Types of poverty and entrepreneurial intention in Bangladesh

We used the theory of planned behavior to hypothesize how economic poverty and perceived poverty predict college students’ intention to start businesses. Based on the argument that entrepreneurial intention will be based on perception of both feasibility and desirability of a business venture, we tested whether or not people experiencing different types of poverty (the poor, the unsatisfied, and the complacent) have a different degree of likelihood of starting up a business. We collected data from a sample of 350 students in Bangladesh. Our results showed that, the poor were the most likely to start a business after graduation, followed by the unsatisfied, and the complacent had the lowest score for probability of starting a business after graduation. Findings and implications of the study are discussed.