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 subject of research interest is factors influencing the entrepreneurial affinities and intentions of youth, who are finishing the process of formal education and trying 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) and Serbia, collected through online questionnaire, with the aim of comparing career 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 Southeast Europe and gives a scientific contribution by modifying and testing previously 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) and Post Hoc Fisher’s LSD test for testing research hypothesis, indicate that there are significant differences in the career orientation of the surveyed students between three observed countries. In Croatia and Serbia, the impact of society and national culture is neither favourable for entering entrepreneurship, nor for a managerial career. Attitudes are somewhat more favourable in BiH, but not significantly more favourable in comparison to Serbia and Croatia