**1. Introduction**

Studies on territorial development point to the production network as one of the fundamental pillars to generate well-being and prosperity [1,2]. Thus, the study of entrepreneurial activity takes on special relevance, since it is the variable on which the productive network is based [3]. However, the microeconomic characteristics of each country prevent a single solution from being offered for the promotion of entrepreneurship from public policies [4], which underlines the need to adapt these policies to the different casuistry that surrounds entrepreneurial activity in each territory [5]. In this context, many authors point out the importance of studying entrepreneurial intention to predict entrepreneurship, as it is considered an indicator of latent entrepreneurship [6,7]. This is because it represents "a self-acknowledged conviction by a person that they intend to set up a new business venture and consciously plan to do so at some point in the future" [8] (p. 676).

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship has been studied by considering the internal determinants, as well as the effect of the context in which it develops, since the environment surrounding the entrepreneur exerts an important influence [9,10]. Furthermore, the external and internal factors that affect entrepreneurship are interrelated [11]. In the same way, the entrepreneurial intention is determined by the characteristics and abilities of each individual, their life experiences, and their context [12]. Mexico has high levels

**Citation:** Castelló-Sirvent, F.; Pinazo-Dallenbach, P. Corruption Shock in Mexico: fsQCA Analysis of Entrepreneurial Intention in University Students. *Mathematics* **2021**, *9*, 1702. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/math9141702

Academic Editors: Laura González-Vila Puchades and Jorge de Andres Sanchez

Received: 30 June 2021 Accepted: 16 July 2021 Published: 20 July 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

of corruption in its institutions, as reflected in the transparency index prepared by Transparency International [13], in which it ranks 124th out of a total of 180 countries analyzed. A deficient or inadequate regulation favors the appearance of corruption [14,15], and this is the case in Mexico concerning the ease of doing business, as highlighted by the World Bank in *Doing Business 2020* [16]. Corruption affects companies both directly and indirectly, and therefore also entrepreneurial activity [17]. However, in certain specific contexts in which there is a bad business climate, some studies have found a positive relationship between corruption and entrepreneurship [18], which justifies delving into this anomaly in the stage preceding the entrepreneurial event. In the same way, in Mexico, there is still a gender gap in terms of entrepreneurship, as reflected in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [19], which highlighted that in 2019, the country had a female/male ratio of Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity—TEA of 0.91. This gap is accentuated in the businesses related to STEM—the acronym for "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" [20,21]— which, however, are the ones that contribute the most to the development of the territories due to their grea<sup>t</sup> capacity to generate innovation [22,23]. Finally, the literature points out the interrelationship between individuals' family entrepreneurial background and their probability to start an entrepreneurial project [24].

Studies focused on the entrepreneurial phenomenon have traditionally used samples from higher-education students [25], since these individuals, due to their age and educational level, are the most likely to carry out an entrepreneurial project [26]. This also occurs in the specific case of the study of entrepreneurial intention [27], in which studies carried out with samples of university students are very common [28,29].

Nowadays, the importance of offering person-oriented research to explain the entrepreneurial phenomenon is highlighted [30], and more specifically to clarify the role of internal variables in the configuration of entrepreneurial intention [25,31]. Along these lines, authors such as Gartner [32] sugges<sup>t</sup> that research in the area of entrepreneurship should focus on showing profiles in which the internal variables of individuals are combined and interact with variables of the social context surrounding entrepreneurs. Thus, this study addresses, from a cognitive point of view, the combined effect of several internal variables, some influenced by the environment, which may explain high levels of entrepreneurial intention among Mexican students. This article provides a novelty in the literature by addressing a field of study with a very limited amount of empirical evidence, contributing to the construction of the theory through an adequate methodology for the development of multilevel theory. We chose fsQCA as the methodology to carry out this analysis since, unlike symmetry-based methodologies such as regressions, it offers the possibility of studying the combined effect of different individual characteristics, allowing equifinality and causal asymmetry, and thus providing information that other statistical–inferential methods do not contemplate [33]. This research addresses, from a configurational approach, the effect of two internal variables related to corruption (corruption perception and corruption normalization), two socio-demographic variables (gender and the family entrepreneurial background), and the degree area (STEM or not STEM), on the entrepreneurial intention among students of the Technological University of Zacatecas (Mexico). The analysis was carried out on two subsamples differentiated by the level of household income (High Household Income—HHI, and Low Household Income—LHI), to obtain more specific information and make recommendations for policymakers.

This paper is structured as follows. First, it highlights the importance of studying entrepreneurial intention in the context of economic development, exposing the paradigm in which the research is conducted. In addition, as part of the literature review, a deep insight is offered on corruption perception, corruption normalization, gender, STEM studies, and family entrepreneurial background as factors that can determine an individual's entrepreneurial intention. In the same way, the propositions related to the study are presented. In the following sections, the applied methodology is explained, the research results are presented, and the main findings are discussed. Finally, the conclusions, limitations of the study, and future lines of research are presented.

#### **2. Theoretical Background, Conditions, and Propositions**

#### *2.1. Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurial Intention (EI)*

Regions, and specifically countries, boost their economic growth thanks to entrepreneurship, which favors the economic dynamics of the territories [34]. Furthermore, favoring the development of entrepreneurial activity has positive effects on economic development, since, as pointed out by Levie and Autio [35], entrepreneurship stimulates production factors and their efficiency, and favors the appearance of innovations [36]. The capacity of the entrepreneurial phenomenon to encourage innovations and create jobs is of special relevance for the economic development of the territories [37], since it generates prosperity and well-being for citizens [35,38]. In this way, entrepreneurship, as the basis of the production network, is a key element for territorial development [2] and justifies the study of its dynamics.

Moriano [39] stated that entrepreneurship is a sequential process that goes beyond the start-up phase. Specifically, it incorporates a pre-launch phase, a launch phase, and a post-launch phase. Stages prior to the act of entrepreneurship are difficult to observe, as they remain in the field of intentions [10,39]. In this sense, the intention to start an entrepreneurial project represents the first stage of the entrepreneurial process [40] and is of crucial relevance, since it represents the prior decision that an individual must make before becoming an entrepreneur [41,42]. Thus, understanding entrepreneurial intention is key to understand the entrepreneurial process [41]. This fact explains why EI is considered as a predictor of entrepreneurial behavior [8,43,44] and an indicator of latent entrepreneurship [6,7]. In this study, EI is considered as the conscious will of a person to start a business in the future [8,31].

#### *2.2. Corruption Perception (COPER) and Corruption Normalization (CONOR)*

The existence of corruption in public institutions has negative consequences on the well-being of citizens, increases inequality, and harms entrepreneurship [45]. Specifically, the institutional environment directly affects entrepreneurial activity [17]. On one hand, to the extent that there are institutions that favor the emergence of opportunities and generate economic growth, this will have a positive effect on business activity, greatly facilitating the success of entrepreneurs [46,47]. On the other hand, when corruption exists within institutions, entrepreneurial activity is seriously affected [48]. This is because corruption lowers institutions' quality to the extent that it reduces the correct redistribution of resources, increases capital cost, and slows the production-network development [49]. Furthermore, the existence of corruption generates uncertainty around investment projects, which increases transaction-related costs and increases inefficiency of market and business activity [50,51]. Consequently, the absence of corruption control reduces the performance of companies and their ability to generate innovations [52,53].

The evidence obtained shows that there is an inverse relationship between corruption and entrepreneurial activity; however, there are differences at the cognitive level between individuals from the same territory that affect their COPER differently. This fact causes differences between the perception of different individuals, and also between the levels of real corruption and what is perceived by people [54–56]. Since this study is person-oriented, it focuses on the subjective element of corruption; that is, COPER and its possible inhibiting effects on EI. In this way, this research proposes the existence of a causal relationship between the COPER of university students and their EI level.

However, some authors found a positive relationship between corruption and entrepreneurship [18], and explained that when there is a bad business climate, characterized by inefficient or inadequate regulation of business activity, individuals perceive corruption as an opportunity to accelerate the bureaucratic processes that exist around entrepreneurial activity. In this way, Dreher and Gassebner [18] indicated that in these countries, entrepreneurs perceive the possibility of using bribes with public officials as a very interesting shortcut that reduces the problems and times of these procedures. This "grease the wheels" argumen<sup>t</sup> can be explained by the normalization of corruption that appears in countries

where people coexist with corruption for a long time [57] (Guerber et al., 2016). This normalization of corruption occurs in societies through three interrelated effects: the institutionalization, rationalization, and socialization of corruption [57,58]. The first refers to the fact that a corrupt act becomes routine within institutional structures and processes, the second refers to the development of selfish behaviors that justify and even give value to corrupt acts, and the third indicates the phenomenon by which newcomers are led to think that corruption is permissible or even desirable in society [58]. In this context, it could be argued that when COPER coexists with corruption normalization, this has a positive effect on EI, since corruption is presented as an opportunity and not as a threat. Thus, this study proposes the existence of a causal relationship between the normalization of corruption in university students and their level of EI.
