EXPLORING THE DETERMINANTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG GRADUATES IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This research work examined exploring the determinants of entrepreneurship among graduate’s students in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data for this study. A total number of 65 students in both management and Agricultural sciences in Delta State University Asaba Campus were sampled using a structure questionnaire. The test for multiple means and the T-test for independent means. We observed that back ground variable has no significant impact on exploring the determination, desire and need for achievement, Attitude, National pride and start up experience are positively related to entrepreneurial intentions. We recommend that future research should consider entrepreneurial intentions for graduate students in Nigeria and should also consider what factors are related to and may impact individual behaviors. They should also focus more than large population sizes to impact on background variables which will help stimulate economic growth in Nigeria. Taking up a carrier as entrepreneur and setting up a personal business can be an excitingly rewarding experiencing for young persons. The present high rate of unemployment in Nigeria’s economy should entrepreneurship an appropriate and attractive option. It is widely accepted that the educational system of universities. It as to provide as academic environment that many serve as a catalyst for high technology start up. The factor that surrounds decision making frame of a young Nigeria graduates who intends to pick up a carrier in entrepreneur in this study set out to among others, determine the attitudes of young Nigeria graduates towards becoming entrepreneurs, determine what control beliefs influence their intentions.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In recent years, entrepreneurship education has been developing steadily but unevenly in most countries. In the United State for example, which has been a trailblazer and leader in the field, the last decade has been described as an important era, with a significant increase in student interest (Fiet 2001a) the figure tend to support this statement.
In 1971, only 16 colleges and universities in U.S. offered entrepreneurship education program, while today, there are more than 800.
Entrepreneurship is an under search topic in the social sciences and especially in economics. It was not always so, Schumpeter discusses the role of the entrepreneurship in the process of economic development at length. He imagine the entrepreneur as a creative driven individual who find new combination of factors of production” to discover and develop a new product, to apply strategy for a new market or design a new technology.
The United States have a comparatively long tradition of fostering entrepreneurs at universities and business schools. While the first entrepreneurship courses were taught at Harvard Business School as early as the 1930s, this field has seen increasing attention since the 1970s. By 1990, 400 universities in America were already estimates exceed 700 (Vesper and Macmillan 1988: Hills and Morris 1988, Fiet 2001) progress in this field has thus been extremely impressive.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Throughout the world, student in entrepreneurship as a career choice is growing Brenneret 1991, Hart et Harrison, 1992, while interest in traditional professional employment in big business is gradually declining (Kovereld 1996), the orientation and behaviours of student and young graduates are influenced by a number of personal and environmental factors.
Under uncertainly, out came may be characterized by an expected value which summarizes the potential out comes of the probability of their occurring. Business profits are typically an uncertain function of the work effort extended by the entrepreneur, with an expected profit level for each effort level surrounded by a variance of profit outcomes due to the impact of unexpected changed in consumer preferences competition price and product offerings, macro-economic variables and so on.
This profit variance introduces the role that additional remuneration for that effort profit variance is considered by potential entrepreneurs who asses stability (certainty of ensuring a pay check every month avoiding rise, maintaining current life style) before making a decision to set up a new venture (Amit, et al 1996) given the myriad of factors that surrounds the decision making frame of a young Nigeria graduate who intends to put a career in entrepreneur, it is imperative that answers be found to the following questions. What are the attitudes influences, their intention toward becoming entrepreneurs? What are the subjective norms underlying their intention of becoming entrepreneur? What control beliefs influence their intentions?
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
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.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Economic theories of entrepreneurship usually assume, not surprisingly, that entrepreneurs have economic aspirations principally those of profit maximization. However, a few early theories recognized that entrepreneurs may have non-economic aspirations as well, such as the desire to innovation. The venture into areas untouched by others, the desire to develop markets triumph over others in the market and dynastic aspirations.
The notion that entrepreneurs are embedded in a social framework is central to much work by sociologists (Gramoveter, 1985). Furthermore, as Dyer and Handler (1994) observe, entrepreneurial aspiration focus on entrepreneurial theories tend to focus on entrepreneur at business entry rather than in the business cycle.
In general, the implication and application of the theory of planned behaviour in the field of entrepreneurship and numerous and extremely promising. Some of the theory’s implication are related to education and training. Since the early 1980’s researchers have been able to identify the role played by education and teaching variables in the development of perceptions about the desirability and feasibility of entrepreneurial behaviour.
In recognition of the owning a business can change one’s life, this paper guaranteed and inventory of economic psychological factors then can be used to develop a model of the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
For the purpose of the proper analysis of the subject matter the scope of the study is given in two parts, the spatial and temporal scope. Spatially the study is limited to young graduates in Nigeria. Temporally, it was conducted over a three week period.
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Entrepreneur: an entrepreneur is a person who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profits and growth by identifying opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them Zimmerer and Scarborough (2002).
Proactive: a person controlling a situation by making things happens rather than waiting for things to happen and reacting to them.
Autonomy: this is the ability to act and make decisions without being controlled by anyone else.
Entrepreneurial Behaviour: this factor corresponds to the attitudes towards the behaviour, and is dependent on beliefs relating to the behaviours positive or negative impacts.
Attitude: the way you think and feel about some body or something, the way that you behave towards somebody or something that show how you feel.
Spatial: this is relating to space or position, size, shape etc. of things.
Temporal: this is a particular quality in one’s personality. This is a strong desire to have or do some thing.
2.1 PREAMBLE
In Nigeria, both state and federal government are now placing much emphasis on the promotion of indigenous small scale enterprises with a view to encouraging entrepreneurship. This study addresses 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. Johannisson (1991) and Auto et al. (1997) scored the positive impacts of students' perception of entrepreneurship as a career choice, along with the role played by the research has sourced the importance of the social status of entrepreneurial activities and situation. Entrepreneurship education and influences both currents behavior and future intentions. Kolverldmoen (1997) looks at the significant differences between students who have taken entrepreneurship courses and those who have not.
2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Entrepreneurship has been described as a creative and innovative response to the environment. Meredith et al (1991) look at an 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, understood as the creation and establishment of new independent firms in early empirical research this interest was very much focused on the psychological characteristics of business founders, although the research was not close to contemporary development in psychology. A trait approach was often employed, and almost endless loots of the entrepreneurial traits were suggested (Hornaday 1982) it eventually turned out that this line of research was unable to give more than a small fraction of the answer to the question “what makes people found new firm?”
2.3 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. Entrepreneurship has never played a central role for years, the main focus of economic has been on the allocation of resources and how it is achieved by the market or by the government. It is only recently with the revival of interest in the question of economic growth Schumpeter’s view has required greater silence. Empirical research on entrepreneurship in economic is surprisingly limited. The need for autonomy (or independence) is one of the most frequently stated reasons for founding a firm or wanting to do so (Bamberger, 1986; Cromie 1988; Scot and Twomey, 1988).
2.4 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, management, or another discipline. Noel’s finding at least partially confirmed the assumption that entrepreneurship graduates were more likely to create new businesses 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 taken risks to develop a country's economy. 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. Entrepreneurs tend not to get involved in the business of low quality because there is a lack of challenge and avoid the high-risk situations 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 involved. SELF CONFIDENCE: entrepreneurs have self-confidence in whatever they are doing. They believe that they need to assumed responsibility in other for them to reach their destiny. Entrepreneurs are very optimistic people and have a link for independence. It is this self-confidence, including previous experience, their ability to assume responsibility and to work out for their destiny that makes them venture into private business even when others are staying away from it or are falling. HARD WORK: an entrepreneur is a hard-working individual who is determined to achieve his objective. He put in more effort to make sure that work is done. He makes proper use of official time and private time. He persists in whatever he is doing even when the work is done and the day spent. The entrepreneur is mentally attached to the job. GOAL SETTING: entrepreneurs have an objective, based on their objective they set a goal for themselves. In the attempt to achieve the set goal some appear to be difficult and restless until the goals in their various strategies try to achieve the set goals or objectives. ACCOUNTABILITY: entrepreneurs love and succeed and work very hard to achieve success in whatever they attempt in the process of achieving the success they sometimes meet with failure. To the entrepreneur growth and profit will lead to stability, expansion, and development of the business. The entrepreneur works as a team, through the collaborative efforts of its staff by getting feedback in other to achieve the objective of the business. They also have to keep a careful record of their achievement as a result of which they are able to narrate and tell the stories of how they started the business in the beginning. This attitude of record-keeping helps the entrepreneur’s towards planning and high business ethics. He is not just interested in money purse, but in what he is able to achieve with his money. Others may see accountability in terms of profit and growth but he has a different measurement for himself from what others perceive. He is accountable to himself as his entire life depends on him. VERSATILITY: Entrepreneurs tend to be very informational and very versatile, qualities required to ensure that the job gets done properly by themselves and subordinates.
2.5 ENTREPRENEURIAL TASKS Entrepreneurship is concerned with many activities that have to do with the establishment and operation of business enterprise. These activities include identification of investment opportunities to exploit for profit, gathering the resources needed for production and distribution of goods and services, organization and management of human and material resources.
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