Cross-national Dataset on Psychological, Cognitive, and Contextual Factors of Entrepreneurial Behavior in Business Students

This study aims to examine how psychological, cognitive, and contextual factors are associated with entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action distinguishing between discovery and exploitation phases among university students in five Latin American countries. Using a cross-national design, the analysis combines non-parametric statistical techniques, correlation and regression models, and visual analytics through raincloud plots. Although numerous emotional, cognitive, and contextual profile variables were measured, this report focuses on those that showed significant cross-country differences or emerged as relevant predictors of entrepreneurial intention and action. Entrepreneurial attitude, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial action in the discovery phase, university training, and empathy were identified as significant predictors of entrepreneurial intention. Self-awareness, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial attitude explained the discovery phase, whereas financial knowledge, emotional well-being, flow at work, self-efficacy, and low cognitive load were determinants of the exploitation phase. The findings highlight the importance of adaptive entrepreneurship curricula that integrate emotional competencies, stage-specific training pathways, and institutional support strategies.