Abstract

There are quite a few support programs for Hong Kong Youth (HKY) to start new business in Hong Kong or mainland China. However, our recent survey revealed that 51% of the sampled university students had never heard of these programs, 45% had heard about them but did not read the details, only 2% believed that they knew these programs well; while 2% absent. The survey also revealed that only 5% of the students had entrepreneurial intentions, and, among them, only 6% would consider entrepreneurship in mainland China. In the same survey around 20 years ago, approximately 50% students had entrepreneurial intentions and about half of them would like to consider mainland China for new businesses. These results show that HKY’s entrepreneurial intention has been decreasing and their perception of mainland China changed as well. Thus, the following questions arise: Do we have a good understanding of our youth’s mindset when making policies and launching support programs for them? Is it possible that the government’s good intention is not really appreciated by the younger generation? Will Hong Kong lack entrepreneurs in the future?

   People may assume that if financial support is available, HKY will take entrepreneurial action. However, the latest research suggests that youth entrepreneurship is hindered not only by financial issues but also mindset issues. This paper will discuss youth entrepreneurship policy from a life-cycle perspective by evaluating the personal factors of HKY, including their attitude, awareness, intention, knowledge, skills, and then action; and the policy factors, including financial support, government policy, culture, finance, human capital, and market, as suggested by the theory of entrepreneurship ecosystem. Accordingly, an extended model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) will be proposed to identify the association between policy factors and the personal factors of HKK. Finally, I will use engineering education as an example to explore the relevant policy implications and potential programs for the Hong Kong government and education institutions to consider.

Keywords

Engineering Education, Youth entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship life-cycle, Entrepreneurial intention