University-related Factors influencing Technological Entrepreneurial Intentions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Students: A Comparative Study of Private and Public Universities

This study aims to establish university-related factors that influence the formation of technological entrepreneurial intentions (TEIs) among STEM students in Zambia. The article extends the Ajzen Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model by including environmental factors that were tested using a comparative study of public and private students, with quantitative data obtained from a sample of 400 STEM students and analyzed using structural equation Modelling (SEM). This paper contributes to emerging literature on TEIs by incorporating environmental variables into the TPB model to explain the formation of STEM students' TEIs. This study provides insights into the significance of pressure from friends, family and other networks and positive perception of technological entrepreneurial activities on the formation of TEIs in students. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to utilize the extended TPB on STEM Students in Zambia. This research also contributes to the existing literature on technopreneurship by comparing the formation of TEIs of STEM students in private and public universities. The findings suggest that attitudes towards entrepreneurship (ATE), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) have a direct impact on TEIs for private university students and ATE and PBC for public university students. University support (US) influences TEIs through (SN) for both private and public university students. Additionally, the university environment affects TEIs through three antecedents (ATE, SN and PBC) for private university students, while teaching methods (TM) show no association with TEIs.