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.
1.2 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
1. To determine and stimulate the need for achievement on
entrepreneurial intentions.
2.
To encourage and
determine the attitude of young Nigeria graduates towards self employment.
3.
To determine entrepreneurial
intention towards Nigeria’s graduates
4. To determine what control belief influence their
intention.
1.3 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.
1.4 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.
1.5 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 of
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 71 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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