Influence of social entrepreneurship pedagogical initiatives on students’ attitudes and behaviours

Abstract

This study examines the influence of social entrepreneurship pedagogy on the behavioural outcomes of the Nigerian universities' students; regarding their attitudes, intentions and behaviours towards social venture creation. The Nigeria university system is producing graduates as employees rather than employers of labour. Insights were drawn from the theory of planned behaviour and theory 'U' in this inquiry. The principles of quantitative and correlational methods were combined in an explanatory research design. The multivariate statistical analyses used in this study are exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modelling as well as model fit indices. The results point to a significant positive relationship between social entrepreneurial pedagogy and students behavioural outcomes in the Nigerian universities. Results also show that pedagogical contents exert the greatest influence on students' intentions towards creating social ventures. Students' attitudes mediate the relationship between social entrepreneurial pedagogy and students' behavioural outcomes in Nigeria.

A systematic literature review of the influence of the university’s environment and support system on the precursors of social entrepreneurial intention of students

“…The traditional way in which universities may affect the SEI of students is through the offering of social entrepreneurship education programs. The impact of social entrepreneurship education programs on the precursors of the SEI of students has been the subject of several studies in the past (Adelekan et al, 2018;Hockerts, 2017;Kedmenec et al, 2017;Kwong et al, 2012;Piperopoulos & Dimov, 2015;Smith & Woodworth, 2012;Tshikovhi & Shambare, 2015). The investigation of other aspects of the university's ESS such as business incubation and spin-offs (Chiesa & Piccaluga, 2000;Hughes, Ireland, & Morgan, 2007;Markuerkiaga, Caiazza, Igartua, & Errasti, 2016;Mian, 1996Mian, , 1997, technology transfer mechanisms (Bray & Lee, 2000;Etzkowitz, 2003;Poole & Robertson, 2003), university venture funds (Lerner, 2004) and mentoring and networking (Nielsen & Lassen, 2012) are less common in the literature to date.…”

“…This process revealed that no previous researcher has considered the SEI of students as influenced by the university's ESS per se. Some researchers who studied the influence of the university on the SEI of students did so in relation to the effect of social entrepreneurship education (Adelekan, Williamson, & Atiku, 2018;Kedmenec, Rebernik, & Tominc, 2017;Kwong, Thompson, & Cheung, 2012;Piperopoulos & Dimov, 2015;Smith & Woodworth, 2012;Tshikovhi & Shambare, 2015). Thus, the authors modified the inclusion criteria to contain articles that deal with the SEI of students in more general terms.…”

“…Yes Adelekan et al (2018) "A significant positive relationship between social entrepreneurship pedagogy and students' behavioural outcomes in selected Nigerian universities. "…”

“…To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous study has considered the SEI of students as influenced by the university's ESS. Some researchers studied the influence of the university on the SEI of students in relation to social entrepreneurship education (Adelekan et al, 2018;Kedmenec et al, 2017;Kwong et al, 2012;Piperopoulos & Dimov, 2015;Smith & Woodworth, 2012;Tshikovhi & Shambare, 2015). Radin, Rahman, Othman and Pihie (2017) found that public university students have a higher potential to become social entrepreneurs as compared to those from private universities.…”

“…Also very recently, Adelekan et al (2018) examined the influence of social entrepreneurship pedagogy on the behavioural outcomes of students in Nigeria with regards to their attitudes, intentions and behaviours towards the creation of a social venture. Their results point to a significant positive relationship between social entrepreneurial pedagogy and students behavioural outcomes.…”