Entrepreneurial Intentions and Activities of Students in Context of New Labour Ethics (Illustrated by students of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics)

For the last 1.5 decades the attitude to entrepreneurship in Russian society seriously changed, especially in youth environment, where it is more and more often considered as an appealing form of employment. The article highlighted the connection of deep-rooted entrepreneurial culture and new labour ethics based on values of freedom, flexibility, work-life balance, comfortable working conditions and creative self-realization. In spite of high level of entrepreneurial intentions and activities of students the quality side of their motivation is still low. Students’ wish to work in business is explained not by interest in innovation activity as it is (positive, voluntary entrepreneurship) but by the intention to avoid traditional wage employment, subordination and unstable income, which is characterized as enforced entrepreneurship. Results of the survey of 300 students of social and humanitarian profile at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics showed that 57.9% of respondents regarded entrepreneurship as future work. Key grounds are high income (76.6%), flexible work schedule (61.3%) and possibility to avoid subordination to bosses (54.8%). Social (14.9%) and innovation (15.7%) reasons move to the background. Therefore technological and social business-models are not in demand with students: they prefer creative (38.7%) and classical (36.8%) models. It means dominance in the youth environment of replicable entrepreneurship, i. e. reproduction of existing products and business-models. The author underlined the necessity to shift focus from quantitative growth of entrepreneurial initiatives to their qualitative improvement through introduction into the youth environment values of the long-term strategic outlook, social responsibility and technological leadership.

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