Description
During this brief description explores the influence of entrepreneurship education on beliefs, attitudes and intentions.
European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9, December 2014. P.P. 01 - 13
URL: http:/ / www.ejbss.com/ recent.aspx-/
ISSN: 2235 -767X
E U R O P E A N JO U R N A L O F B U S IN E S S A N D S O C IA L S C IE N C E S
1
THE INFLUENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ON BELIEFS, ATTITUDESAND
INTENTIONS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY OF AFRICA UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
Wehnam Peter Dabale
(Corresponding Author)
Alumni Affairs Directorate
Africa University
P. O Box 1320 Mutare
Zimbabwe
Mobile: +263 772 305547
Email: [email protected]
Thomas Masese
Faculty of Management and Administration
Africa University
P. O Box 1320 Mutare
Zimbabwe
Mobile: +263 772 754561
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
he importance of entrepreneurship and small businesses
activity to the development of any country cannot be
overemphasized; this study attempts to analyze the
influence of entrepreneurship education on beliefs, attitudes and
intentions of Africa University alumni that graduated from the
Faculty of Management and Administration (FMA) who took an
elective course of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Management in their final year of study. A cross-sectional survey
using self-administered mail questionnaire was used on a
population of 438 alumni that graduated between 2009 and
2012; a sample of 60 business graduates (X1) and another
sample of 60 non-business graduates (X2) was selected. The study
suggests that alumni who took an Entrepreneurial course have
high rating scores on most indicators of entrepreneurship. It is
therefore recommended that the entrepreneurship education be
a core and integral component of the study curricula for all
students irrespective of their chosen area of study.
Key words: Entrepreneurship Education, Beliefs, Attitudes,
Intentions and University Graduates
T
European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9, December 2014. P.P. 01 - 13
URL: http:/ / www.ejbss.com/ recent.aspx-/
ISSN: 2235 -767X
E U R O P E A N JO U R N A L O F B U S IN E S S A N D S O C IA L S C IE N C E S
2
1.0 Introduction
Universities and other institutions of higher learning have realized the growing importance of
entrepreneurship activity and small businesses to employment creation, innovation and ultimately economic
development as thousands of small companies are being formed everyday (Brown, 1999 and Hatten,
2003).This realization has led to a growing policy interest in entrepreneurship both at the local, national and
international level. Timmons and Sinnelli (2006) noted an explosion in small business formation and rapid
growth in the number of people choosing to become entrepreneurs. Increasingly, both academics and public
authorities view entrepreneurship as a contributor to economic development (Hytti and Kuopusjarvi, 2004)
and as one of the best, among other economic development strategies, to accelerate a country’s economic
growth; sustain a country’s competitiveness in facing the increasing threats and in seizing the opportunities
offered by globalization (Venkatachalam and Waqif, 2005).
Consequently, most developing countries now view entrepreneurship as a catalyst that spurs national
prosperity; a panacea for their development and employment challenges and the government of Zimbabwe,
for example, in its National Policy and Strategy Framework for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises
(2002), regards entrepreneurship and the development of the small business sector as crucial for the
achievement of broader development objectives such as poverty alleviation, spreading employment to rural
areas, improving the situation of women and increasing indigenous ownership of enterprises and investment
in the country.
More so, entrepreneurship education is one antecedent that has received substantial attention on the basis of
its assumed positive relationship with one’s choice to become an entrepreneur (Dickson, Solomon and
Weaver, 2008). Courses on entrepreneurship are offered by most schools of management or business and
show a pattern of rapidly growing enrolments in recent years (Baron and Shane, 2008) while it was noted
that close to 78% of the top US institutions of higher learning have programs that offer courses in
entrepreneurship and small business management in their curricula whose structures vary from offering
single courses in new business development or business plans preparation to integrated degree curricula that
include other course business courses.
Given that the Zimbabwean economy, in the foreseeable future, will not be able to create enough jobs for the
many university entrants to the labour market, graduates will increasingly have to develop their
entrepreneurial skills and abilities to enable them to deal with life’s current challenges and uncertain future
(Henry, Hill and Leitch, 2005). Students are now increasingly searching for an education in business that
can equip them with the necessary entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to succeed in running businesses or
to create a job from seizing existing entrepreneurial opportunities (Brown, 1999 and Henry 2003); this
study, therefore seeks to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship education on students’ entrepreneurial
beliefs, attitudes and intentions with the purpose is to understand whether it is necessary to invest in
entrepreneurship education to contribute towards creation of more nascent entrepreneurs.
1.1 Statement of Problem
Many Universities and Colleges around the world have also responded to the demand for entrepreneurial
graduates by introducing entrepreneurial courses as part of their curricula in an effort to promote
entrepreneurship (Postigo and Tamborini, 2002). The assumption is that entrepreneurial education and
training will influence inclinations and propensity towards entrepreneurship and hence students’ career
choice, by positively influencing their perceptions of its desirability and feasibility (Byabashaija, Katon and
Isabalija, 2010).
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However, there is a need to understand how entrepreneurship education influences students’
entrepreneurship propensity; concurring with Kennedy, et al. (2003) that, if programs and policies are to be
developed to enhance entrepreneurial behavior and post-education incidence of entrepreneurship, then an
understanding of the factors that influence and shape an individual’s intentions to go into entrepreneurship is
critical. Very little research has been done in Zimbabwe to investigate the relationship between
entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions, beliefs and attitudes of students despite the
proliferation of entrepreneurship courses in educational institutions (Mauchi et al, 2011, Mangwende et al,
2011).
Therefore, this study is to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship education in influencing student beliefs,
attitudes and intentions towards entrepreneurship; the study contributes to the growing discussion on
entrepreneurship education in universities, particularly on entrepreneurial learning outcomes and how they
are being achieved.
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Entrepreneurship Education
Entrepreneurship education refers to a formal structured instruction that conveys entrepreneurial knowledge
and develops in students, focused awareness relating to opportunity recognition and the creation of new
ventures (Sexton and Smilor, 1997) while Martinez, et al. (2010) defined entrepreneurship education as the
building of knowledge and skills about or for the purpose of entrepreneurship generally, as part of
recognized education programmes at a primary, secondary or tertiary-level educational institution.
J ones and English (2004) defined entrepreneurship education as the process of providing individuals with
the concepts and skills to recognize opportunities that others have overlooked and to have the insight, self-
esteem and knowledge to act where others have hesitated. Entrepreneurship education is about transforming
ideas into reality and consists of three ingredients, creativity; which is creating all kinds of ideas; innovation;
which is finding value in the selected ideas; and entrepreneurship; which is developing a business from the
innovative idea. Binks (2005) added that entrepreneurship education refers to the pedagogical process
involved in the encouragement of entrepreneurial activities behaviors and mind-set and seeks to provide
students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of
settings.
Entrepreneurship education has also been lauded for being able to create and increase awareness of, as well
as promote self-employment as a career choice among young people. There has been renewed interest in
Zimbabwe in encouraging a culture of entrepreneurship and tertiary education institutions are involved in
the process (Mauchi, et al, 2011). Further efforts to incorporate entrepreneurship education are being made
through compulsory integration into formal curriculum offerings, vocationalization of the curriculum, skills
provision with secondary focus on entrepreneurship and extra-mural programmes.
2.1.1 Entrepreneurial Motivations and Intentions
Entrepreneurial orientation is critical to the survival and growth of firms as well as economic prosperity of
nations hence it is crucial for the process of entrepreneurial development to be promoted at societal level of
countries. Entrepreneurial orientation is fostered by, among other things, a unique blend of factors such as
culture, family, role models, education, work experience and personal orientation. Researchers have focused
on a wide array of potential drivers, motivations or antecedents, of entrepreneurial activity (Ahmed, et al,
2010). It is widely acknowledged that individuals who chose entrepreneurship as an alternative career are
subjected to various push and pull factors that ultimately determine and shape their chosen entrepreneurial
paths (Matlay and Storey, 2003).
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Entrepreneurial action is most often intentional. Intentions capture the motivational factors that influence
people’s behavior and orientation towards a certain disposition- an indication of how hard people are willing
to try, how much of an effort they are planning to exert in order to perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991).
Individuals have an intention to act when the action is perceived to be both feasible and desirable. The
perception of feasibility has much to do with an entrepreneur’s self-efficacy which refers to the conviction
that one has what it takes to successfully execute the behavior that is required. People with high self-efficacy
tend to perform well. High self-efficacy leads to increased initiative and persistence and thus improved
performance whilst low self-efficacy reduces effort and thus performance (Hisrich, et al, 2008).
Byabashaija, Katon and Isabahje (2010) approach singles out entrepreneurial education, personality factors,
societal subjective norms and situational factors from the wider spectrum of environmental factors and
explores their influence as contributing factors in shaping student attitudes towards entrepreneurship careers.
Perceived desirability refers to an individual’s attitude towards entrepreneurial action, the degree to which
she has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the potential entrepreneurial outcomes. For example,
creative actions are not likely to emerge unless they produce personal rewards that are perceived as
relatively more desirable than more familiar behaviors (Ford and Gioia, 1995).
Figure 1.0: Conceptual Model
Source: Adapted from Byabashaija et al (2010)
Peterman and Kennedy (2003) examined the influence of an enterprise education program on perceptions of
both the desirability and feasibility of business creation and found a positive effect. The results also indicate
that self-efficacy theory is a useful tool for explaining the impact of an entrepreneurial education program. A
number of factors can influence individuals’ perceptions of, and need for entrepreneurship education and
vocational training (Mitra and Matlay, 2004). Prior research has also shown that personality traits have a
strong influence individuals’ orientation towards entrepreneurship or intentions to start new ventures(Koh,
1996; Mueller and Thomas, 2001; Robinson et al., 1991) but these studies do not consider the moderating
effect of higher education (Ertuna and Gruel, 2011).
2.1.2 Entrepreneurship Education in Zimbabwe
Despite the Zimbabwean government’s desire for the country to have more entrepreneurs who initiate
business start-ups, innovate and create new technologies, products and create business opportunities, it is of
great concern that the Zimbabwe higher education curriculum does not explicitly promote entrepreneurship
and there is a cursory interest among institutions of higher learning. Mauchi, et al (2011) noted that most
higher education institutions in Zimbabwe do offer one entrepreneurship course mainly restricted to business
students, normally during the last semester of their four year training period and for some institutions taking
the course is optional for these graduating students. They further noted in their findings that lecturers
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teaching entrepreneurship in these institutions have little or no practical experience in running their own
businesses and most have not had formal training in teaching entrepreneurship. Traditional lecturing is the
most basic tool used and examination is the main assessment method used by the tertiary institutions. There
is lack of support from higher education institutions administration and government as there is no budget for
entrepreneurship education hence, no resources to train students effectively.
Consequently, there is an increasing interest in Zimbabwe to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship
heightened by, among others, the government’s indigenization and youth empowerment programs and the
need to address the issue of graduate unemployment, employment creation and reduce dependence on
government for grants to alleviate poverty. The Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Small to
Medium enterprises introduced a range of policies to encourage educational institutions to develop
entrepreneurial education and training programs (Nyoni, 2004).
2.1.3 The Influence of Entrepreneurship Education
Empirical studies exploring the extent to which entrepreneurial education influences the decision to become
an entrepreneur are steadily increasing (Byabashaija, Katono and Isabalija, 2010, Muofhe and Du Toit,
2011) and they have mostly found a positive impact of entrepreneurship education courses/programs at
universities on perceived attractiveness and feasibility of new venture initiation. Literature reveals that
entrepreneurship education creates self-sufficient, motivated and enterprising individuals who leave the
education system with skills to start their own business or abilities to create innovation in established
organizations. Alumni people, who have participated in entrepreneurship education or training sessions
during their education, start more businesses and also have higher earnings (Vestergaard, Moberg and
J orgensen, 2012).
However, most researchers noted an increase in individual self-reported intentions to begin a business after
exposure to certain types of entrepreneurship education. The findings can be broadly divided into, direct
short-term micro-economic impact and the indirect impact of increasing the entrepreneurial spirit. Generally
most findings suggested positive links between intentions to become an entrepreneur and exposure to
entrepreneurship education. These findings suggest that entrepreneurship education can influence student
entrepreneurship intentions. In some cases the choices to become an entrepreneur and subsequent
entrepreneurial careers have been positively correlated to entrepreneurship education (Fayolle, Gailly and
Lassas-Clerc, 2006; Dickson, et al, 2008; Matlay, 2008 and Stokes, et al, 2010).
Consequently, Gerba (2012) issued out an entrepreneurship intentions questionnaire to 156 business and
engineering undergraduate students in Ethiopia and noted that business students who had undergone
entrepreneurship education tend to have better entrepreneurial intentions than those of engineering students
who had not taken the course. Education can affect students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship and their
entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The added real value to probability of business success caused by
entrepreneurial training and that entrepreneurial attitudes and overall intentions to become future
entrepreneurs can be triggered from exposure to an entrepreneurial program. In addition to the basic skills of
starting and managing a business, entrepreneurship education should create a capacity for imagination,
flexibility, creativity, willingness to think conceptually, and the art to see change as an opportunity
(Drucker, 1994; Bygrave and Zacharakis, 2000; Timmons and Spinelli, 2004).
There is, however, need to note that the validity, comparability and generalization potential of the research
outcomes from the peer-reviewed literature on entrepreneurship education and its influence on university
graduates’ intentions was cast in doubt due to lack of consensus and convergence on definitions,
methodology, concepts and context (Matlay, 2006) thereby limiting their value to inform policy.
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2.2 Theoretical framework
2.2.1 Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) is one of the most popular, common and influential theoretical
frameworks adopted for analyzing human behavior. It is also part of the larger family of intentional models
that have been used to explain the emergence of entrepreneurial behavior (Muofhe and du Toit, 2011);
figure 1.2 depicts the schematic of the TPB as outlined by Ajzen (1991).
The TPB was initially applied to the area of entrepreneurship by Krueger and Carsrud (1993) who tried to
match it for compatibility with Shapero and Sokol’s intentions theory; their model explained that
entrepreneurship intentions depended in part from external influences on entrepreneurial activity as well as
the perceived attractiveness of the entrepreneurial behavior, perceived social norms about entrepreneurial
behaviors and the perceived self-efficacy or control for entrepreneurial behaviors all subject to exogenous
influences that may play a role in the development of beliefs and attitudes (Fayolle, et al, 2006).
According to Ajzen’s theory, the formation of intention is preceded and guided by three variables, namely
attitude towards a given behavior, subjective norms and perception of control over the behavior or simply
what Muofhe and du Toit (2011), called the behavioral, normative and control beliefs. Attitude toward
behavior is the extent to which someone personally positively or negatively values being an entrepreneur
while perceived social norms measure social valuation or perceived social pressure to carry out or not to
carry out entrepreneurial behavior and perceived behavioral control is defined as the perception of the
easiness or difficulty in fulfilling the behavior of interest which is becoming an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, Ajzen (1991) in Muofhe and du Toit, (2011) postulated that, behavioral beliefs produce a
favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the behavior; normative beliefs result in perceived social pressure
or subjective norm and control beliefs give rise to perceived behavioral control. In combination, attitudes
toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perception of behavioral control lead to the formation of a
behavioral intention.
Figure 1.2: The Integrative Theory of Planned Behavior
Source: Adapted from Ajzen (1991) in Muofhe and du Toit (2011)
Dyer’s (1994) model of entrepreneurial careers adds role models and education as social factors that
influence people’s entrepreneurial career intentions. Figure 1.2 integrates Ajzen’s model to incorporate other
variables identified by other researchers like those identified by Dyer and depicts entrepreneurial education
as the independent variable. The integrated model identifies antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions
namely; attitude towards entrepreneurship, social norms, role models, perceived behavioral control, self-
efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions, as the dependent variables.
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3.0 Methodology of Research
3.1 Research Design
The methodological approach used in this study is a cross-sectional survey was conducted on Africa
University graduates. The purpose of the study is to find the preponderance of the outcome of interest, for
the graduates using a self-administered mail questionnaire. To get an insight of the influence of
entrepreneurship education on student entrepreneurial intentions a follow-up was made on alumni who
graduated from Africa University from 2009 to 2012 through a cross-sectional survey. The research
analysed the impact of entrepreneurship education after the students had already been exposed to
entrepreneurship and no baseline data was available.
3.2 Population and Sampling
The survey was carried out on Africa University alumni and it targeted the alumni that graduated from the
faculty of management and administration in the academic years from 2009 to 2012. A sample of 60
business graduates (15 from each annual cohort) was selected from the total of 325 business graduates (X
1
)
who graduated during the selected period. Another sample of 60 non-business graduates (X
2
) (15 from each
annual cohort) who did not take the entrepreneurship course was selected from a total of 438 alumni from
the same period and a convenience sampling strategy was used to select the respondents.
4.0 Findings and Discussion
4.1 Descriptive Statistics
Table 4.1: Contribution of Entrepreneurship to Society (Perception)
X
1
X
2
Employment creation
Poverty alleviation and improve welfare
Improve competitiveness
Assist society by providing goods & services
Unlock personal Potential
4.6
3.83
3.48
3.09
3.31
3.93
3.67
3.48
2.81
3.04
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The results of this question were tabulated in Table 4.1 above indicated that the entrepreneurial class
preferred employment creation most, (mean=4.6), as the perceived most important contribution of
entrepreneurship to the economy. This was also the highly ranked preference for the non-entrepreneurial
class (mean=3.93). Assist society with provision of goods and services was ranked low by both classes
(mean=3.09 and 3.04 respectively).
However, both classes understood the importance of entrepreneurship towards employment creation,
poverty alleviation, improving competitiveness and unlocking personal potential and helping society in
general hence the positive ratings on all the elements mentioned in the question (means >3). It is important
to realize that the alumni recognized entrepreneurship’s contribution towards job creation and the economy
in general. The results show that the new generation positively thinks about alternative ways of creating new
jobs, an attitude that comes helpful during low economic periods when employment opportunities are
severely depressed.
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Table 4.2: Interest in Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
2
Interest in entrepreneurship
Ventures Founded Since Graduation
Probability to Ever Found a business
Prefer to be Fulltime salaried Worker
Prefer to be a Liberal professional
Prefer to be an Entrepreneur
4.2
6
3.87
2.52
2.83
4.04
3.0
2
2.56
3.59
3.44
2.85
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
Respondents from the entrepreneurship class showed a very high interest in entrepreneurship (mean=4.2)
compared to their non-entrepreneurial compatriots who showed neutrality towards entrepreneurship
(mean=3.0). The high interest can be attributed to their exposure to entrepreneurship education, a finding
which agrees with Timmons, et al, (2006) assertion that if effective education is provided, including topics
on spotting good opportunities, launching a company and expanding it, resource and team management,
business plan, marketing, etc. to individuals with interest in venture creation but who do not have confidence
in it, their confidence and ability will be increased simultaneously.
Though the period of study was very short for objective conclusions on venture creation, more ventures (6)
had been created from the entrepreneurial class in the sample than from the non-entrepreneurial class. Non-
entrepreneurial respondents highly rated fulltime salaried worker as their preferred carrier choice
(mean=3.59) than being an entrepreneur (mean=1.94) probably because they were not well-equipped to
consider self-employment as this increased their risk of failure. The entrepreneurial students indicated a
higher probability of starting businesses in the future (mean=3.87) than their non-entrepreneurial
counterparts (mean=2.56).
On the effect of entrepreneurship education, alumni from the entrepreneurial class indicated that
entrepreneurship education made them start thinking of starting their own firms and some (60%) are
entrepreneurial in their work place. The finding indicates that entrepreneurship skills are not only necessary
for new venture creation but companies are now increasingly looking for entrepreneurial graduates for
corporate venturing or intrapreneurship as a competitive tool.
Table 4.3: Attraction towards Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
2
A career as an entrepreneur is attractive
Being an entrepreneur implies more advantages
than disadvantages
Would like to start a firm
Would entail great satisfaction
Would rather be in entrepreneurship
Admire self-employed people
3.83
3.17
3.43
3.83
3.39
3.39
3.04
2.93
2.96
3.11
3.85
2.89
Where X
1
: Business graduates
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X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The research showed that entrepreneurial students have immense interest of starting their own new firms as
indicated by the large percentage in the sample who indicated positive answers to the statements in Table
4.3. The entrepreneurial class rated all the above statements positively with means >3 and higher than the
non-entrepreneurial class as indicated in Table 4.3 above. The level of attitude towards entrepreneurship
shown by the alumni evidenced that entrepreneurship education should be advanced in all spheres of
education as a survival and evolutionary tool to change our education system from education for
employment only but education for job creation. This will equip young Zimbabweans to exploit valuable
business opportunities exposed from Zimbabwean government’s business affirmative action and
empowerment policy thrust and calls for more Zimbabweans to be involved in running the economy as
employers and job creators.
Table 4.4: Social Valuation of Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
1
People in environment would approve decision
Close Family Approval
Friends Approval
Colleagues and Mates
2.96
2.96
2.91
2.87
3.26
3.00
3.11
3.00
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The findings show that social valuation for entrepreneurship is not very positive in both samples as can be
seen in table 4.4 above; most families and close relatives expect their children to get paid jobs after
graduation and are not very keen on self-employment hence the low and negative approval ratings of 3 was positive while scores
During this brief description explores the influence of entrepreneurship education on beliefs, attitudes and intentions.
European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9, December 2014. P.P. 01 - 13
URL: http:/ / www.ejbss.com/ recent.aspx-/
ISSN: 2235 -767X
E U R O P E A N JO U R N A L O F B U S IN E S S A N D S O C IA L S C IE N C E S
1
THE INFLUENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ON BELIEFS, ATTITUDESAND
INTENTIONS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY OF AFRICA UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
Wehnam Peter Dabale
(Corresponding Author)
Alumni Affairs Directorate
Africa University
P. O Box 1320 Mutare
Zimbabwe
Mobile: +263 772 305547
Email: [email protected]
Thomas Masese
Faculty of Management and Administration
Africa University
P. O Box 1320 Mutare
Zimbabwe
Mobile: +263 772 754561
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
he importance of entrepreneurship and small businesses
activity to the development of any country cannot be
overemphasized; this study attempts to analyze the
influence of entrepreneurship education on beliefs, attitudes and
intentions of Africa University alumni that graduated from the
Faculty of Management and Administration (FMA) who took an
elective course of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Management in their final year of study. A cross-sectional survey
using self-administered mail questionnaire was used on a
population of 438 alumni that graduated between 2009 and
2012; a sample of 60 business graduates (X1) and another
sample of 60 non-business graduates (X2) was selected. The study
suggests that alumni who took an Entrepreneurial course have
high rating scores on most indicators of entrepreneurship. It is
therefore recommended that the entrepreneurship education be
a core and integral component of the study curricula for all
students irrespective of their chosen area of study.
Key words: Entrepreneurship Education, Beliefs, Attitudes,
Intentions and University Graduates
T
European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9, December 2014. P.P. 01 - 13
URL: http:/ / www.ejbss.com/ recent.aspx-/
ISSN: 2235 -767X
E U R O P E A N JO U R N A L O F B U S IN E S S A N D S O C IA L S C IE N C E S
2
1.0 Introduction
Universities and other institutions of higher learning have realized the growing importance of
entrepreneurship activity and small businesses to employment creation, innovation and ultimately economic
development as thousands of small companies are being formed everyday (Brown, 1999 and Hatten,
2003).This realization has led to a growing policy interest in entrepreneurship both at the local, national and
international level. Timmons and Sinnelli (2006) noted an explosion in small business formation and rapid
growth in the number of people choosing to become entrepreneurs. Increasingly, both academics and public
authorities view entrepreneurship as a contributor to economic development (Hytti and Kuopusjarvi, 2004)
and as one of the best, among other economic development strategies, to accelerate a country’s economic
growth; sustain a country’s competitiveness in facing the increasing threats and in seizing the opportunities
offered by globalization (Venkatachalam and Waqif, 2005).
Consequently, most developing countries now view entrepreneurship as a catalyst that spurs national
prosperity; a panacea for their development and employment challenges and the government of Zimbabwe,
for example, in its National Policy and Strategy Framework for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises
(2002), regards entrepreneurship and the development of the small business sector as crucial for the
achievement of broader development objectives such as poverty alleviation, spreading employment to rural
areas, improving the situation of women and increasing indigenous ownership of enterprises and investment
in the country.
More so, entrepreneurship education is one antecedent that has received substantial attention on the basis of
its assumed positive relationship with one’s choice to become an entrepreneur (Dickson, Solomon and
Weaver, 2008). Courses on entrepreneurship are offered by most schools of management or business and
show a pattern of rapidly growing enrolments in recent years (Baron and Shane, 2008) while it was noted
that close to 78% of the top US institutions of higher learning have programs that offer courses in
entrepreneurship and small business management in their curricula whose structures vary from offering
single courses in new business development or business plans preparation to integrated degree curricula that
include other course business courses.
Given that the Zimbabwean economy, in the foreseeable future, will not be able to create enough jobs for the
many university entrants to the labour market, graduates will increasingly have to develop their
entrepreneurial skills and abilities to enable them to deal with life’s current challenges and uncertain future
(Henry, Hill and Leitch, 2005). Students are now increasingly searching for an education in business that
can equip them with the necessary entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to succeed in running businesses or
to create a job from seizing existing entrepreneurial opportunities (Brown, 1999 and Henry 2003); this
study, therefore seeks to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship education on students’ entrepreneurial
beliefs, attitudes and intentions with the purpose is to understand whether it is necessary to invest in
entrepreneurship education to contribute towards creation of more nascent entrepreneurs.
1.1 Statement of Problem
Many Universities and Colleges around the world have also responded to the demand for entrepreneurial
graduates by introducing entrepreneurial courses as part of their curricula in an effort to promote
entrepreneurship (Postigo and Tamborini, 2002). The assumption is that entrepreneurial education and
training will influence inclinations and propensity towards entrepreneurship and hence students’ career
choice, by positively influencing their perceptions of its desirability and feasibility (Byabashaija, Katon and
Isabalija, 2010).
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However, there is a need to understand how entrepreneurship education influences students’
entrepreneurship propensity; concurring with Kennedy, et al. (2003) that, if programs and policies are to be
developed to enhance entrepreneurial behavior and post-education incidence of entrepreneurship, then an
understanding of the factors that influence and shape an individual’s intentions to go into entrepreneurship is
critical. Very little research has been done in Zimbabwe to investigate the relationship between
entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions, beliefs and attitudes of students despite the
proliferation of entrepreneurship courses in educational institutions (Mauchi et al, 2011, Mangwende et al,
2011).
Therefore, this study is to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship education in influencing student beliefs,
attitudes and intentions towards entrepreneurship; the study contributes to the growing discussion on
entrepreneurship education in universities, particularly on entrepreneurial learning outcomes and how they
are being achieved.
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Entrepreneurship Education
Entrepreneurship education refers to a formal structured instruction that conveys entrepreneurial knowledge
and develops in students, focused awareness relating to opportunity recognition and the creation of new
ventures (Sexton and Smilor, 1997) while Martinez, et al. (2010) defined entrepreneurship education as the
building of knowledge and skills about or for the purpose of entrepreneurship generally, as part of
recognized education programmes at a primary, secondary or tertiary-level educational institution.
J ones and English (2004) defined entrepreneurship education as the process of providing individuals with
the concepts and skills to recognize opportunities that others have overlooked and to have the insight, self-
esteem and knowledge to act where others have hesitated. Entrepreneurship education is about transforming
ideas into reality and consists of three ingredients, creativity; which is creating all kinds of ideas; innovation;
which is finding value in the selected ideas; and entrepreneurship; which is developing a business from the
innovative idea. Binks (2005) added that entrepreneurship education refers to the pedagogical process
involved in the encouragement of entrepreneurial activities behaviors and mind-set and seeks to provide
students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of
settings.
Entrepreneurship education has also been lauded for being able to create and increase awareness of, as well
as promote self-employment as a career choice among young people. There has been renewed interest in
Zimbabwe in encouraging a culture of entrepreneurship and tertiary education institutions are involved in
the process (Mauchi, et al, 2011). Further efforts to incorporate entrepreneurship education are being made
through compulsory integration into formal curriculum offerings, vocationalization of the curriculum, skills
provision with secondary focus on entrepreneurship and extra-mural programmes.
2.1.1 Entrepreneurial Motivations and Intentions
Entrepreneurial orientation is critical to the survival and growth of firms as well as economic prosperity of
nations hence it is crucial for the process of entrepreneurial development to be promoted at societal level of
countries. Entrepreneurial orientation is fostered by, among other things, a unique blend of factors such as
culture, family, role models, education, work experience and personal orientation. Researchers have focused
on a wide array of potential drivers, motivations or antecedents, of entrepreneurial activity (Ahmed, et al,
2010). It is widely acknowledged that individuals who chose entrepreneurship as an alternative career are
subjected to various push and pull factors that ultimately determine and shape their chosen entrepreneurial
paths (Matlay and Storey, 2003).
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Entrepreneurial action is most often intentional. Intentions capture the motivational factors that influence
people’s behavior and orientation towards a certain disposition- an indication of how hard people are willing
to try, how much of an effort they are planning to exert in order to perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991).
Individuals have an intention to act when the action is perceived to be both feasible and desirable. The
perception of feasibility has much to do with an entrepreneur’s self-efficacy which refers to the conviction
that one has what it takes to successfully execute the behavior that is required. People with high self-efficacy
tend to perform well. High self-efficacy leads to increased initiative and persistence and thus improved
performance whilst low self-efficacy reduces effort and thus performance (Hisrich, et al, 2008).
Byabashaija, Katon and Isabahje (2010) approach singles out entrepreneurial education, personality factors,
societal subjective norms and situational factors from the wider spectrum of environmental factors and
explores their influence as contributing factors in shaping student attitudes towards entrepreneurship careers.
Perceived desirability refers to an individual’s attitude towards entrepreneurial action, the degree to which
she has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the potential entrepreneurial outcomes. For example,
creative actions are not likely to emerge unless they produce personal rewards that are perceived as
relatively more desirable than more familiar behaviors (Ford and Gioia, 1995).
Figure 1.0: Conceptual Model
Source: Adapted from Byabashaija et al (2010)
Peterman and Kennedy (2003) examined the influence of an enterprise education program on perceptions of
both the desirability and feasibility of business creation and found a positive effect. The results also indicate
that self-efficacy theory is a useful tool for explaining the impact of an entrepreneurial education program. A
number of factors can influence individuals’ perceptions of, and need for entrepreneurship education and
vocational training (Mitra and Matlay, 2004). Prior research has also shown that personality traits have a
strong influence individuals’ orientation towards entrepreneurship or intentions to start new ventures(Koh,
1996; Mueller and Thomas, 2001; Robinson et al., 1991) but these studies do not consider the moderating
effect of higher education (Ertuna and Gruel, 2011).
2.1.2 Entrepreneurship Education in Zimbabwe
Despite the Zimbabwean government’s desire for the country to have more entrepreneurs who initiate
business start-ups, innovate and create new technologies, products and create business opportunities, it is of
great concern that the Zimbabwe higher education curriculum does not explicitly promote entrepreneurship
and there is a cursory interest among institutions of higher learning. Mauchi, et al (2011) noted that most
higher education institutions in Zimbabwe do offer one entrepreneurship course mainly restricted to business
students, normally during the last semester of their four year training period and for some institutions taking
the course is optional for these graduating students. They further noted in their findings that lecturers
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teaching entrepreneurship in these institutions have little or no practical experience in running their own
businesses and most have not had formal training in teaching entrepreneurship. Traditional lecturing is the
most basic tool used and examination is the main assessment method used by the tertiary institutions. There
is lack of support from higher education institutions administration and government as there is no budget for
entrepreneurship education hence, no resources to train students effectively.
Consequently, there is an increasing interest in Zimbabwe to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship
heightened by, among others, the government’s indigenization and youth empowerment programs and the
need to address the issue of graduate unemployment, employment creation and reduce dependence on
government for grants to alleviate poverty. The Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Small to
Medium enterprises introduced a range of policies to encourage educational institutions to develop
entrepreneurial education and training programs (Nyoni, 2004).
2.1.3 The Influence of Entrepreneurship Education
Empirical studies exploring the extent to which entrepreneurial education influences the decision to become
an entrepreneur are steadily increasing (Byabashaija, Katono and Isabalija, 2010, Muofhe and Du Toit,
2011) and they have mostly found a positive impact of entrepreneurship education courses/programs at
universities on perceived attractiveness and feasibility of new venture initiation. Literature reveals that
entrepreneurship education creates self-sufficient, motivated and enterprising individuals who leave the
education system with skills to start their own business or abilities to create innovation in established
organizations. Alumni people, who have participated in entrepreneurship education or training sessions
during their education, start more businesses and also have higher earnings (Vestergaard, Moberg and
J orgensen, 2012).
However, most researchers noted an increase in individual self-reported intentions to begin a business after
exposure to certain types of entrepreneurship education. The findings can be broadly divided into, direct
short-term micro-economic impact and the indirect impact of increasing the entrepreneurial spirit. Generally
most findings suggested positive links between intentions to become an entrepreneur and exposure to
entrepreneurship education. These findings suggest that entrepreneurship education can influence student
entrepreneurship intentions. In some cases the choices to become an entrepreneur and subsequent
entrepreneurial careers have been positively correlated to entrepreneurship education (Fayolle, Gailly and
Lassas-Clerc, 2006; Dickson, et al, 2008; Matlay, 2008 and Stokes, et al, 2010).
Consequently, Gerba (2012) issued out an entrepreneurship intentions questionnaire to 156 business and
engineering undergraduate students in Ethiopia and noted that business students who had undergone
entrepreneurship education tend to have better entrepreneurial intentions than those of engineering students
who had not taken the course. Education can affect students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship and their
entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The added real value to probability of business success caused by
entrepreneurial training and that entrepreneurial attitudes and overall intentions to become future
entrepreneurs can be triggered from exposure to an entrepreneurial program. In addition to the basic skills of
starting and managing a business, entrepreneurship education should create a capacity for imagination,
flexibility, creativity, willingness to think conceptually, and the art to see change as an opportunity
(Drucker, 1994; Bygrave and Zacharakis, 2000; Timmons and Spinelli, 2004).
There is, however, need to note that the validity, comparability and generalization potential of the research
outcomes from the peer-reviewed literature on entrepreneurship education and its influence on university
graduates’ intentions was cast in doubt due to lack of consensus and convergence on definitions,
methodology, concepts and context (Matlay, 2006) thereby limiting their value to inform policy.
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2.2 Theoretical framework
2.2.1 Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) is one of the most popular, common and influential theoretical
frameworks adopted for analyzing human behavior. It is also part of the larger family of intentional models
that have been used to explain the emergence of entrepreneurial behavior (Muofhe and du Toit, 2011);
figure 1.2 depicts the schematic of the TPB as outlined by Ajzen (1991).
The TPB was initially applied to the area of entrepreneurship by Krueger and Carsrud (1993) who tried to
match it for compatibility with Shapero and Sokol’s intentions theory; their model explained that
entrepreneurship intentions depended in part from external influences on entrepreneurial activity as well as
the perceived attractiveness of the entrepreneurial behavior, perceived social norms about entrepreneurial
behaviors and the perceived self-efficacy or control for entrepreneurial behaviors all subject to exogenous
influences that may play a role in the development of beliefs and attitudes (Fayolle, et al, 2006).
According to Ajzen’s theory, the formation of intention is preceded and guided by three variables, namely
attitude towards a given behavior, subjective norms and perception of control over the behavior or simply
what Muofhe and du Toit (2011), called the behavioral, normative and control beliefs. Attitude toward
behavior is the extent to which someone personally positively or negatively values being an entrepreneur
while perceived social norms measure social valuation or perceived social pressure to carry out or not to
carry out entrepreneurial behavior and perceived behavioral control is defined as the perception of the
easiness or difficulty in fulfilling the behavior of interest which is becoming an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, Ajzen (1991) in Muofhe and du Toit, (2011) postulated that, behavioral beliefs produce a
favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the behavior; normative beliefs result in perceived social pressure
or subjective norm and control beliefs give rise to perceived behavioral control. In combination, attitudes
toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perception of behavioral control lead to the formation of a
behavioral intention.
Figure 1.2: The Integrative Theory of Planned Behavior
Source: Adapted from Ajzen (1991) in Muofhe and du Toit (2011)
Dyer’s (1994) model of entrepreneurial careers adds role models and education as social factors that
influence people’s entrepreneurial career intentions. Figure 1.2 integrates Ajzen’s model to incorporate other
variables identified by other researchers like those identified by Dyer and depicts entrepreneurial education
as the independent variable. The integrated model identifies antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions
namely; attitude towards entrepreneurship, social norms, role models, perceived behavioral control, self-
efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions, as the dependent variables.
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3.0 Methodology of Research
3.1 Research Design
The methodological approach used in this study is a cross-sectional survey was conducted on Africa
University graduates. The purpose of the study is to find the preponderance of the outcome of interest, for
the graduates using a self-administered mail questionnaire. To get an insight of the influence of
entrepreneurship education on student entrepreneurial intentions a follow-up was made on alumni who
graduated from Africa University from 2009 to 2012 through a cross-sectional survey. The research
analysed the impact of entrepreneurship education after the students had already been exposed to
entrepreneurship and no baseline data was available.
3.2 Population and Sampling
The survey was carried out on Africa University alumni and it targeted the alumni that graduated from the
faculty of management and administration in the academic years from 2009 to 2012. A sample of 60
business graduates (15 from each annual cohort) was selected from the total of 325 business graduates (X
1
)
who graduated during the selected period. Another sample of 60 non-business graduates (X
2
) (15 from each
annual cohort) who did not take the entrepreneurship course was selected from a total of 438 alumni from
the same period and a convenience sampling strategy was used to select the respondents.
4.0 Findings and Discussion
4.1 Descriptive Statistics
Table 4.1: Contribution of Entrepreneurship to Society (Perception)
X
1
X
2
Employment creation
Poverty alleviation and improve welfare
Improve competitiveness
Assist society by providing goods & services
Unlock personal Potential
4.6
3.83
3.48
3.09
3.31
3.93
3.67
3.48
2.81
3.04
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The results of this question were tabulated in Table 4.1 above indicated that the entrepreneurial class
preferred employment creation most, (mean=4.6), as the perceived most important contribution of
entrepreneurship to the economy. This was also the highly ranked preference for the non-entrepreneurial
class (mean=3.93). Assist society with provision of goods and services was ranked low by both classes
(mean=3.09 and 3.04 respectively).
However, both classes understood the importance of entrepreneurship towards employment creation,
poverty alleviation, improving competitiveness and unlocking personal potential and helping society in
general hence the positive ratings on all the elements mentioned in the question (means >3). It is important
to realize that the alumni recognized entrepreneurship’s contribution towards job creation and the economy
in general. The results show that the new generation positively thinks about alternative ways of creating new
jobs, an attitude that comes helpful during low economic periods when employment opportunities are
severely depressed.
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Table 4.2: Interest in Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
2
Interest in entrepreneurship
Ventures Founded Since Graduation
Probability to Ever Found a business
Prefer to be Fulltime salaried Worker
Prefer to be a Liberal professional
Prefer to be an Entrepreneur
4.2
6
3.87
2.52
2.83
4.04
3.0
2
2.56
3.59
3.44
2.85
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
Respondents from the entrepreneurship class showed a very high interest in entrepreneurship (mean=4.2)
compared to their non-entrepreneurial compatriots who showed neutrality towards entrepreneurship
(mean=3.0). The high interest can be attributed to their exposure to entrepreneurship education, a finding
which agrees with Timmons, et al, (2006) assertion that if effective education is provided, including topics
on spotting good opportunities, launching a company and expanding it, resource and team management,
business plan, marketing, etc. to individuals with interest in venture creation but who do not have confidence
in it, their confidence and ability will be increased simultaneously.
Though the period of study was very short for objective conclusions on venture creation, more ventures (6)
had been created from the entrepreneurial class in the sample than from the non-entrepreneurial class. Non-
entrepreneurial respondents highly rated fulltime salaried worker as their preferred carrier choice
(mean=3.59) than being an entrepreneur (mean=1.94) probably because they were not well-equipped to
consider self-employment as this increased their risk of failure. The entrepreneurial students indicated a
higher probability of starting businesses in the future (mean=3.87) than their non-entrepreneurial
counterparts (mean=2.56).
On the effect of entrepreneurship education, alumni from the entrepreneurial class indicated that
entrepreneurship education made them start thinking of starting their own firms and some (60%) are
entrepreneurial in their work place. The finding indicates that entrepreneurship skills are not only necessary
for new venture creation but companies are now increasingly looking for entrepreneurial graduates for
corporate venturing or intrapreneurship as a competitive tool.
Table 4.3: Attraction towards Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
2
A career as an entrepreneur is attractive
Being an entrepreneur implies more advantages
than disadvantages
Would like to start a firm
Would entail great satisfaction
Would rather be in entrepreneurship
Admire self-employed people
3.83
3.17
3.43
3.83
3.39
3.39
3.04
2.93
2.96
3.11
3.85
2.89
Where X
1
: Business graduates
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X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The research showed that entrepreneurial students have immense interest of starting their own new firms as
indicated by the large percentage in the sample who indicated positive answers to the statements in Table
4.3. The entrepreneurial class rated all the above statements positively with means >3 and higher than the
non-entrepreneurial class as indicated in Table 4.3 above. The level of attitude towards entrepreneurship
shown by the alumni evidenced that entrepreneurship education should be advanced in all spheres of
education as a survival and evolutionary tool to change our education system from education for
employment only but education for job creation. This will equip young Zimbabweans to exploit valuable
business opportunities exposed from Zimbabwean government’s business affirmative action and
empowerment policy thrust and calls for more Zimbabweans to be involved in running the economy as
employers and job creators.
Table 4.4: Social Valuation of Entrepreneurship
X
1
X
1
People in environment would approve decision
Close Family Approval
Friends Approval
Colleagues and Mates
2.96
2.96
2.91
2.87
3.26
3.00
3.11
3.00
Where X
1
: Business graduates
X
2
: Non-Business graduates
The findings show that social valuation for entrepreneurship is not very positive in both samples as can be
seen in table 4.4 above; most families and close relatives expect their children to get paid jobs after
graduation and are not very keen on self-employment hence the low and negative approval ratings of 3 was positive while scores