Exploring Institutional and Educational Influences on Entrepreneurial Intention and Self-Efficacy in the Middle East: Evidence from UAE students

This research investigates how institutional factors and entrepreneurial education programs affect the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention among university students in the Middle East, specifically from the United Arab Emirates. The study investigates how students develop entrepreneurial self-confidence and start-up intentions based on their perceptions of their regulatory, normative, and cognitive environments, as well as their exposure to entrepreneurial training. Data were collected through online questionnaires distributed by email, reaching students from several universities across the country. Canonical correlation analysis was employed to study the complex relationships between different variables. The results demonstrates that entrepreneurship education builds student confidence in their entrepreneurial skills, which directly affects their intention to start a business. In addition, reveal that the relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention depends on students' views about their institutional environment because positive perceptions of the environment strengthen this relationship, but negative perceptions reduce it. The paper provides specific recommendations for educators and policymakers who want to raise and stimulate entrepreneurship among young people in the Middle East. It stands as a pioneering work exploring these relationships in the region, and its results could be extrapolated to other emerging economies.