrepreneurial intentions (EI) has not been positively verified. The main theoretical conclusion is that contextual factors do not directly explain the entrepreneurial intentions of the surveyed student population in Poland. Decision-makers and politicians should consider additional measures to improve public policy in the country, but above all, measures that promote intentions indirectly. They aim to improve the educational environment in the country that is strengthening entrepreneurship education programmes in universities and earlier education stages and activities in the business environment, supporting the creation of new companies.