CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Entrepreneurship intention has been extensively study by researchers in economics,

management, sociology, psychology, as well as in anthropology due to its importance to the

development of an economy by way of job creation and wealth creation. (Arbuthnott, 2008). The

works on entrepreneurship intention includes factors influencing entrepreneurship intention such

as education and training, personality traits, perceived feasibility, gender, religion, age, culture,

as well as ethnicity. (Fatoki, 2010) Opportunity identification is the very first step in

entrepreneurship and this process is clearly an intentional process. Therefore, entrepreneurial

intention merits scholarly research. And it has been empirically proved to be the best and

unbiased predictor of entrepreneurial behavior. Understanding the antecedents of entrepreneurial

perception and intention allows teachers, consultants, advisors and policy makers to get a clearer

picture of how intentions are formed and how new venture founders beliefs, perceptions and

motives impact the intent to start a business. (Ali, et al 2012).

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role for new venture creation; existing venture expansion,

social, technological and economic development of the country (Lumpkin & Dress, 1996). At

present, the importance of entrepreneurship goes much further. Encouragement of

entrepreneurship has become an essential issue for modern policy makers. Given the very

important position of entrepreneurship as an engine of socio-economic development, there is an

attention from policy makers and academician in economic development through

entrepreneurship, as well as entrepreneurship education (Gorman et al. 1997).

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 Another reason for the growing interest in entrepreneurship include the growing rate of

unemployment and poverty that becomes obvious after the economic depression of the early

1980s; the recession in the agricultural market and the realization of the ability of small medium

sized enterprises to create wide-spread employment opportunities thereby militating against

unemployment and poverty (Alarape, 2008). Entrepreneurship has been considered as an engine

growth for economic development in the developed, emerging, and developing economies. Thus,

it has conquered the cardinal theme of academics and governmental policy makers interest

recently (Muhammad, 2012; Vivarelli, 2012; Kaegon and Nwogu, 2012).

Recently there has been a growing interest in undertaking and intensifying actions

promoting and supporting the idea of entrepreneurship as an attractive alternative to wage

employment among students. There are several reasons for this interest. (Keong, 2008). Firstly

well educated entrepreneurs are expected to create ventures that grow faster than their

counterparts. The importance of education to successful performance of new ventures is well

recognized by management parishioners and researchers. secondly due to the process of

restructuring in organisations following intensified competition in the market worldwide,

previous advantages with wage employment in large ,established enterprises, such as job security

or reward for loyalty have lost on their actuality, thus increasing the desirability of self-

employment. The unemployment among graduates has also been increasing. Hisrich, et al (2002)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Importantly, a number of studies relating to entrepreneurship education and self-employment

intention have reported that there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurship

education and self-employment intention (Unachukwu et al., 2009; Emmanuel, 2012, Ekpo and

Edet, 2013). It has further been argued that students who graduated in entrepreneurship reached

higher scores in entrepreneurship intention and entrepreneurial self-efficiency than students who

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graduate in other discipline (Noel, 2001). Similarly in a study conducted by Wilson et al., (2007),

it was revealed that entrepreneurship education serves a medium of increasing students interest

in entrepreneurship career. In addition, some previous studies have reported findings on the

impact of entrepreneurship education on career intentions and aspiration of tertiary students in

Ghana, it was found that most people were motivated to a large or very large extent to start-up a

business by virtue of their exposure to entrepreneurship trainings (Owusu-Ansah, 2004).

Another study from Sri Lanka, (kumara, 2012) has further revealed that students who have

received entrepreneurial education often develop positive attitudes and beliefs towards self-

employment and entrepreneurship intention to a large extent. Additionally, Hannon, (2009) have

found that an estimated 78% of students surveyed in Ireland who have passed through

entrepreneurship education expressed interest in starting their own business in the future.

However, about 30% of non-business post graduates surveyed reported being interested in

starting their own business at some points later in their career and 39% are interested in starting

their own business through their college infrastructure.

According to Izedonmi and Okafor (2010) intentionality therefore acts as a force that

propels entrepreneurial actions and behavior. It gives direction to someones attention and

determines experience one gets in life (Krueger, 2005). The research work of Assagioli (1973);

Miller et al. (1960) threw more light on how intentions form someone behavior.

Despite the career guidance and exposure to entrepreneurship education in Nigerian

Universities, many graduates still find it difficult to be gainfully employed for a long time after

graduation. The Vocational guidance and Entrepreneurship education the students are exposed to

all along their studentship on campus seems not to be a panacea to unemployment. There is also

need to find out the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship education courses and career guidance

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 the students are exposed to and finally compare which of the course of study really develop

entrepreneurial intention among southwest university students in Nigeria. Against this

background, the research study assessed perception and intention of university student on

entrepreneurship development in southwest Nigeria.

1.3 Research Questions

In the pursuance of this the study will seek answers to the following questions

1. What are the influence of Entrepreneurship on socio- economic characteristics in the study area?
2. What are the perception of university student on Entrepreneurship development?
3. What are the factor that motivate the intention of student on Entrepreneurial development?
1.4 Objective of the Study

The main objective of the study is to investigate Entrepreneurial intention of university students

in Osun State, Nigeria.

Specific objectives are to:

1. Profile socio economic characteristics of the respondents in osun State

2. Examine the perception of university students on entrepreneurship development.
3. Assess factors determining students entrepreneurial intention in the study area
1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have been framed:

H01: There is no significant influence of socio economic factors on students entrepreneurial

intention in the study area.

1.6 Scope of the Study

Lot of contemporary studies revealed the average entrepreneur to be more educated than the

ordinary man. Therefore, studies on entrepreneurship development on perception and intentions

are plenty on university students but only a few are conducted on graduate schools. The aim of

this research is to conduct perception and intention of university student on entrepreneurship

development in southwest, Nigeria using Osun State University (UNIOSUN) and Joseph Ayo

Babalola (JABU) campus especially from entrepreneurial studies.

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1.7 Significant of the Study

The study will give exposure to entrepreneurship education influences students perception and

intentions of becoming self employed. It was however discovered that most students were not

very confident about their intentions due to fear of capital, failure, and lack of experience in

business management. The study concludes that despite knowledge of entrepreneurship

education as a contributing factor in the reduction of unemployment, Nigerian youth requires

additional supports to overcome the foreseen challenges, therefore it study will help to reaffirm

the benefit of entrepreneurship in the development of the economy.

1.8 Organization of the Study

This project will be organized in five chapters. The first chapter is the background to the study

which provides an insight into what the study (research) is all about, the statement of the

problem, purpose of the study and significance of the study, definition of terms, limitations of the

study and finally organization of the study.

Chapter two is devoted to the review of related literature that is textbook in finance, annual

reports, journals, business magazine etc.

Chapter three deals with the research methodology, research hypothesis, it therefore outlines the

research design, sources of data and method of data analysis.

Chapter four deals with presentation of data, analysis of data and hypothesis testing.

Chapter five which is the final chapter deals with summary of the finding, conclusion from the

study and proffered recommendations based on the outcome of data analysis in chapter four.

1.9 Definition of terms

Perception: is the act of conscious understood of something and also that which is detected

within consciousness as a thought, intuition, and deduction.

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Intention: the goal or purpose behind a specific action or set of actions and also a course of

action that a person intends to follow.

University: an institution of higher education (typically accepting students from the age of about

17 or 18, depending on country, but in some cases able to take younger students in

exceptional cases) where subject are studied and researched in depth and degrees

are offer.

Entrepreneurship: the art or science of innovation and risk taking for profit in business and

also the quality of being a business owner.

Development: the process of developing growth and directed change. The application of new

ideas to practical problems.