How the exposure to role models and entrepreneurship education shape perceptions and attitudes toward entrepreneurship differently in men and women is analyzed in the context of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. To this end, structural equation modeling is applied to data from a sample of 338 final-year undergraduates. The results show that external factors seem to be more critical in the case of women to generate entrepreneurial behavior. In particular, exposure to parental role models has a significantly more favorable influence on attitude toward entrepreneurship in women than men, and exposure to entrepreneurship education has a greater effect over their perceived entrepreneurial behavior control in women than in men.

Are the MBA programs really designed to foster entrepreneurial minds? Answering this question is the main objective of our work. After a literature review we identified several programs’ characteristics that promote entrepreneurship. Using a sample of 99 executive or part-time MBA programs, we found that the diversity in this sector is high. Not all the programs have been designed to foster entrepreneurship behavior; moreover, most of them do not even have an entrepreneurship subject in their curriculum. Nevertheless, other dimensions that favor this type of behavior, like internationality, are widespread in the European MBA market.