European Journal of Business and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online) Vol.5, No.13, 2013 243 Assessing Entrepreneurial Intentions of University Students: A Comparative Study of Two Different Cultures: Turkey and Pakistani Merve Koçoğlu 1 , Masood Ul Hassan 2 1 Department of Business Administration, Yeditepe University,34755,İstanbul,Turkey 2 Department of Commerce, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800, Multan, Pakistan Corrresponding Author e-mail: merve.kocoglu@yeditepe.edu.tr Abstract Researchers have been considered about why people prefer to become entrepreneurs. The major aim of this study is to test the cross-cultural generalizability of how well Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) would predict entrepreneurial intention (EI) amongst Turkish and Pakistani University students. The results demonstrated that the relationships among the TPB components are equally intense and comparable across Pakistani and Turkish cultures – the only exception being the relation of social norms with intentions. However, SN would prove its impact on EI through both PA and PBC, but not directly on intention. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Intention, Theory of Planned Behavior, Pakistan, Turkey 1. Introduction Recently, changes in the world's economies create numerous problems. Self-employment or entrepreneurship is one of the best solutions to solve those problems especially unemployment. Both Turkey and Pakistan come upon this issue. (Mboko, College, 2011). Self-employment offers many setbacks to both the individual and the economy as a whole, but it boosts small businesses which causes them to flourish in a market's economy because small businesses are suppliers of labor demands (Pejvak et al., 2011). Even though there are some drawbacks about entrepreneurship, people still prefer to become an entrepreneur. Intention plays a significant role in that decision. The purpose of this study is to test and point out the factors that affect people’s entrepreneurial intentions and also to investigate whether there is a difference in the entrepreneurial intentions of different cultures or not. Ajzen’s TPB model is considered with this study. The figures are gathered from two different countries’ (Turkey and Pakistan) University Students. A structural equation technique is used to experiment the entrepreneurial intentions’ of the students. As a consequence, entrepreneurial intention antecedents’ of those who are of two different cultures are also clarified with this research. 2. Theory and Hypotheses Development 2.1. Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial intentions are the first step in an intensive process of venture creation which are the necessary precursor to entrepreneurial behaviors (McLaughlın 2009).Individuals who are perceived to have a lack of knowledge finance are less probably to have entrepreneurial intention (Shinnar, Giacomin and Janssen, 2012). An entrepreneur is a person who starts a business and has great imagination, flexibility, creativeness for business. (Butler, Doktor and Lins, 2010; Krueger, 1993; Peterson, and Meckler 2001). Individuals can intend to become an entrepreneur when the expectation of the entrepreneurship is pleasurable, gaining freedom, risky, the work is hard and the income is high. (Venesaar, Kolbre and Piliste, 2006). In order to analyze the entrepreneurial intentions, TPB has to be considered (Karhunen and Ledyaeva; Zanger, Hodicová and Gaus, 2008). TPB posits that intention is both an antecedent to behavior and primary motivation to certain behaviors (Venesaar, Kolbre and Piliste, 2006). “Consistent with TPB maintains that there are three predictors of intention which are attitude towards the behavior (PA), subjective norms (SN) and the degree of perceived behavior control (PBC)” (Byabashaıja and Katono, 2011). The first one is attitude (or personal attitude) which indicates to the degree to which an individual has a positive or negative personal concerning the intended behavior. It refers to “the attractiveness of the proposed behavior in a positive or negative degree of a personal valuation to become an entrepreneur”(Pejvak et al., 2011). The second is subjective norms which measures the perceived social support of performing (or not performing) the intended behavior. Influential people (parents, friends, etc.), or referents, serve as reference guides to behavior and influence the beliefs of subjective norms (Gird and Bagraim, 2008). The final one is perceived behavioral control known as self-efficacy which associates an individual’s perception of the ease or severity of the intended behavior