Influence of sociodemographic variables on the knowledge and interest of university students in social entrepreneurship

Abstract

Social science educators must be committed to training future professionals who conduct their entrepreneurial activities in a responsible manner. Social entrepreneurship combines the profit motive with the resolution of social and environmental problems. Thus, this paper aims to identify how much university students know about this type of entrepreneurship, how much they are interested in it, and to what extent they would be willing to get involved in business projects of these characteristics capable of responding adequately to the new challenges demanded by society today. We study the influence of sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, educational level and income level, through a survey of a sample of 600 students from universities in the Community of Madrid. Using a mean comparison test and a Probit model, the results show gender does not affect knowledge of social entrepreneurship, but it does affect interest and intention to participate in social entrepreneurship projects, which is more pronounced in women. Age does not affect in any case, while educational level affects knowledge and intention to participate, but not interest. On the other hand, students at private universities are more familiar with this concept, but those at public universities are more interested in it; however, the ownership of the university does not affect their intention to participate in these projects. We conclude by stressing the importance of including social entrepreneurship in all stages and knowledge areas of the educational cycle so that young people, at the end of their studies, know it in depth and are interested in participating professionally in this type of projects that undoubtedly contribute to making the world a better place.