Predictors of self-employment behavior among business graduates

Self-employment skills (also known as entrepreneurship) play a vital role in the economic development of a ‎country, thus should be given enough attention while designing business education programs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the predictors of self-employment behavior amongst business students in Pakistan. In this regard, the impact of entrepreneurial education, business incubation programs, students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and social entrepreneurial attitude on students’ entrepreneurial intention and behavior was examined. Also, the moderating role of psychological empowerment on the relationship between self-employment intention and self-employment behavior was analyzed. A total of 542 valid responses were collected through a self-‎administrative questionnaire from business students in the public universities in Pakistan. ‎The data were analyzed through partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) by using ‎smart PLS 3.0 software. The findings show that entrepreneurial education, business incubation ‎programs, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and social entrepreneurial attitude significantly and ‎positively influence self-employment intention which in turn positively predicts self-employment behavior. Whilst, the moderating role of psychological ‎empowerment between self-employment intention and behavior was not confirmed. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications ‎have been discussed to help the policymakers, government institutions, and universities to develop and implement educational strategies to increase students’ self-employment ‎behavior.