Relationship of Optimism and Entrepreneurial Passion with Entrepreneurial Intention of Agricultural Students at University of Tarbiiat Modarres

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship of optimism and entrepreneurial passion with entrepreneurial intention of agricultural students at University of Tarbiiat Modarres. Quasi-experimental method was applied in this research. The statistical population contained of 420 M. Sc. agricultural students, from which 124 students were determined by using SPSS Sample Power software as the research sample and were selected by applying simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire was developed to gather data. Validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed based on the evaluation of a panel of experts and ordinal alpha coefficient (α=0.80-0.91), respectively. The descriptive statistics analysis indicated that the optimism and entrepreneurial passion of students in most cases was either intermediate or high. The findings of Spearman correlation coefficient analysis revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between optimism, entrepreneurial passion and its components and students' entrepreneurial intention. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 49% of variation in the entrepreneurial intention of students was explained by three constructs namely: passion for developing, passion for founding and positive feelings. At the end, according to the survey results recommendations are provided to promote the entrepreneurial intention of students.