Comparatives of Entrepreneurial Intentions Between Mandatory and Voluntary in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in fostering employment and economic growth, with entrepreneurship education (EE) witnessing global expansion. This research investigates the impact of EE on CrowdWorks freelancers in Japan using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), a socio-psychological model. While EE is growing worldwide, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in Japan. This study employed a survey using a 7-point Likert scale to gather responses from 522 participants. Statistical reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha test and confirmatory factor analysis. Quantitative methods were then used to analyse the data, including descriptive statistics for TPB factors and ANOVA for inter-group comparisons. The results demonstrated that the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of respondents who had taken an EE course (Group Y) was significantly higher than that of those who had not (Group N). Specifically, Group Y had an EI value of 4.569, compared to Group N’s 2.766. The effect size was [eta]² = .08, indicating a moderate effect. Furthermore, respondents who took the voluntary course (Group V) exhibited significantly higher EI than those who took the mandatory course (Group M), with an effect size of [eta]² = .39, confirming a fairly large effect. Within Group Y, Group V had a significantly higher EI value of 5.326, while Group M’s EI was 3.181. These results offer insights for enhancing EE in Japan. Future research should focus on the target group and investigate the specifics of the EE courses taken by participants in more detail.