Causal propensity as an antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions in tourism students

The tourism sector is a sector with many opportunities for business development. Entrepreneurship in this sector promotes economic growth and job creation. Knowing how entrepreneurial intention develops facilitates its transformation into entrepreneurial behaviour. Entrepreneurial behaviour can adopt a causal logic, an effectual logic or a combination of both. Considering the causal logic, decision-making is done through prediction. In this way, entrepreneurs try to increase their market share by planning strategies and analysing possible deviations from their plans. Previous literature studies causal entrepreneurial behaviour, as well as variables such as creative innovation, proactive decisions and entrepreneurship training when the entrepreneur has already created his or her firm. However, there is an obvious gap at a stage prior to the start of entrepreneurial activity when the entrepreneurial intention is formed. This paper analyses how creativity, proactivity, entrepreneurship education and the propensity for causal behaviour influence entrepreneurial intentions. To achieve the research objective, we analysed a sample of 464 undergraduate tourism students from two universities in southern Spain. We used SmartPLS 3 software to apply a structural equation methodology to the measurement model composed of nine hypotheses. The results show, among other relationships, that causal propensity, entrepreneurship learning programmes and proactivity are antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions. These findings have implications for theory, as they fill a gap in the field of entrepreneurial intentions. Considering propensity towards causal behaviour before setting up the firm is unprecedented. Furthermore, the results of this study have practical implications for the design of public education policies and the promotion of business creation in the tourism sector.