Desire of a Managerial Position and Entrepreneurial Motivation: The Influence of Gender and School Type in the Canary Islands Young People

Abstract

Understanding the factors that determine and influence the choices male and females students make with regard to their studies and future occupations plays a crucial part in the explanation of earnings levels, from both the social and individual perspectives. These factors need to be taken into account in policies to be implemented in order to facilitate the transition of young people to working life. In the present study we consider the role played by the type of school - i.e. whether it is public (state-run) or private - in young people’s decisions, in the Canary Islands (Spain). Specifically we study if that factor is influencing male and female students’ entrepreneurial motivation and the desire for a managerial occupation. A representative selection of the range of secondary schools was taken for our empirical study, and logistic regression was used, which allows qualitative variables to be included among the predictive variables and enables the analysis of dichotomy phenomena. The desire for a supervisory/managerial occupation and the entrepreneurial motivation are found to be heavily influenced by the type of school (public or private) and in some cases by gender. Specifically, a notable finding of our study is that women tend to show less preference for a supervisory position in their future career, particularly if they have attended a public school.