Entrepreneurial competencies of undergraduate students: The case of universities in Nigeria
Introduction
As a growing economy, Nigeria requires skilled entrepreneurs. Despite the overwhelming natural resources available with many economic growth prospects, the literature shows that millions of Nigerian graduates lack entrepreneurial competencies (ECs) to start-up new businesses and create jobs to employ others (e.g., Adowa, 2013; Okolie et al., 2019; Utim, 2013). The HE graduates with low ECs are vulnerable in the labour market (Okolie et al., 2020; Scarpetta et al., 2010). The low-competent HE graduates face continual effects of unemployment (Quintini et al., 2007) and the inability to start-up businesses to earn livelihoods. As such, an educational programme capable of enhancing students’ ECs is imperative. To ensure that higher education institutions (HEIs) meet the target of producing graduates who can identify and recognize business opportunities, start-up new businesses, employ and training others, entrepreneurship education (EE) emerged (Ohe, 2012).
As Sirelkhatim and Gangi (2015, p. 1) have explained, EE “is one of the fastest-growing fields of education globally”. Fretschner and Weber (2013) noted that the fast expansion of EE in HEIs globally is due to its guarantee as a medium through which economic growth can be well promoted. One of the major arguments underpinning the fast growth of EE around the world is that; EE can be learned, students can be trained and motivated to develop entrepreneurial intentions and EE can assist learners to start-up businesses after graduation by equipping them with the right ECs (e.g., Fretschner & Weber, 2013; Pittaway & Cope, 2007). However, we adopt Binks' (2005, p. 2) definition of EE as “a pedagogical process involved in the encouragement of entrepreneurial activities behaviours and mindsets”. The literature is rich in the benefits of EE as a vehicle for economic development and identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, etcetera (e.g., Chankseliani & Relly, 2016; Nabi et al., 2010). Also, there is extant literature on the challenges of teaching EE in Nigeria (e.g., Iloputaife et al., 2011; Mbiewa, 2011; Nwekeaku, 2013), but there appears to be little or no empirical studies about whether EE offered in the Nigerian HEIs influence students' development of ECs as identified by Morris et al.’s (2013) Delphi study. This is the gap that this study intends to cover in the EE literature, particularly, in the Nigerian context. Using cross-sectional data from Nigerian university undergraduate students, we applied a robust empirical analysis to test a set of complementary hypotheses (Fig. 1).
Section snippets
Theoretical underpinning
Recently, researchers have used the entrepreneurial intention model (EIM) as a framework for several ideas. This is because EIM appears to be highly compatible (Boyd & Vozikis, 1994; Krueger et al., 2000). As a result, this study draws on Liñán and Chen's (2009) EIM, which is sustained by Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour. According to Ajzen (1991), individuals engage in an activity such as starting-up businesses as a purposeful act that is related to their intentions and their behaviour. The
EE in nigerian context
There is an argument that EE leads to developing ECs (e.g., Okoro, 2012; Olokundun et al., 2014), and can serve as the solution for graduate unemployment (Owusu-Ansah & Poku, 2012). Also, previous studies have reported that a greater number of unemployed youths in Nigeria are HE graduates with low ECs to start-up businesses (e.g., Nwekeaku, 2013; Okolie et al., 2019). The graduate unemployment constitutes alarming social and economic challenges for both national, states and local governments in
Entrepreneurial competencies (ECs)
According to Baum et al. (2001), competence is defined as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to carry out a particular job. Volery et al. (2015) have noted that competencies can be learned and attained through practice, learning and training. Therefore, ECs can be seen as knowledge, motives, traits, self-images, social roles and skills required for successful entrepreneurship (Arthurs & Busenitz, 2006; Mitchelmore & Rowley, 2010). The ECs are referred to as a set of skills, abilities,
Opportunity recognition
Opportunity recognition is one of the major competencies that HE students need to develop in order to clearly understand and judge the market demands. As Wei et al. (2019, p. 3) have explained, opportunity recognition is the core activity in the early stage of student entrepreneurship”. We adopt Shane and Eckhardt's (2003) definition of opportunity recognition as an individual's ability to perceive and recognize new and potential opportunities for establishing new market expectations.
Sample and procedures
As previously explained in the study, EE is a compulsory university-wide course for every Nigerian HE student from the second year of the undergraduate programme to the final year (Iloputaife et a., 2011). Therefore, all the final year undergraduate students who participated in the present study have compulsorily participated in EE as a requirement for graduation from the university degree programmes. The participants were drawn from purposefully selected public universities within the six
Results
As shown in Table 3, the mean, standard deviation, and bivariate correlations among the variables shows that EE was correlated positively with opportunity recognition (r = 0.31, p < .01), opportunity assessment (r = 0.19, p < .01), creative problem-solving (r = 0.21, p < .01), self-efficacy (r = 0.26, p < .01) and building and using networks (r = 0.07, p < .05). However, we found no positive correlations between EE and the other ECs such as risk management/mitigation, conveying a compelling
Discussion
We relied upon the EIM (Liñán & Chen, 2009) sustained by the theory of planned behaviour to assess a model of EE influence on ECs of final year university undergraduate students who have participated in the compulsory university-wide EE courses. Examining whether EE influences students' development of these 13 ECs contributes to our understanding of students' development of ECs through participation in EE in this population. Our study is the first to test the relationship between students'
Conclusion and implications
Drawing upon the EIM, Morris et al.’s (2013) identified 13 ECs and the findings of the present study, we suggest that Nigerian HEIs should reform the EE programme to be more responsive to the dynamics in the labour market by enhancing ECs and other future-oriented competencies for the students. Such reform is important in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. Students' graduation from EE programme should not be on theory-based thesis writing and classroom examinations, rather practical
Author credit
Author group Conceptualization: Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, Paul Agu Igwe. Methodology: Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, Amos Aderemi AYOOLA, Ifeanyi Kalu Mong. Software: Paul Agu Igwe, Hyginus Emeka Nwosu. Validation, Visualization: Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, Clementina Kanu, Paul Agu Igwe, and Ifeanyi Kalu Mong. Investigation: Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, Hyginus Emeka Nwosu, Clementina Kanu and Ifeanyi Kalu Mong. Formal analysis: Paul Agu Igwe, Hyginus Emeka Nwosu and Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie.
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2022, International Journal of Management EducationCitation Excerpt :In the light of the TPB, this study argues that students' EIs are influenced by EE, IEO and EM. For example, EE equips students with entrepreneurial skills and competencies and thus enhances their entrepreneurial attitudes, orientation, intentions and behaviour (Okolie et al., 2021; Otache, 2019a). Importantly, the entrepreneurial knowledge skills and attitudes acquired through EE could motivate students to choose entrepreneurial careers (Ndofirepi, 2020).
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2022, International Journal of Management EducationCitation Excerpt :The viewpoint that teaching entrepreneurship can be beneficial for all citizens has contributed to a significant increase in the number and status of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) programs in universities worldwide (Kuratko, 2005; Yi & Duval-Couetil, 2021) to develop individuals' entrepreneurial competencies (Oosterbeek et al., 2010; Pittaway & Cope, 2007). Several scholars presented different lists of competencies that should be taught in EE programs (e.g., Fiet, 2001; Man et al., 2002; Okolie et al., 2021). In this regard, given the importance of identifying potential opportunities in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process (Lans et al., 2018), many scholars asserted that Opportunity Identification (OI) is one of the key entrepreneurial capabilities of any successful entrepreneur or entrepreneurial citizen (e.g., Ardichvili, Cardozo, & Ray, 2003; Baggen et al., 2015), and thus, it should be a central topic in EE programs (Lumpkin et al., 2004).
Applying social cognitive theory to placement learning in business firms and students’ entrepreneurial intentions
2022, International Journal of Management EducationCitation Excerpt :While Sardeshmukh and Smith-Nelson (2011) cautioned that not all skills development programmes established by universities may facilitate students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI), universities, governments and policymakers have encouraged students to consider entrepreneurship as a viable career alternative to reduce the employment pressure on graduates (Igwe et al., 2021; Okolie, Ochinanwata, et al., 2021; Otache et al., 2021, Tomy & Pardede, 2018). While EI has been widely researched in the literature (Israr & Saleem, 2018; Lanero et al., 2015; Pruett et al., 2009; Pruett et al., 2009), there is a need for further empirical research to learn whether and how placement learning in business firms (PLBF) influence students' EI (Okolie, Igwe, et al., 2021). As a driver of economic growth, entrepreneurship plays a vital role in modern society (Çera & Çera, 2020; Rachapaettayakom et al., 2020; Hahn et al., 2017).