American Journal of Economics 2017, 7(6): 274-282 DOI: 10.5923/j.economics.20170706.02 The Influence of Attitude, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavior Control on Entrepreneurial Intentions: Case of Algerian Students Benachenhou Sidi Mohammed 1,* , Arzi Fethi 2 , Omar Belkhir Djaoued 2 1 Faculty of Economic Sciences, Abou Bekr Belkaid University, Tlemcen, Algeria 2 Faculty of Economic Sciences, Dr. Moulay Tahar University, Saida, Algeria Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine the main predictors of students' behavioral intentions on entrepreneurship. Theoretically, this research is based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). According to the model of this theory, entrepreneurial intentions are affected by three main factors: Attitudes toward Behavior; Social Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control. Empirical analysis has been carried out on a sample of 175 students from the University of Tlemcen (in western Algeria). To test our hypotheses, we have used structural equation modeling. The findings of this study have shown that students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship and subjective norms, have a significant effect on behavioral intentions to entrepreneurship. On the other hand, perceived behavioral control had no significant effect. Keywords Attitudes toward Behavior, Social Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control, Entrepreneurial Intentions and Structural Equation Modeling 1. Introduction Entrepreneurship is an important vocational option. Individual work preferences are increasingly favoring self-reliance and self-direction [10, 29, 45]. On the macro-level, econometric research shows that new and small businesses contribute significantly to job creation, innovation and economic growth [20, 45]. In Algeria, like many countries all over the world, the entrepreneurship is establishing nowadays an inevitable lever for the development and the strengthening of the economic landscape. In terms of economic policies, several actions were led by the Algerian state to encourage the entrepreneurial initiatives especially the ones driven by the youngsters with a university degree. A number of institutions and plans intended to support new business start-ups were created to this end to try to contain unemployment and to create jobs. However, during the last decade, the new business start-ups in several sectors seem to show a downward trend, going consequently, against strategic objectives. Considering this negative observation, the researcher did not remain indifferent and began to wonder about the factors that condition the creation of companies among youngsters with a university degree. In order to * Corresponding author: benach_med@yahoo.fr (Benachenhou Sidi Mohammed) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/economics Copyright © 2017 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved identify the main determining factors of entrepreneurial activity, a number of studies were done in Algeria, such as studies conducted by Benhabib (2000); Tabet (2006); Assala (2007), Benredjem (2009), Benhabib et al., (2014a, 2014b), Benachenhou et Boucif, (2016, 2017) to discover the reasons that led small and medium-sized enterprises to failure. The results of these researches concluded that the entrepreneurship should not limit itself to the financial aspect or to the Business plan, but should also consider the study of the entrepreneurial behavior. In this context, a personal analysis of the behavior of the potential entrepreneur can widely overcome the obstacles and assure the success of the project of creating a new firm. The entrepreneurial intention has been considered as the key element to understanding the new-firm creation process [17, 39]. Since the early nineties, an increasing number of contributions employ entrepreneurial intention models [32, 34, 35], confirming the applicability of the concept in different settings [eg: 7, 39, 48, 40]. Several researchers have pointed out that the decision to become an entrepreneur is a complex one, and it is the result of intricate mental processes. In this sense, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) developed by Ajzen (1985, 1991) has been frequently applied to explain this mental process leading to firm creation [38]. This research is based on psycho-social models of intent, such as Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (1991). The exploitation of these works in entrepreneurship by a certain number of authors confirms their usefulness in our context, especially since some research is specific to the Algerian