DOI: 10.28934/jwee19.34.pp1-16 ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER Aspirations towards Entrepreneurship and Self-awareness among Young Female Population in the North Kosovo & Metohija Isidora Ljumović1 Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia Krsto Jakšić2 University of Pristina, Temporary seated in Kosovska Mitrovica, Faculty of Economics, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia Ivana Lečovski-Milojkić3 University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia A B S T R A C T Encouraging entrepreneurial culture and developing entrepreneurial educa- tion are key factors for the development of modern economies and society as a whole. Although the number of female entrepreneurs is growing, it is still relatively low, and one of the ways to achieve the gender balance in the field of entrepre- neurship is the entrepreneurial education that will introduce women with the abil- ity of the business venture through the phenomena of education. The aim of this research is to examine the aspirations and intentions towards entrepreneurship in female undergraduate students and to understand which fac- tors influence students’ entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The survey was conducted among the female students' population of the final years of the Universi- ty of Pristina temporary seated in Kosovska Mitrovica as well as female students of 1 Address: Zmaj Jovina 12, Belgrade, Serbia, e-mail, isidora.ljumovic@ien.bg.ac.rs, tel. +381 63 462486, 2 Address: Kolašinska 156, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia, e-mail: krsto.jaksic@pr.ac.rs, tel. +381 66 6662811 3 Address: Frana Levstika 4, Belgrade, Serbia, e-mail: ivana.lecovski@gmail.com, tel. +381 62 222115 2 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) the fourth year of secondary schools in the North Kosovo and Metohija (the North K&M). We find that the half of respondents never engaged in entrepreneurial activi- ties and that one-third of them were involved in such activities by helping parents, friends or acquaintances. Female students in North Kosovo & Metohija generally recognize and highly rank qualities such as a desire for success, confidence, crea- tivity, and initiative as very important for engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Their previous experience and positive attitude towards entrepreneurship are promising factors for the future growth of the number of female entrepreneurs in North K&M. KEY WORDS: entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship, economic growth, employment, development, Kosovo & Metohija Introduction The recent global trend is increasing attention towards supporting dif- ferent initiatives in promoting entrepreneurship, creating new entrepreneuri- al ventures and new jobs. This trend is a direct consequence of the evidence that has shown that entrepreneurial endeavors contribute to economic growth, increased productivity, and increase of employment. Different stud- ies, including GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) report, demonstrate the ability of entrepreneurship to solve different problems related to unem- ployment (Storey, 1994; White & Reynolds, 1996) economic and regional growth (Neck et al., 2003). This positive impact has led many countries worldwide, to paid serious attention to entrepreneurship, as a potentially fundamental solution to various problems, including a lack of economic growth, increasing employment rates, as well as possibility of providing work for graduating students. While entrepreneurship has been viewed as crucial to economic growth and development in developing countries, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the factors that influence individuals’ intentions to start new businesses (Karimi et al., 2010; 2013), in particular intentions of those who are still in the educational system. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what factors influence college students’ entrepreneurial intention and behav- ior within sound theoretical frameworks in order to develop and implement effective educational strategies. In other words, understanding determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors can help entrepreneurial educa- Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 3 tors, consultants, advisors and policy makers to find the right way to foster entrepreneurship at universities and consequently in society. Despite the increasing the number and share of women entrepreneurs (De Bruin et al., 2006; Brush, 2006), entrepreneurship is still a male- stereotyped domain and associated with masculine traits (Ahl, 2006; Lewis, 2006) while number of female entrepreneurs is still significantly lower than male (Blanchflower, 2004; Langowitz & Minniti, 2007; Marlow, 2002). Ac- cording to the World Bank, globally only 25% to 33% of all private busi- nesses are owned or operated by women. There are global trends that show the insufficient number and share of women entrepreneurs (Kelley et al., 2013). One of the ways to achieve the gender balance in the field of entre- preneurship is the entrepreneurial education that will introduce women with the ability of the business venture through the phenomena of education (Jones, 2014). Policy-makers and entrepreneurship educators believe that entrepreneurial education (EE) can promote the accumulation of entrepre- neurial skills and knowledge in students of both sexes (European Commis- sion, 2008; Jones, 2014; Kuratko, 2005). It is very important to find out if University students have any intention to start up their own business, and the way the Universities can influence on students’ attitudes and their knowledge about entrepreneurship with the aim to facilitate a tendency to create their own business in the future (Wang & Wong, 2004). In the last few years, the number of female entrepreneurs is growing, therefore, many researchers and the academic community pay more atten- tion to this phenomenon. Female entrepreneurship is of particular im- portance from various reasons (Welter, 2004). First, female entrepreneurs create jobs for themselves, thus offering an alternative to unemployment that will give women the opportunity to balance work and family responsi- bilities, while improving family welfare and social cohesion. Also, the es- tablishment of small enterprises owned by women can help in increasing women’s autonomy and provide them the opportunity to have a more active and representative role in the country’s economic and political life. The de- velopment of female entrepreneurship could result in a more successful and faster transition process by the improvement of innovative capacities and private sector development. The northern part of Kosovo and Metohija (K&M), as well as its whole territory, has become UN protectorate after the 1999 NATO bombing. From then on, the formal power is in the hands of UNMIK administration and temporary Kosovo institutions. Then, on February 17, 2008, Kosovo pro- 4 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) claimed independence which most of the Western countries have soon rec- ognized. In the meantime, till the moment of signing the Brussels Agree- ment made between governments of Serbia and Kosovo, most of the institu- tions of the Republic of Serbia has existed at this area, especially at the north of the province. After making the Brussels Agreement, a significant number of these institutions has been integrated into the system of Kosovo. At the north of K&M, only Health and Education system are still integrated within the system of the Republic of Serbia. In the middle of economic and social devastation and constant political crisis, the lack of economic activi- ties in this region surely could be noticed. The constant crisis and weak Rule of Law bring to the fact that there are almost any interested investors and investments for this area. Thus, the most of young people who graduated, try to employ themselves in the public institutions. As it is not possible that all those young people get employ in the public institutions, the idea of re- searchers was to examine the aspirations of the female student population as its most sensitive category. The aim of this research is to examine the aspirations and intentions towards entrepreneurship in female undergraduate students at the University of Pristina and high schools’ students. For this purpose, we applied the sur- vey method, in order to get information from the female student at the final year of studies, which will help us clarify the analyzed phenomenon. The article has the following structure. After the introduction, the literature re- view is presented. The second part gives the literature and hypothetical frameworks. Based on literature review, defined hypotheses and identified constrains, we structured questionnaires, and the third part of the paper re- lates to data analysis and research results. The conclusion unambiguously shows that female students in North K&M generally recognize and highly rank those qualities that are necessary for starting a job or engaging in en- trepreneurial activities. This gives a promising light to entrepreneurial cul- ture and environment in North K&M. Literature Review and Methodological Framework Besides more evident importance that female entrepreneurship achieves during the past decade, there are still no clearly defined factors which could help females to engage in entrepreneurship. One of the ways that will en- courage female’s participation in business activities is to examine intentions and aspirations in women while still being at the faculties. It is necessary to Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 5 explore which determinants have a key influence on female students’ inten- tion for entrepreneurship. Various studies show mixed results about the fac- tors that influence entrepreneurial intention. Adnan et al. (2012) showed that attitude and perceived behavioral con- trol are major determinants of entrepreneurial intention with significant pos- itive effect. In a related study, Tong et al. (2011) using multiple regression analysis, showed that entrepreneurial intention is predicted by the need for achievement, family business background, and subjective norm. The result suggests that students will choose to become entrepreneurs if there is a need for achievement when they come from a family that engages in business and if there is support from close individuals such as family members and friends. Peng et al. (2012) provide findings for entrepreneurial intention among university students in China with the use of the chi-square tests. They showed that subjective norm, entrepreneurial attitude, and entrepre- neurial self-efficacy had a positive influence on entrepreneurial intention while entrepreneurial resistance caused by lack of funds, time, family sup- port, business skills and entrepreneurship education negatively affect stu- dents’ entrepreneurial intention. Using descriptive statistics, Kume et al. (2013) provided evidence of the positive effects of subjective norm on entrepreneurial interest among undergraduate students in Albania. Students whose parents had entrepre- neurial experience were the majority of respondents who indicated interest in starting their own business after graduation. A study by Khuong and An (2016) showed that prior entrepreneurial experience, external environments such as availability of loans and access to target markets as well as per- ceived feasibility, positively influenced students desire to engage in entre- preneurship in Vietnam. On the other hand, personal traits, the need for au- tonomy and achievement surprisingly deter interest in entrepreneurial en- gagement. In the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Obembe et al. (2014) tried to identify the factors that influence on career choices in stu- dents and how university entrepreneurship education may affect on the con- science of students to start-up business. Also, they determine that gender differences do not substantially affect the perception of entrepreneurship. Ekpe and Mat (2012) examine the influence of entrepreneurial orientation (self-efficacy and education) on intentions in students at three universities in Nigeria. Results show that entrepreneurial orientation have a significant positive impact on entrepreneurial intentions among the students. They also 6 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) determined that social environment moderates the relation between the en- trepreneurial orientation and intentions among the students. Rakićević et al. (2015) examined the entrepreneurial readiness in stu- dents in Serbia. They were exploring the relation between particular stu- dents’ characteristics and their readiness on entrepreneurship that is meas- ured through 5 dimensions: entrepreneurial intentions, readiness on entre- preneurship, the attractiveness of this profession, study orientation, and pas- sion at work. Results show that students of management have more entre- preneurial readiness and they have expressed higher intentions in regard to students of engineering. Ninković and Knežević Florić (2016) examine the presence of entrepreneurial intentions in students of social and humanistic science at the University of Novi Sad, as well as having the insight in ex- pressing the entrepreneurial preferences in regard to sex and academic achievement in students. Results show that students mostly express the fo- cus on achievement, then acceptance of risks and at least the confidence in their own abilities. It is not defined whether there are statistically important sex differences in the level of entrepreneurial aspiration presence. Also, the measures of manifesting the entrepreneurial inclinations in regard to aca- demic achievement of students were not determined. Based on our previous experience and literature review, we have for- mulated our hypotheses: H1: Female student do not have entrepreneurial experience and rarely engage in entrepreneurial activities H2: Previous entrepreneurial experience is important in developing per- sonal characteristic for entrepreneurship H3: Students have qualities that are necessary for starting a job or en- gaging in entrepreneurial activities. Based on literature review, defined hypotheses and identified con- strains, we structured questionnaire. For the purpose of data collection, structured questionnaires were distributed to female students of all faculties in the northern part of K&M. Questions included in the questionnaire were stipulated in a way that allows further processing and statistical analysis. The questionnaire consisted of three parts. In the first part, respondents gave answers that reflect their socio-demographic characteristics: age, urban or rural surrounding, attending high school or university, type of institution, and average grade. The second part of the questionnaire contained questions that were used to test respondents attuites towards entrepreneurial experi- ence. The last part contained questions about the self-perception of capabili- Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 7 ties for entrepreneurship. Each question in the questionnaire is given with a concise explanation, in order to eliminate possible errors and ambiguities of the respondents. The survey was conducted at the University of Pristina and high schools in the northern part of K&M. The study included 110 respondents, 48 from high schools and 62 from the University. The response rate was ra- ther high, at the level of 56%. The collection of primary statistical material was carried out from November 2018 to February 2019. The table 1 shows the distribution of basic characteristics of the sample. Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristic of the sample Age Frequency Percent 18 42 38,2 19 6 5,5 21 16 14,5 22 26 23,6 23 20 18,2 Living in Urban area 60 54,5 Rural area 50 45,5 Go to Frequency Percent High school (HS) 48 43,6 Faculty (F) 62 56,4 Type of institution High school F=48 Faculty F=62 Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Economic HS 15 31.3 Faculty of Economics 18 29 Gymnasium 19 39.6 Faculty of Technical Sciences 18 29 Technical HS 14 29.1 Faculty of Arts 4 6.5 Faculty of Philosophy 8 12.9 Faculty of Natural Sciences 14 22.6 8 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) Average grade Average grade Frequency Percent Frequency Percent excellent 32 66.7 6-7 10 16.13 very good 10 20.8 7-8 24 38.71 good 6 12.5 8-9 18 29.03 9-10 10 16.13 Source: Author(s) based on research results The vast majority of respondents from high schools were at the age of 18, while from university the age ranged from 21 to 23. Over 50% of re- spondents are living in a urban area. Students from three high schools par- ticipated in the research Economic, Gymnasium, and Technical School. Re- garding university students, five institutions were included: Faculty of Eco- nomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Philoso- phy, Faculty of Natural Sciences. Data Analysis and Results Data analysis was performed by using MS Office Excel and SPSS. The primary purpose of this research was to examine the aspirations and intentions towards entrepreneurship in female undergraduate students. First, two questions were created co we can directly approach them and de- termine did they have any entrepreneurial experience. The respondents could choose multiple answers when asked about initiatives towards entre- preneurship. Since it was a multiple-choice question, we here have 114 ini- tiatives in total. To our surprise, almost 50% of respondents have never en- gaged in any kind of entrepreneurial activities. Those who have, most often help their parent in running their private business (32.73%). Twenty percent of respondents have worked at other entrepreneurs or found additional ways to earn money. Out of 62 entrepreneurial initiatives, most of the respondents have proven themselves that they have the ability to earn (34.48%). This characteristic is building on their entrepreneurial character and is increasing the probability that they will engage in entrepreneurial activity in the future. About 24% of them increased their motivation, learned to appreciate money, or earned money. Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 9 Table 1: Results of the attitudes of entrepreneurial experience (part I) Question Number Percentage Have you demonstrated incentives towards entre- preneurship in your life- time? (multiply answers) Yes, I have helped my par- ents (relatives, friends, ac- quaintances) in running their private businesses 36 32.73% Occasionally, I have worked at other entrepreneurs to earn money 12 10.91% I found additional ways to make money 10 9.09% I have other entrepreneurial initiatives 4 3.64% No, I did not have entrepre- neurial experiences/I did not earn money myself 52 47.27% TOTAL 114* Are you satisfied with the effects of your entrepre- neurial incentives? (only those who had entrepre- neurial experience N=62) Yes, I have earned some money 14 24.14% Yes, I have proven the ability to earn 20 34.48% Yes, my motivation for achievement has increased 14 24.14% Yes, I learned to appreciate money 14 24.14% TOTAL 62** Source: Author(s) based on research results In examining the entrepreneurial tendencies of students one of the tasks was to examine the perception of students about the necessary qualities that should be held by an entrepreneur. The respondents were asked to evaluate offered psychological characteristics of entrepreneurs on Likert's five-step scale. Students first assessed how previous entrepreneurial experience has influenced the development of the personal characteristic. The results show that they rated the highest desire for achievement (4.72), self-esteem (4.31), creativity and initiative (4.23), ability to control (4.04). Other characteristics 10 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) were rated lower than 4. It is interesting that student rated, rather high all characteristics, indicating that they consider previous entrepreneurial expe- rience important in developing personal characteristic for entrepreneurship. Next, we examined the psychological characteristics, necessary for the founders of own business. Results show that students consider self-esteem (4.75), desire for achievement (4.63) and persistence (4.62) as three most important. All other characteristic, except tendency towards risk are rated with scores higher that 4. However, standard deviation on the characteristic tendency towards risk is the highest and at the level of 1.15, indicating that student have different opinions on this characteristic. Finally, we tried to determine do the students have defined characteris- tics need for entrepreneurial activities. Results show, that the respondents identify needed characteristics for entrepreneurial activities in themselves. They claim their three major characteristics are desire for achievement (4.61), persistence (4.58) and commitment (4.56). However, in this case scores are much lower. They rated following personal characteristics below three: ability to concretize ideas, tendency towards risk, independency and autonomy, and financial motivation (table 3). Table 2: Results of the self-perception of capabilities for entrepreneurship Total sample N=110 High School Respondents N=48 Respondents from Univer- sity N=62 Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Please rate how much the previous entrepreneurial experience has influenced the development of the following personal characteristic (from 1 – the least to 5 – the most) self-esteem 1 5 4.309 0.896 3 5 4,542 0,713 1,00 5,00 4,129 0,983 desire for achievement 3 5 4.718 0.577 4 5 4,792 0,410 3,00 5,00 4,661 0,676 ability to concretize ideas 2 5 3.991 0.963 3 5 4,146 0,875 2,00 5,00 3,871 1,016 tendency towards risk 1 5 3.527 1.115 2 5 3,750 1,101 1,00 5,00 3,355 1,103 ability to control 1 5 4.036 1.057 1 5 4,208 1,030 1,00 5,00 3,903 1,067 creativity and initiative 2 5 4.227 0.895 2 5 4,208 0,922 2,00 5,00 4,242 0,881 Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 11 Total sample N=110 High School Respondents N=48 Respondents from Univer- sity N=62 Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation independence and autono- my 1 5 3.909 1.138 2 5 3,708 0,922 2,00 5,00 3,871 1,000 Please rate which of the following psychological characteristics, in your opinion, are necessary for the founders of your own business (from 1 – the least to 5 – the most) self-esteem 3 5 4.746 0.549 3 5 4,792 ,582 3 5 4,710 ,524 desire for achievement 2 5 4.627 0.788 3 5 4,750 ,601 2 5 4,532 ,900 ability to concretize ideas 2 5 4.336 0.881 2 5 4,292 ,944 3 5 4,371 ,834 tendency towards risk 1 5 3.864 1.145 1 5 4,000 1,238 2 5 3,758 1,066 ability to control 1 5 4.100 0.986 1 5 4,417 ,964 2 5 3,855 ,938 creativity and initiative 2 5 4.227 1.037 2 5 4,313 ,949 2 5 4,161 1,104 independence and autono- my 2 5 4.236 0.845 2 5 4,438 ,897 3 5 4,081 ,775 financial motivation 2 5 4.364 0.885 2 5 4,458 ,874 2 5 4,290 ,894 energy 1 5 4.382 0.898 3 5 4,625 ,703 1 5 4,194 ,989 optimism 2 5 4.446 0.841 2 5 4,500 ,967 3 5 4,403 ,735 persistence 2 5 4.618 0.717 2 5 4,708 ,743 3 5 4,548 ,694 commitment 1 5 4.527 0.854 1 5 4,667 ,907 3 5 4,419 ,801 Which of these characteristics do you see in yourself? self-esteem 2 5 4.273 0.877 3 5 4,500 ,799 2 5 4,097 ,900 desire for achievement 1 5 4.609 0.779 3 5 4,687 ,552 1 5 4,548 ,918 ability to concretize ideas 2 5 3.936 0.921 2 5 4,083 1,108 2 5 3,823 ,736 tendency towards risk 1 5 3.509 1.147 1 5 3,500 1,368 2 5 3,516 ,953 ability to control 2 5 4.155 0.848 3 5 4,417 ,800 2 5 3,952 ,895 12 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) Total sample N=110 High School Respondents N=48 Respondents from Univer- sity N=62 Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation Min Max Mean Std. De- viation creativity and initiative 2 5 4.091 0.973 2,00 5 4,042 1,166 3 5 4,129 ,799 independence and autono- my 2 5 3.882 0.875 2 5 3,875 ,981 2 5 3,887 ,791 financial motivation 2 5 3.991 0.883 2 5 4,125 ,866 2 5 3,887 ,889 energy 2 5 4.264 0.842 2 5 4,375 ,890 2 5 4,177 ,800 optimism 1 5 4.282 0.997 1 5 4,396 1,0466 2 5 4,193 ,955 persistence 2 5 4.582 0.871 2 5 4,625 ,799 2 5 4,548 ,935 commitment 1 5 4.564 0.894 2 5 4,604 ,764 1 5 4,532 ,987 Source: Author(s) based on research results Ranks for high school respondents and respondents from university are almost the same, with the note that high school respondents on average rated higher all characteristics (table 4). Table 3: Ranks for results of the self-perception of capabilities for entrepreneurship How much the pre- vious entrepreneur- ial experience has influenced the de- velopment of the following personal characteristic Which of the fol- lowing psychologi- cal characteristics, in your opinion, are necessary for the founders of your own Which of these characteristics do you see in yourself? self-esteem 2 1 5 desire for achievement 1 2 1 ability to concretize ideas 5 8 10 tendency towards risk 7 12 12 ability to control 4 11 7 creativity and initiative 3 10 8 independence and auton- omy 6 9 11 financial motivation / 7 9 Ljumović, I., et al., Young Female Population, JWEE (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) 13 energy / 6 6 optimism / 5 4 persistence / 3 2 commitment / 4 3 Source: Author(s) based on research results Conclusion The culture that supports entrepreneurship and economic development sets up education on entrepreneurs as the central theme of the value system and is the foundation of the socio-economic progress. Only dynamic educa- tion and knowledge can foster and develop creativity and innovation in modern society. Encouraging entrepreneurial culture, developing entrepre- neurial education, a constant search for innovative solutions are a key pre- condition for the development of modern economies, and society as a whole. The practice has shown that societies that are capable and willing to invest into the entrepreneurial education, stimulate the development of in- novations, and are capable to commercializing these innovations or valoriz- ing them on the market through entrepreneurial activity, have a chance for growth and development. In this context, it is crucial to understand the de- terminants that stimulate young people to engage in entrepreneurial activi- ties. Institutional factors play a key role that influences affirmative and in- centive measures on entrepreneurial intentions and aspirations, above all, among young people. The paper analyzes factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions and aspirations among students of the female population of the final years of the University of Pristina temporary seated in Kosovska Mitrovica as well as female students of the fourth year of secondary schools in the North of K&M. The specificity and diversity of research is the field of research, bear- ing in mind the social and political context of this environment. Due to the turmoil over the legal status of this region, there are problems of insufficient or almost no investment. Under such conditions, the researcher's idea is to determine whether there are intentions or aspirations for young females for self-employment by engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Emphasis is placed on female students at the final years of schooling at universities of high schools as a socially endangered population. Modern research shows that by engaging in entrepreneurial activities, the autonomy of women is in- creased and provides them with a more representative role in society. 14 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2019, No. 3-4, 1-16) In this paper, we used the survey method to analyze research phenome- na. The results of the survey show that half of the respondents never en- gaged in entrepreneurial activities and that one-third of them were involved in entrepreneurial activities by helping their parents, friends, or acquaint- ances. When asked how the previous entrepreneurial experience influenced the development of personal qualities related to entrepreneurial activities, most of them rated as the most important characteristic, desires for achievement (4.72), self-esteem (4.31), creativity and initiative (4.23). Also, other stated characteristics were also rated high. When asked which psycho- logical characteristics an entrepreneur should have, the highest rated are self-esteem (4.75), desire for achievement (4.63) and perseverance (4.62). Finally, when they were asked which of these characteristics, they can rec- ognize in themselves, the most common answers were the desire for achievement (4.61), perseverance (4.58) and dedication (4.56). A compara- tive analysis for students and secondary school students shows that values are similar, with slightly more grades given by secondary school students. It is interesting that female students recognize that participation in en- trepreneurial activities has developed their desire for success, confidence, creativity, and initiative to the fullest extent. Also, the female students as- sessed that self-confidence is very important for the start-up of entrepreneur- ial activities. However, they did not recognize this characteristic among themselves and ranked it only in the fifth place. 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