Introduction - Entrepreneurship is the ability of an individual to start one’s own business, undertaking all the risks related to that business. Many business schools have entrepreneurship courses which encourage students to consider this career option. Today, along with organizational careers, entrepreneurship is also considered as a viable choice by many business students.
Objective - To examine the factors that determine the intent and attitudes of pharmacy students towards ownership of a pharmacy using the Theory of Planned Behavior.
Methods - Students in year five of a six year degree program of the colleges of pharmacy of the University of Findlay (UF) and the University of Toledo (UT) were asked to fill out a survey in class. The course professors distributed the surveys and collected them immediately after the surveys were completed. No interaction took place between the researcher and the students.
Results - Confirmatory factor analysis was done to get an overall score of 0.7 and above to get a reliable questionnaire. Linear regression (LR) results showed that subjective norms (p>.000) and attitude (p>.000) had a significant relationship with intent at both universities. Only at the University of Findlay was a significant relationship found between perceived behavioral control and intent (p=.006). ANOVA and t-test results demonstrated that the question “Did any of your courses have an entrepreneurship component in it” significantly influenced intent at both the universities. Age and income did not significantly influence intent at either university. Gender and participation in an entrepreneurship course significantly influenced intent only for the University of Toledo students.
Conclusion – Intent was found to have a significant relationship with attitude and subjective norms at both the universities. Adding courses to the pharmacy curricula might encourage students pursue ownership in the future.