Value Perception and Factors of Students’ Readiness for Entrepreneurial Activity: Research Experience

The development of small and medium-sized businesses is recognized as a priority for ensuring economic sustainability of any state. Despite the positive dynamics of this process in Russia, the achieved level of contribution of this sector of the economy to the country’s GDP is insufficient. Many associate the prospects for solving this problem with the development of youth entrepreneurship and increased support for student initiatives from universities within the framework of the third mission of universities. The study took as a basis a proactive approach to considering entrepreneurial opportunities, which is fully consistent with the main postulate of the theory of planned behaviour. One of the key factors of entrepreneurial success in the framework of this approach is the presence of entrepreneurial thinking or the so-called entrepreneurial mind. The aim of the study is to determine the real perception by students of the value of entrepreneurial activity, to identify the reasons that limit the entrepreneurial initiative of students and the professional competencies and personal qualities they most demand that can ensure students’ readiness for entrepreneurshiP. Questionnaires and focus groups were used as study methods. As a result of the study, the attitudes of students in relation to entrepreneurial activity were revealed, the reasons limiting the entrepreneurial initiative of students as well as the professional competencies, capable of increasing the readiness of students for entrepreneurship, were identified. Students are largely aware of the role and importance of work, giving work a predominantly instrumental character and considering it as a means of ensuring material well-being and financial stability. Many of them combine or would like to combine their learning activities with work.

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