Impact of entrepreneurial education, trait competitiveness and psychological capital on entrepreneurial behavior of university students in GCC

Purpose - This research is in response to the growing need for economic diversification in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as they seek to manage the impacts of volatile oil revenues. To this end, governments in the region are encouraging their citizens to undertake entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of entrepreneurial education (EE), trait competitiveness (TC) and psychological capital (PC) on the entrepreneurial behavior (EB) of university students. Design/methodology/approach - As a quantitative study, primary data were collected through a survey administered to the team of young university students in Oman. Using stratified sampling techniques, 858 questionnaires were retrieved and used for the analysis out of the 1,176 sample. The analysis of the data was done using structural equation modeling. Findings - The results have established a positive influence of EE, TC and PC on the EB of university students in the GCC region. This study also found that PC acts as a bridge between EE, TC and EB. Originality/value - This paper provides further literature evidence on the contribution of other variables like TC and PC to EB, particularly in the GCC context, by providing a model of the influence mechanism on EB. This research reveals a very unique influence of PC on the relationship between TC and EB. The findings confirm that there is no direct relationship between TC and EB. However, the relationship was established with the introduction of PC.