Students’ Career Aspirations towards Entrepreneurial and Managerial Jobs: A Comparative Study in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia

In conditions of significant high youth unemployment rates in the transition countries of Southeast Europe, the subject of special interest of public administration and the academic community is researching the connection between stimulating entrepreneurial activity and launching independent entrepreneurial ventures and self-employment. Also, the subjectof research interest is factors influencing the entrepreneurial affinities andintentions of youth, who are finishing the process of formal education andtrying to get involved in the world of work, either as employees or employers.The subject research was conducted on a purposive (deliberate)sample of 448 respondents in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) andSerbia, collected through online questionnaire, with the aim of comparingcareer aspirations of youth towards entrepreneurial and managerial jobs.The research is an extension of the interest of the academic community,complements the previous intense research from the region of SoutheastEurope and gives a scientific contribution by modifying and testingpreviously conducted empirical research in BiH and Croatia (Umihanić,Đonlagić Alibegović & Alfirević, 2018), extending the sample to Serbia,where significant research of this kind has not been conducted. The results,obtained by using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (F-Test) andPost Hoc Fisher’s LSD test for testing research hypothesis, indicate thatthere are significant differences in the career orientation of the surveyedstudents between three observed countries. In Croatia and Serbia, the impactof society and national culture is neither favourable for entering entrepreneurship,nor for a managerial career. Attitudes are somewhat morefavourable in BiH, but not significantly more favourable in comparison toSerbia and Croatia.