ABSTRACT
The importance of fresh graduates in a developing country like
Nigeria cannot be overemphasized, therefore, priority should be given to
the study of the factors that spur entrepreneurial intentions among
graduates in Nigeria with a view to promoting better policies and
programs aimed at redirecting emphasis on entrepreneurship as a tool for
economic growth and development. This study seeks to investigate
empirically the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of
fresh graduates. The area of this study covers attitude, subjective
norms, perceived behavioural control and self-efficacy and how these
influence the intentions of graduates to become entrepreneurs. Primary
data were collected through structured questionnaire and related
literatures were reviewed. Data was analyzed using descriptive
statistics and hypotheses was tested using one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) technique. The finding suggests that the four factors examined
has significant relationship with entrepreneurial intentions. It was
therefore recommended that entrepreneurial values be promoted among
graduates and graduates should be exposed to the skills required by
entrepreneurs.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The role of intentions has been acknowledged to be relevant in the
managerial literature (Sutton, 1998). Studies have shown that intentions
have the ability to predict both individual behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and
organizational outcomes such as survival, development and growth
(Mitchel, 1981). Hence, the capability to understand and predict
intentions becomes a point of interest for both managers and
entrepreneurs (Tubbs and Ekeberg, 1991).
Intentions have been proved to be the best predictors of individual
behaviours particularly when the behavior is rare, hard to observe or
involves unpredictable time lags. The establishment of new ventures and
the creation of new values in existing ones, which have been identified
by Bird (1988) as the two outcomes of entrepreneurial intentions are
good examples of such behaviours. It has been argued that most
behaviours of social relevance such as health-related behaviours or the
establishment of new organizations are under volitional control.
Intention refers to a state of mind directing a person’s attention
(and therefore experience and action) towards a specific object or path
in order to achieve something. Entrepreneurial intention refers to a
cognitive representation of actions to be implemented by individuals to
either establish new independent venture or create new value within
existing companies.
It is certainly true that entrepreneurial ideas begin with
inspiration; though intentions are needed in order for them to become
manifest. Krueger (2000), argued that individual do not start a business
as a reflex, but they do it intentionally. Hence, especially at the
birth of an organization, the impact of entrepreneur’s intention is
predominant; as a consequence, the founder’s intention determines the
form and direction of a nascent organization at its inception.
1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The level of unemployment of graduates in Nigeria has become a
national issue as the numbers of graduates from public and private
higher educational institutions that join the job market increases each
year. Academic qualifications can no longer guarantee immediate
employment upon graduation, instead graduates are required to show a
positive attitude towards the changing job market by investigating
entrepreneurship as a possible basis for a career. In fact
entrepreneurship would help these new graduates develop their own career
and also ease the current unemployment issue by expanding the job
market. Entrepreneurship is therefore the solution to the problem of
unemployment.
The ability of new graduates to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour
depends on a number of factors, thus there is need to conduct a study
focusing on the entrepreneurial intentions and the factors affecting new
graduates decision to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour.
This will therefore necessitate the following questions:
1 What is the effect of attitude on entrepreneurial intention?
2 What is the effect of subjective norms on entrepreneurial intention?
3 What is the effect of perceived behavioural control on entrepreneurial intention?
4 What is the effect of self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention?
1.2 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following hypothesis will be tested in the study:
Ho1. There is no significant relationship between Perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intentions.
Ho2. There is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions.
Ho3. There is no significant relationship between Attitude and entrepreneurial intentions.
Ho4. There is no significant relationship between Subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of this study is to determine and investigate the
factors influence on the entrepreneurial intentions of fresh graduates.
Other accessory objectives includes
2 To determine the effect of attitude on entrepreneurial intentions
3 To determine the effect of subjective norm on entrepreneurial intentions
4 To determine the effect of perceived behavioural control on entrepreneurial intentions
5 To determine the effect of self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intentions.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Several research studies exist in the field of entrepreneurship and
enrepreneurship intentions of university students (Turker and Selcuk,
2008) and fresh graduates in Nigeria (Shittu and Dosunmu, 2014). There
is no existing study on the factorial analysis of entrepreneurial
intention among fresh graduates in Nigeria. The only study close to this
study is that of shiitu and Dosunmu, (2014) but it only looked at
family background as a factor affecting entrepreneurial intention. Hence
this study is significant to the extent that is seeks to fill this
knowledge gap by examining other factors such as attitude, subjective
norm, perceived behavioural control and self-efficacy and their impact
on entrepreneurial intention of fresh graduates in Nigeria.
The study will also form the basis for further studies and contribute
to existing body of literatures in the field of entrepreneurship. It
will also serve as a pointer to the solution of the problem of
unemployment of fresh graduates in Nigeria.
1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Several challenges were encountered in this study which are
considered as limitations. Firstly, this research study is entirely
based on self-reported measures. A social desirability bias may appear
in our study because subjects sometimes respond to surveys in a manner
that make themselves meet society’s desires. An anonymity guarantee was
reassured to the respondents. Some evidence shows that a self-report of
dishonest behaviour can be quite accurate and the bias should have no
impact on the testing of the model (Beck and Ajzen, 1991; Becker et al.,
2006). Second, the dependent variable used in this study is the
intention to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour rather than the actual
behaviour itself. Even though many researchers have indicated that
behavioural intention is an adequate proxy of actual behaviour (Allen,
Fuller and luckett, 1998), the self-report method is still subjective to
the bias of CMV.
Lastly, despite its extensive application, theory of planned
behaviour has been criticized that it does not sufficiently elicit
affective aspects for making decision. By introducing affective
variables such as fear, mood and enjoyment, the variance explained in
intention can be greatly increased. Therefore future research might
consider including affective variables into the theory of planned
behaviour.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focus specifically on the factors affecting
entrepreneurial intentions of fresh graduate in Nigeria. It examines
four factors such as attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural
control and self-efficacy. The study is restricted to only fresh
graduates in Delta State, issele-uku NYSC camp. It is hoped that the
views of these fresh graduates will reflect the views of other fresh
graduates in the country.