Entrepreneurship Education and Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention Among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume VI, Issue VII, July 2021|ISSN 2454-6194

Entrepreneurship Education and Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention Among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria

Ojo Afolabi Ayotunde
Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Redeemer’s University

Abstract
Faced with challenge of high unemployment rate, there is need for a drastic step to prepare the youths who account for majority of the unemployed figure for entrepreneurial activities rather than just preparing them to hunt for jobs after their study. While it is compulsory for higher institutions in Nigeria to take entrepreneurship courses, there is little evidence on its impact on students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The purpose of this paper is to add to the literature on entrepreneurial intention using the theory of planned behaviour to examine the intentions of university students in southwestern Nigeria. In this paper, Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) was used to measure entrepreneurial intentions using a sample of 127 final year students from one of the foremost private universities in southwestern Nigeria; Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression was used to determine the effect of the explanatory variable on the dependent variables. The result shows a positive but weak relationship between entrepreneurship education and antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. The study concludes that having entrepreneurship education may not totally translate into job creation hence, it was recommended that there is need for government and other stakeholders to consider other factors that influence entrepreneurship intention.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurship Intention

Introduction

It is no longer news that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is on the increase. Blessed with an estimated population of 173 million people (World Bank, 2015), which ordinarily should be a blessing to economic development of Nigeria has not been able to live up to expectation. Among the many challenges facing the country is that of youth unemployment, majority being between the ages of 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 years with a rate of 17.8% and 10.8% respectively (Barungi, Odhiambo, Asogwa and Zerihun, 2016). According to Trading Economics (2021), the current figure is put at 33.3% in the fourth quarter as against 27.10% which was recorded in the second quarter of 2020. This is against what was recorded in 1963 when unemployment was seen as insignificant with a rate below 2% (Dionco-Adetayo, 2014). It was also estimated that 11.7% of those with post-secondary education are unemployed (Barungi et al., 2016). Every year, both public and private academic institutions produce thousands of graduates, many of whom end up not securing a job. The era of securing an automatic white-collar job after graduation from college or university because the job offers are diminishing and the few

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