EXPLORING THE DETERMINANTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG GRADUATES IN NIGERIA

EXPLORING THE DETERMINANTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG GRADUATES IN NIGERIA

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Entrepreneurship is now seen as an important component within the contemporary economic development of a nation. Its critical role in the economy of nations is now widely acknowledged within the literature. Experts in the field were of the opinion that entrepreneurship is regarded as a catalyst for economic growth, employment, and wealth creation, Henry, et al (2003).

Furthermore, the European Commission (2003) shared the same view and in addition suggests that entrepreneurship is a major driver of innovation, competitiveness, and economic strength of a modern nation. They further emphasize the important role which business education has in the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and talents especially in enhancing entrepreneur competency.

Business education is a widely given high score on the agenda of many governments. Such governments depend on the development of entrepreneurship through business education as the major source for their economic prosperity, growth, and development. It is a kind of new concept which signifies not only quality education but also pay attention to the development of individual practical ability and competency of students.

It is also described as a new method of teaching that promotes students’ innovative spirit, skills, and attitudes which consequently make them after graduation to a suitable career and become professional business creators, European Commission, (2003) concluded.

This growth in business education in enhancing entrepreneur competency is reflected internationally. For example, the European Commission (2008a) observes that almost half of Europe’s students at tertiary institutions have full access to business education to enhance their innovative competencies in establishing small ventures after graduation. In a related development, Khan and Almoharby, (2007) highlight the rapid development of the course in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The European Commission (2004a), for example, posits that entrepreneurship is one of the key components to be included in current educational systems in order to prepare people for successful participation in society. In fact, the contribution of business education in promoting entrepreneurship to the world economy is well recognized… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Statement of the Problem

For many developing countries, the development of entrepreneurial competencies has been a powerful engine of economic growth and wealth creation and is crucial for improving the quality, number, and variety of employment opportunities for the poor.

It has several multiplier effects on the economy, spurs innovation, and fosters investment in people, which is a better source of competitive advantage than other natural resources, which can be depleted. Entrepreneurial competencies in graduates will enable them to create new enterprises, new commercial activities, and new economic sectors.

They generate jobs for others; they produce goods and services for society; they introduce new technologies and improve or lower cost outputs, and they earn foreign exchange through export expansion or substitution of imports… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Research Objectives

The following are the objectives of this study:

1. To examine the entrepreneur competencies required by graduates in establishing small scale ventures… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Significance of the Study

The following are the significance of this study:

1. Findings from this study will educate the general public on the ability of business education in equipping students with entrepreneurial competencies with a view of drawing the interest of many youths towards studying business education to be future … (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

In Nigeria, both state and federal governments are now placing much emphasis on the promotion of indigenous small scale enterprises with a view to encouraging entrepreneurship. This study address critical issues like life aspirations, likely source of financial capital, entrepreneurial orientation, attitude towards work, intention towards becoming an entrepreneur, subjective norms underlying this intention, perceived behavioral control, behavioral beliefs, nor mature belief and control beliefs others…. (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Conceptual Framework

Entrepreneurship has been described as a creative and innovative response to the environment. Meredith et al (1991) look at and entrepreneur as an individual who has the ability to see and evaluate business opportunities, gather the necessary resource to take advantage of them and initiate appropriate action to ensure success. This turn of events has been mirrored by a rising academic interest in entrepreneurship… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

 Need, Scope and Characteristics of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship was been recognized as an essential ingredient of economic development. In the early 16th century in France, the term entrepreneur was used for army leaders. It was applied to their business for the first time 18th century to designate a leader who buys and sells goods at certain prices… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Entrepreneurial Traits

Noel (2001) explained specifically the importance of entrepreneurship emphasizing the development of entrepreneurial intention and the perception of self-efficiency. The students in the sample had all taken an entrepreneurship education program and were graduated in entrepreneurship, the management, or another discipline.

Noel’s finding at least partially confirmed the assumption that entrepreneurship graduates were more likely to create new business and have a higher level of intention and a more developed perception of self-efficiency than students in the other two groups.

McClelland (1961) in his work identifies the need for achievement (called n- achievement) to be linked with the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to take risks to develop a country economically. He also said entrepreneurs are likely to do well if they possess the following traits.

RISK TAKING: entrepreneurs are risk-takers and are very calculative when a challenge occurs in a business they encourage themselves. But they don’t gamble. An entrepreneur tends not to get involved in business of low quality because there is a lack of challenge and avoid the high-risk situation because they want to succeed. They like overcoming challenges.

A risk situation occurs when you are required to make a choice between two or more alternatives, whose potential outcomes are not must be subjectively evaluated. A risk situation involves potential success and potential loll. The greater the possible loss, the greater the involvement… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Entrepreneurial Tasks

Entrepreneurship is concerned with many activities that have to do with the establishment and operation of business enterprises. These activities include identification of investment opportunities to exploit for profit, gathering the resource needed for production and distribution of goods and services, organization, and management of human and material resources. This underscores why millions of our youths and a lot of University graduates roam about the streets of the major cities and towns in search of white-collar jobs.

It is necessary and possible to position Nigerian universities to stimulate economic growth through a deliberate agenda of the production of entrepreneurial graduates. In many countries, including the US, high schools offer entrepreneurship education for life-long trade, and many of them offer courses that enable students to meet their general academic requirements while learning a trade… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Empirical Review

Entrepreneurship has been recognized as an important aspect of an organization and economies (Dickson et al 2008). It contributes in immeasurable ways toward creating new jobs, wealth creation, poverty reduction and income-generating for both government and individuals. Schumpeter in 1984 argued that entrepreneurship is very significant to the growth and development of economies.

Having understood the role of entrepreneurship in economic development, it becomes apparent that careful attention is needed to invest and promote entrepreneurship. Education is also seen as one of the preconditions for entrepreneurship development particularly in a place where the spirit and culture are very minimal. It is said to be an important determinant of selection into entrepreneurship, the formation of a new venture, and entrepreneurial success (Dickson, Solomon, and Weaver, 2008).

However, it is equally assumed here that there is a positive relationship between education and the individual’s choice to become an entrepreneur as well as the result and outcome of his or her entrepreneurial activity… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter covers the description and discussion of the various techniques and procedures used in the study to collect and analyze the data as it is deemed appropriate.

It is organized under the following sub-headings:

• Research Design
• Area of the Study
• Population of the study
• Sample and sampling procedure
• Instrument of Data Collection
• Validation of the Instrument
• Reliability of the Instrument
• Method of Data Collection
• Method of Data Analysis

Research Design

According to Asika (2009), research designs are often referred to as the structuring of investigation aimed at identifying variables and their relationships to one another. In this study, questionnaires serves as a useful guide to the effort of generating data for this study. The survey research design through the administration of questionnaires was used for the study.

Area of the Study

The study will be conducted in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The population of Akwa Ibom urban area, according to the Akwa Ibom State Government is 6.5 million, a number disputed by the Nigerian Government, and judged unreliable by the National Population Commission of Nigeria.

Akwa Ibom was reported in 2014 to have a metropolitan population of 4 million, making Akwa Ibom a destination of Nigerians as a result of the developmental drive taking place there… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the result obtained through questionnaires. The data gathered were presented according to the order in which they were arranged in the research questions, simple percentages and pie graphs were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents while Pearson correlation was adopted to test the research hypotheses.

BioData of Respondents

Source: field survey, February 2016.

Table1 above shows the gender distribution of the respondents used for this study.

120 respondents who represent 60.0percent of the population are male. 80 respondents which represent 40.0 percent of the population are female.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Conclusion

It is not impossible that when a university provides adequate instruction and creative inspiration for entrepreneurship, the possibility of choosing an entrepreneurial career might increase among young people. This is crucial in economies that are as open as Nigeria’s economy. As Wu (2008) states, engineering students have the highest tendency to start a business.

Thus, it seems that academic environments should provide applied practical learning environments to complement academic exercises or case study approaches Bell, Callaghan, & Demick, (2004) to increase student understanding of market knowledge… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

Recommendations

We have to recognize that the effect of education supersedes the education itself and goes onto forming an ideology, and creating a concept in the minds of the learner subconsciously to build a future that inadvertently creates a new environment.

• There should be a working partnership between the industry and the universities. This could be encouraged if the government would give incentives such as tax returns or tax cuts for every organization that involves in the partnership… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)

REFERENCES

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