The effects of entrepreneurship education on students’ entrepreneurial intentions

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to employ a longitudinal approach to assess the effects of entrepreneurship education (EE) on students’ entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) through the constructs of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which include attitudes towards behaviour (ATB), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC). Specifically, this study aims to achieve two objectives: first, to determine if students’ ATB, SN, PBC and EIs would increase significantly after their exposure to EE; and second, to establish whether students’ ATB, SN and PBC mediate the relationship between EE and their EIs. Design/methodology/approach This longitudinal study employed a one-group pretest-posttest experimental research design. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of 250 National Diploma students from five polytechnics in the North Central part of Nigeria before and after they were exposed to EE. To achieve the objectives of this study, repeated-measures t-test and partial least squares structural equation modelling were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and SmartPLS, respectively, for data analysis. Findings The results of the paired-samples t-test showed that students’ ATB, SN, PBC and EIs increased significantly after their exposure to EE. Also, further data analysis revealed that EE had a significantly positive relationship with students’ ATB, SN, PBC and EIs. Similarly, the results of the structural model indicated that ATB had a significantly positive link with students’ EIs and also mediated the relationship between EE and students’ EIs. SN and PBC had a positive but not statistically significant relationship with students’ EIs and did not mediate the relationship between EE and students’ EIs. Practical implications The findings of this study provide interesting implications for EE and entrepreneurship policies in Nigeria. More specifically, the findings provide some practical implications for the Nigerian government and the EE curriculum developers. To achieve greater impact of EE on students’ EIs at the tertiary education level, the Nigerian government should incorporate EE into the curricula at the primary and secondary education levels. Equipping students at the primary and secondary education levels with entrepreneurial knowledge, competencies and skills would enable them to develop a strong entrepreneurial mindset even before they gain admission to tertiary institutions. Originality/value It is one of the few studies that have tested empirically both the direct and the indirect effects of EE on students’ EIs in a single study. Thus, it helps to further clarify the links between EE and EIs. Besides, it is among the first studies to adopt a longitudinal approach to assess the effects of EE on students’ EIs through the constructs of the TPB (i.e. ATB, SN and PBC) in the Nigerian context.

Applying the theory of planned behaviour to hospitality management students in Nigeria: the mediating role of self-confidence

“…As hypothesized, an assessment of the structural model revealed that the relationship between the students’ ATB and EIs was positive and statistically significant. This suggests that ATB is a strong predictor of EIs (Otache et al , 2019). It means that an increase in students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurial behaviours would lead to a corresponding increase in their EIs.…”

“…firm creation), which generally begins with opportunity identification, is viewed as an intentional process. The extant literature has demonstrated that entrepreneurial activity is an intentional behaviour and a planned behaviour (Bellò et al , 2018; Molaei et al , 2014; Yang, 2013; Ulysses et al , 2011), suggesting that EI is a predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour (Otache et al , 2019). Empirical studies have established that entrepreneurial attitude is positively and significantly linked to EI and, by extension, to entrepreneurial behaviour (Bahadur and Naimatullah, 2015; Rauch and Hulsink, 2015; Souitaris et al , 2007).…”

“…Moreover, previous empirical studies on the impacts of the TPB constructs on EIs have reported mixed findings (Zhang and Cain, 2017). Some studies have reported positively significant relationships between the TPB constructs and EIs (Nabila et al , 2016; Solesvik et al , 2014; Yang, 2013), whereas others have reported non-significant links between the TPB constructs and EIs (Fenech et al , 2019; Javier et al , 2017; Otache et al , 2019). The mixed findings regarding the links between the TPB constructs and EIs are indicative of the fact that there are variables other than the TPB constructs that influence EIs.…”

“…Similarly, the mixed findings further suggest that there are intervening variables that could help strengthen the links between the TPB constructs and EIs. In this regard, Otache et al (2019) have suggested that self-confidence is a potential mediating variable. Thus, self-confidence is introduced in this study as a mediating variable between the TPB constructs and the EIs of hospitality management students.…”

The Influence of Education and Environmental Support on Entrepreneurial Intentions

“…Many past studies have identified factors that influence Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI), such as personality traits or characteristics (Adekiya and Ibrahim 2016;McClelland, 1961;Neneh, 2019;Norena-Chavez and Guevara, 2020), contextual factors (Reardon 1991;Salami 2007;Schmutzler, Andonova, and Diaz-Serrano, 2019), and institutional and environmental factors (Shi, Yao, and Wu, 2019;Turker and Selcuk, 2009). While there are several studies that propose a positive association between Entrepreneurial Education (EE) and EI (Kautonen, van Gelderen, and Fink 2015;Otache, Umar, Audu, and Onalo, 2019;Norena-Chavez, 2020), there is also evidence of a negative, deterring effect of EE on these intentions (Nowinski et al, 2019;Oosterbeek et al, 2010). These mixed results point to environmental contingencies as conditions to the desired outcome of education boosting intentions (Shi et al, 2019;Walter and Dohse, 2012).…”