From successful behaviour to business performance: An analysis of student-led ventures established by university students

Understanding the factors underlying business success is essential for comprehending aspects that mitigate business failure, crucial for the economic development of countries. This study aims to analyse the extent to which various factors influence the success of ventures established by university students, generating evidence-based insights to support educators in effectively guiding students through their early entrepreneurial initiatives. The sample for this study consisted of 21,842 students who currently own businesses in Latin America and Europe regions. The analysis used AMOS software through Structural Equation Modeling to test the formulated study hypotheses. This paper presents an evolution of the Model of Successful Business Behaviour, demonstrating that for students who have their own companies, motivation expectancy, work effort expectancy, and social influence directly impact successful business behaviour, and more importantly, demonstrates that this behaviour is indeed related to the company's performance. Narcissism was introduced into the Model as a moderator variable and Entrepreneurial family as a control variable, but only the latter showed a significant relationship. This study introduces a novel theoretical framework for explaining firm performance, grounded in Entrepreneurship Theory and incorporating key elements of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).