Exploring the linkage between digital entrepreneurship intentions and personality traits among university students in Morocco

Abstract

The world of business has been transformed by digitalization, giving rise to a new style of entrepreneurship known as ‘digital entrepreneurship’. Recently, a growing body of research has been devoted to studying the impacts and links of this new form of entrepreneurship on business transformation, particularly during and after the period of the recent health crisis (covid 19). This exploratory empirical study examines the intention of Moroccan university students to engage in digital entrepreneurship. To this end, we conducted an empirical study of students at Cadi Ayyad University-Morocco using the Big Five model. We collected data by means of an online questionnaire sent to the students and the processing and results were carried out using Smart PLS software. The results confirmed a direct and significant impact of the two personality traits ‘open-mindedness’ and ‘extroversion’ on students' attitudes, as well as on their intention to undertake digital entrepreneurship. The study also revealed that gender had no significant effect on university students' attitudes toward digital entrepreneurship. The results obtained have made it possible to contribute to the literature on student entrepreneurship, particularly with regard to the contribution of personality traits and the personal attitudes of individuals and their impact on the intention to become a digital entrepreneur. This will enable practitioners, academics and public authorities to give more and more priority to the psychological aspect of young people in order to better configure their entrepreneurship training platforms and their strategies for developing entrepreneurship among young people in Morocco.