Study On The Influencing Factors Of The Higher Vocational Students Entrepreneurial Propensity

As of April 2007, there were 1109 higher vocational colleges in China. Numbers of students enrolled in vocational education and numbers of students in school account for 50%.The Ministry of Education's statistics in September each year show that the vocational employment rate of graduates is55% in 2003, 61% in 2004 and 2005 (Liu Zhanwen, Wen Jingwen,2007).Although the employment rate of vocational students has been steadily rising, but there is still a large part of the students did not successfully employed after graduation, falling into the dilemma that graduation means unemployment. How to open up more employment channels for vocational students? A number of vocational colleges carried out to deepen the students' entrepreneurial education, develop students' entrepreneurial spirit, improve their entrepreneurial capacity and guide students to broaden employment-caliber.Compared with developed countries, vocational entrepreneurial education in China started later. The vocational entrepreneurial education curtain which first be raised is 'Entrepreneurial Plan Competition' that first held in Tsinghua University in April to October 1998.In April 2002 the Ministry of Education determined Tsinghua University, Beijing University, Renmin University of China and other nine colleges and universities as entrepreneurial education pilot institutions, entrepreneurial education into a new development stage under the guidance of Government. At present, the university's entrepreneurial education is still primarily employment guidance courses and entrepreneurial plan competition. How to develop entrepreneurial education has not yet formed an effective common mode.How to develop entrepreneurial education better? Many scholars have given some attention to the research of entrepreneurial orientation of general population, but there is not much research about vocational entrepreneurial propensity. Research of entrepreneurial propensity carried out by many scholars in the past are most for the general social groups, there are less for students, a special group, and even less for vocational students. How to improve students' entrepreneurial propensity according to the advantage of vocational college, combined students' characteristics, is a topic that the government and vocational institutions must pay attention to and promote to resolve in the new era of employment's changing situation.The term of entrepreneurial had already appeared in the 18th century, but the definition of entrepreneurial has not unified in academia. Gartner (1985) considered that the entrepreneurial is to establish a new organization, this view reflects the process of entrepreneurial; the definition of entrepreneurial by some scholars primarily focused on the entrepreneur's ability to identify opportunities, the entrepreneur's personality and psychological traits. Combined with the scholars' view, this paper argued that entrepreneurial is to identify and access opportunities, a process of create new value by using relevant resources.Among the scholars who have studied entrepreneurial propensity, entrepreneurial propensity was considered the possibility of students to choose their own entrepreneurial (Phan P. H. Wong, P. K. & Wang, 2002).The possibility of this option has changing and moving characteristics. In the same environment, the higher the entrepreneurial propensity, the higher degree that individuals tend to start an undertaking, compared with other developing ways ,they are more willing to choose entrepreneurial; and vice versa. It shows that entrepreneurial propensity is the best entrepreneurial behavior prediction indexes (Krueger, 1994).The factors that influence entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial propensity are more. At the research of general entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial propensity, scholars started a study from different factors, and the final conclusions focused on entrepreneurial traits, entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial environment and a link on entrepreneurial propensity. In the related research that students is considered as potential entrepreneurs, the view that the influence degree of entrepreneurial propensity by personal background factors has been consistent. Fan Wei and Wang Zhong-ming (2004) in the analysis of students background factors on the impact of entrepreneurial propensity found that personal's academic, professional and age correlated with entrepreneurial propensity. Wu Qi-Yun (2008) pointed out that the key factors that influence students entrepreneurial propensity is the experience of entrepreneurial educational and entrepreneurial community activities.The empirical research of vocational students' entrepreneurial propensity based mostly on psychological characteristics. Other factors that influence entrepreneurial propensity, such as personal background, entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial environment etc are less involved. This paper put forward four main factors that directly or indirectly affect vocational students' entrepreneurial propensity, they are personal basic circumstances, personal characteristics, entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial environment. The paper also established a conceptual model of the factors that influence vocational student's entrepreneurial propensity.According to the research content, this paper selects the items of related factors that have been measured with higher validity in the literature. After deletion, preliminary investigation and later modification, formal questionnaire are determined. This article obtained 697 valid questionnaires from full-time students in a Higher Vocational College of Qinhuangdao. By descriptive analysis and correlation analysis of the data ,we found that the source place type and family economic situation in the personal basic situation ,and the four indicators that vocational students' control, initiative, energy, social experience in personal qualities have high impact on the students' entrepreneurial attitude. The three indicators that personal achievement, independence, money and wealth accumulation in the entrepreneurial attitude and The three indicators that government to provide consulting services for university students entrepreneurial, variety of financing channels to choose for students entrepreneurial and the support of their family in entrepreneurial environment have high impact on the students' entrepreneurial attitude. In addition, we can see that vocational students' personal basic circumstances and personal characteristics have an indirectly effect on entrepreneurial propensity by influencing their entrepreneurial attitude. Entrepreneurial attitude is the internal influencing factors of entrepreneurial propensity, entrepreneurial environment is the external influencing factors, through the internal and external impaction on vocational students, they can eventually make vocational students generate entrepreneurial propensity. On the descriptive statistical analysis of measurement index in the factors, we obtain the main indicators of various factors that influence vocational students' entrepreneurial propensity, meanwhile, after the correlation test among the indicators, the proposed model's rationality is verified.The formation of entrepreneurial propensity is the result of interaction by entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial environment .Entrepreneurial attitude is the basic of the gradual formation of entrepreneurial propensity, entrepreneurial environment is the condition of the gradual formation of entrepreneurial propensity, interaction between the both can promote entrepreneurial propensity tend to be entrepreneurial behavior.Vocational college changing their concepts from employment education to entrepreneurial education, deepening reform of internal teaching management system, building vocational education system participated by community, school, successful people etc, effective improvement of these three aspects will promote the full and effective start of vocational education, and further it will lay a solid foundation for improving vocational students entrepreneurial propensity. The effective implementation of entrepreneurial education will lead the campus entrepreneurial environment to be optimized, broaden the student's personal social network and increase students' positive attitude for entrepreneurial.In short, the improvement of Qinhuangdao vocational students' entrepreneurial propensity can not do without the continuous improvement of the external entrepreneurial environment even can not do without the improvement of effective entrepreneurial-education system.