Institutional quality as a determinant of entrepreneurial intention : Proposal of an integrative conceptual model[La qualité institutionnelle comme déterminant de l'intention entrepreneuriale : Proposition d'un modèle conceptuel intégratif]

Business creation represents a major strategic challenge for Morocco's economic development. Yet, despite public policy efforts, the entrepreneurial intention of higher education graduates remains structurally low and primarily driven by necessity rather than opportunity (GEM Morocco, 2024). This article examines the role of institutional quality as an underestimated determinant of entrepreneurial intention. In terms of methodological approach, this work adopts a conceptual and theoretical design of a hypothetico-deductive nature: drawing on a review of the empirical literature on entrepreneurship and institutions in emerging and Moroccan economies, it builds an integrative framework combining the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), institutional theory (North, 1990) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Four institutional dimensions are identified, namely regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption and socio-cultural norms, each exerting a specific effect on the formation of intention. The main conclusion of this work is the proposal of an original conceptual model, the Institutional Model of Entrepreneurial Intention (IMEI), which theorizes the mechanisms by which these institutional dimensions influence the three antecedents of intention identified by Ajzen, namely attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, and from which five research hypotheses are derived. This model will be the subject of a subsequent empirical validation, of a positivist stance and quantitative methodology (structural equation modeling), on a sample of 350 Moroccan university graduates from three regions with contrasting institutional profiles. This work helps fill a gap in the Moroccan entrepreneurship literature by explicitly integrating the institutional dimension as an explanatory variable of intention rather than of the act of creation.