Entrepreneurial Potential and Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Literature Review

Rajkiran Prabhakar, Associate Professor; Amit Singh, Research Scholar

doi:10.21844/smsjei.v12i01.30001

Rajkiran Prabhakar, Associate Professor Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
Amit Singh, Research Scholar Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21844/smsjei.v12i01.30001

Keywords: entrepreneurial potential, higher education, entrepreneurship education, systematic review, behavioral outcomes, digital entrepreneurship

Abstract

It is a systematic literature review of 32 scholarly articles published between 1971 to 2025 exploring the
entrepreneurs' potential in the institutions of higher education. Entrepreneur's potential defines as
psychological, cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural potentials of a person for venture creation. Theoretical
background, antecedents, and behavioural outcomes were located and retrieved from the Scopus database
for this review. The PRISMA was used in the selection and screening. There are five theoretical frameworks
used to operationalize the entrepreneurial potential. These are personal entrepreneurial competencies and
psychological trait-based approaches, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), self-efficacy, and systems of
contextual support. It has been evinced that entrepreneurship education produces mixed effects. Moderating
factors prove to be cultural context, gender, mechanisms of institutional support and the design of pedagogy.
There is a substantial disparity in measured entrepreneurial potential. This disparity arises when intention
and attitudinal proxies are used. It appears when comparing these proxies with observed entrepreneurial
behavior. Since the research is mostly from one region, the findings might not hold elsewhere. Many of these
studies are located in Europe and other developed economies. The review cites longitudinal
potential-to-behavior conversion as a research priority. The focus is on the growth of entrepreneurial
capacity among students. The context is specifically within the university setting.