Mapping the Global Knowledge Structure of Startup and Entrepreneurial Mindset Research Among Higher Education Graduates: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The paper provides an insight into the global knowledge structure, intellectual foundations, collaborative patterns, and research trends related to entrepreneurial and startup mindset among higher education students and graduates identified in the retrieved publications. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using 2139 articles and book chapters found in the Scopus database. The research was performed using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software by analyzing document properties, quantity, quality, and distribution. The analysis covers the timeline, distribution of authors, sources, and countries, co-authors, citations, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, keywords, and thematic visualization of the field. The results of the research show that the area of study has a significant growth rate, being 11.51% per year, with 23.87 citations per document on average. The article describes the most common research topics, with entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and self-efficacy being the most common ones. Theory of Planned Behavior is highlighted as one of the intellectual foundations of the research field, with Ajzen being the most influential scientist. The research also found that in the past decade, the direction of research shifted from entrepreneurship education, competencies, skills, barriers, and self-employment to experiential learning, digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial behavior, and technology-driven approaches. Moreover, the study identified several new research topics, including generative artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence, new pedagogy, and problem-solving. The article concludes that the research field is multidisciplinary and continuously growing and attracting the attention of researchers worldwide. Moreover, the paper underlines the necessity for higher education institutions to focus on entrepreneurial mindset, self-efficacy, creativity, opportunity recognition, innovation, experiential learning, and problem-solving.