Emotional competencies and cognitive antecedents in shaping student’s entrepreneurial intention: the moderating role of entrepreneurship education

This paper focuses on the analytic thinking of emotional competencies and their influence, in particular, in shaping university students’ entrepreneurial intentions, backed by an extended model of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, and analyses the moderating role of entrepreneurial education among the variables under study. The results, derived from an ex-ante and ex-post questionnaire addressed to Spanish university students engaged in a compulsory entrepreneurship course, were subjected to structural equation modelling analysis. Our findings show that entrepreneurship by university students is favoured by the development of their emotional competencies, due to the direct influence of the latter in shaping entrepreneurial intention and its positive impact on their cognitive antecedents (entrepreneurial attitudes and perceived self-efficacy), and suggest that students with a higher degree of emotional competencies who receive entrepreneurship education will have a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship and will perceive themselves more capable of becoming entrepreneurs. The primary contribution of this paper is to spotlight the use of emotional competencies in encouraging entrepreneurship, and to heighten awareness of the positive effect of education on emotionally-competent students, a factor that should be taken into account to improve entrepreneurship education programmes.

     

The complex reality of biodiversity conservation through Natural Protected Area policy: Three cases from the Yucatan Peninsula,Mexico

The federal policy of Natural Protected Areas has become the main instrument for conserving biodiversity in Mexico. Established in territories representative of different ecosystems but also of cultural diversity, protected areas in Mexico have historically been created and managed with a centralized rationale, creating several conflicts with local communities over the use of natural resources. The country's approach to protected areas perfectly illustrates the complexities, difficulties and challenges entailed in biodiversity conservation. This paper develops a critical analysis of this policy instrument in Mexico, and analyzes three Natural Protected Areas in the Yucatan Peninsula: The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the Celestún Biosphere Reserve, and the Otoch Ma’ax Yetel Kooh Natural Protected Area. The case studies serve as examples of the most common difficulties that arise in Mexican Natural Protected Area policy: (1) uncoordinated public policies; (2) the usual conflict between environmental authorities and local people over the management of natural resources; and (3) the exclusion of local people's perspectives, values and beliefs in conservation policy development and implementation.