ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN COGNITIVE STYLES, FLEXIBILITY AND ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP PROFILE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

There is a lack of studies on the associations between cognitive styles and flexibility as determining factors of the entrepreneurial leadership profile of university students. In order to identify these associations, a quantitative study was conducted with 116 undergraduate students of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, using structural equations modelling. The results indicate a strong negative association between cognitive styles and flexibility, i.e. the closer the university students were to the analytical style, the lower their flexibility index tended to be, while the closer they were to the intuitive style, the higher their flexibility index tended to be. Cognitive styles determine 17% of the entrepreneurial leadership profile, while flexibility determines 79%. These relationships advance the influence of flexibility and make up an estimated 46% of the entrepreneurial leadership profiles of the university students who participated in the research. The students tended to feel more capable of becoming specialists; they wanted to learn about leadership, and becoming an entrepreneur was a professional goal with lower scores. There is a need to expand the dissemination of knowledge on leadership and, in particular, to stimulate entrepreneurship among university students.