Research Article: 2023 Vol: 26 Issue: 2
Moyosore Ogun kolapo, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Damilola Aboluwodi, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Bomi Cyril Nomlala, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Arshad Abdul latiff, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Citation Information: kolapo, M.O., Aboluwodi, D., Nomlala, B.C., & latiff, A.A.(2023). The Influence of Attitudes and Behaviours on Business Students' Entrepreneurial Intention In South Africa. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 26(2),1-14.
The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of attitudes and behaviours on the entrepreneurial intention of business students in South Africa. The study was carried out using a quantitative method via a survey using questionnaires. Data were gathered from 129 respondents, which consisted of MBA and Master of Management students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The study utilised ANOVA, Chi-square and regression to evaluate the degree of association and the nature of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables vis-à-vis their demographic factors. Results presented indicate that entrepreneurial intention is positively associated with the attitudes and perceived behaviours of business students. Thus, it is confirmed that both factors of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), namely attitude towards behaviour and perceived behaviour, are significantly related to entrepreneurial intention amongst business students in South Africa. This study concludes that elevating the degree of attitude towards behaviour and perceived behaviour are the best strategies to enhance entrepreneurial intention among business students.
Entrepreneur Intention, Attitudes, Perceived Behaviour, Business Students, South Africa.
Entrepreneurship is crucial to the development and growth of the South African economy. An entrepreneurship career offers momentous opportunities for people, mostly students, to attain financial independence and profit from the economy by contributing toward innovation, job creation and economic development. South Africa risks economic stagnation without the creation of new organisations and business (Malebana, 2017).
According to Gree & Thurnik (2003), entrepreneurship is a major force in driving the economy of a country. Entrepreneurial intent is a fundamental section to the resolution of South Africa’s development subject and future socio-political stability (Herrington et al., 2009). The occurrence of entrepreneurial factors varies across countries and cultures. Factors contributing to these differences are culture, the level of economic development of a country and politicaleconomic traditions. Promoting entrepreneurial practice is an important topic among universities, government and researchers. However, it is also important to know the entrepreneurial intentions of students when educating them as future entrepreneurs.
The high rate of unemployment amongst university graduates in South Africa has become a national concern as the number of graduates that join the job market increases every year. The promotion of youth employment has become one of the main priorities of the South African Government; however, unemployment has remained persistently high amongst the young generation; therefore, entrepreneurship has been recognised as a key solution to the high rate of employment by the South African Government, but first, there is a need to understand their entrepreneurial intentions (Outlook, 2015).
In order to fill this literature gap, the study aims to assess the influence of attitude and perceived behaviour on the entrepreneurial intention of business students in South Africa. Upon this backdrop, this research paper inquired on: 1) the relationship between students’ attitudes and entrepreneurial intention, 2) the mediating role of degree of study in the relationship between students’ attitudes and entrepreneurial intention, 3) the relationship between students’ behaviour and entrepreneurial intention, and, 4) the mediating role of degree of study in the relationship between students’ behaviour and entrepreneurial intention. Thus, this article is organised in the following order: The next section covers the literature review. The third section covers the research methodology. The fourth section covers the results of the analysis and discussion of the findings. Lastly, the final section covers the conclusion and recommendations based on the research findings.
Theoretical Framework
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB): The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action to forecast and illuminate human behaviour in a specific context, it would allow the prediction of behaviours that were not under uncomplete voluntary control. The Theory of Reasoned Action could predict behaviours, but the mere information of intention is inadequate to predict behaviour.
Armitage & Conner (2001) used TPB because of its detailed and consistent theoretical specification. TPB presents a significant opportunity towards better understanding and prediction of entrepreneurial actions; the empirical data have shown that TPB is a useful model since the whole model was significant. It enables researchers to get a better understanding and prediction on the entrepreneurial intention by considering not only personal but also social factors. Lin & Lee (2004) pointed out that TPB has been used widely to predict and explain behaviour intention and actual behaviour in many areas, such as social psychology, marketing and information system adoption.
Although many models have been used to explain entrepreneurial intentions, such as those of none have had as much influence as Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB). This theory provides a coherent theoretical framework with general applicability, which allows one to understand intentions taking social as well as personal factors into account.
In the field of entrepreneurship, the attitude toward behaviour is an important factor that affects the perception of desirability and, in turn, influences intention. PBC is also an important variable as it reflects the perception the individual has of his or her ability to control this behaviour, which favours intention. The main assumptions of the TPB are that intention is a strong predictor of behaviour and intention may be assessed by evaluating general attitudes, beliefs, and preferences (Ferreira, et al., 2012). The theory of planned action is widely used as the theoretical framework for behavioural studies and has successfully explained a variety of human behaviours and their determinants (Rudhumbu et al., 2016). The TPB was developed to explain how individual attitudes towards an act, the subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control are antecedents of intentions. Together, the attitude toward the behaviour, the subjective norms, and the perception of behavioural control lead to the formation of a behavioural intention, which in turn leads to the performance of the behaviour (Ferreira et al., 2012).
Although TPB factors have been proven as predictors to individuals’ entrepreneurial intention, a lack of evidence is known regarding the influences of attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm on entrepreneurial intention among business students in South Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between these factors of TPB (e.g., attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm) and entrepreneurial intention among Business postgraduate students in the South African context.
Empirical Applications of the Theory of Planned Behavior
The Theory of Planned Behavior has proven to be a robust and empirically valid model for predicting or explaining voluntary human behaviour within the entrepreneurship field and other areas as well. These applications include the prediction of voting behaviour, birth control behaviour and consumer behaviour, among others. On average, the results of the cited studies demonstrated that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control explain a 50 % variation in the behavioural intentions of respondents. In addition, intention accounts for the 30% variation in actual behaviour.
However, several criticisms have been raised concerning the Theory of Planned Behavior in explanatory and prediction studies. One criticism that has been levelled against the model is that not all human behaviour is rational and based on a conscious decision-making process (Othman et al., 2012). Instead, some argue that intuition or impulses and other subliminal cognitive processes contribute a greater extent towards numerous individual human activities (Zaki & Mitchell, 2013; Alos-Ferrer & Strack, 2014).
The Theory of Planned Behavior was adopted as a guiding framework for this study. The choice of the Theory of Planned Behavior is its history of wider application and proven credibility across research fields (Lortie & Castogiovanni, 2015). Thus, apart from being an already tried and tested model, the adoption of the theory in this study provides a further opportunity to compare and cross-validate findings from the current study and those from other research fields.
Empirical Literature Review
It is evident that university students of today are said to be tomorrow’s potential entrepreneurs, which explains why most South African institutions tend to offer programmes and courses on entrepreneurship; prominent among these is the issue of entrepreneurial intention among university students, where a little study has been carried out. An attempt is made in this study to fill these literature gaps. Hence, this literature highlights the various constructs of entrepreneurial intention and the role of these constructs in influencing entrepreneurial intention.
Entrepreneurial Intentions among Students
Entrepreneurial intention is a state of mind that ultimately leads an individual towards forming a new business concept and making a career in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial intention plays a vital role in any decision to take place for starting any firm. The intention is a direct antecedent of real behaviour; the stronger the intention for behaviour, the bigger the success of behaviour prediction or actual behaviour.
Douglas & Fitzsimmons (2013) in their study found a relationship to exist between an individual’s personal characteristics and their perceptions of entrepreneurial intentions. In previous research, personal and environment-based determinants of EI, such as personality traits, attitudes toward entrepreneurship, or social environment, have been extensively discussed (Schwarz et al., 2006; Raposo et al., 2008; Guerrero et al. 2008). For instance, Raposo et al. (2008) found that individuals who evidence more propensities for start-up creation seem to possess more self-confidence and leadership capacity.
Douglas & Fitzsimmons (2013) found a relationship between an individual’s characteristics and their perceptions of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, this has been based on two factors: the entrepreneurial event model and planned behaviour, while Denanyoh et al. (2015) examined factors affecting entrepreneurial intentions and noted the function of education, family and structural support behaviour.
In another study conducted by Muhammad et al. (2015) n the entrepreneurial intention among Nigerian university students, it was found that entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norm and power of behavioural control are all significant predictors of EI. In addition, other indirect relationships were also found to be significant.
Pulka (2018), stated that Entrepreneurial Intention has a constructive outcome on students’ entrepreneurial attitudes and remains one of the huge reasons why a student may decide to be an entrepreneur. This, therefore, calls for educational authorities to apply more motivation and share success stories with students in order to motivate them to become future entrepreneurs.
In a study by Saraih et al. (2018), investigated the relationships between attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention among engineering students from Public Higher Educational Institutions (PHEI) in Malaysia, it was confirmed that both factors of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), namely attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm are significantly related to entrepreneurial intention.
Usman (2019) carried out a study to understand the entrepreneurial intention among international students in Turkey. The study tried to advance the current literature, which adopted the theory of planned behaviour in explaining the driving factors of entrepreneurial intention among students. The findings indicated that attitude and perceived behaviour have a significant and positive effect on entrepreneurial intention.
Attitude of Students and Entrepreneurial Intention
In the context of entrepreneurship, attitude is the extent to which a person views entrepreneurial behaviour and its consequences as valuable and beneficial (Jena, 2020). Malebana (2014) observed, in its study of entrepreneurial intentions of South African students at two rural universities, that attitude towards entrepreneurship exerted the greatest variance (45.8%) on entrepreneurial intentions. These findings corroborate those from study of secondary school students in Portugal, which found a strong and statistically significant relationship between attitude towards behaviour and the entrepreneurship intention of students.
Kolvereid & Tkachev (1999); Dohse & Walter (2010); Paco et al. (2011) found that attitude towards the behaviour has direct and positive effects on entrepreneurial intentions. Hence, education and training should focus on changing personal attitudes than providing technical knowledge about business because the effects could be more significant to the process of business creation and overcome the perceived barriers to entrepreneurship (Paco et al., 2011; Dohse & Walter, 2010).
In general, the more favourable the attitude towards the behaviour, the stronger individual’s intent to perform the behaviour. For example, Rudhumbu et al. (2016) in their study on the attitudes of students towards entrepreneurship education at two Selected higher education institutions in Botswana, presented that students with positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education are inclined to become entrepreneurs once they complete their studies. Affirmed that attitude towards entrepreneurship was the main factor of students’ entrepreneurial intention in Lithuania.
Attitude-intentions of students, finding a significant influence of the attitude towards the behaviour on intention. Douglas & Shepherd (2002) found a relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and the intention to be self-employed. They reported that entrepreneurial intention is stronger for those that have a more positive entrepreneurial attitude. While the result obtained from undergraduates by Frazier & Niehm (2006) stressed that a positive attitude towards selfemployment and confidence in the ability to create a new venture appear to predict stronger levels of entrepreneurial intention. Leong (2008) conducted similar research at Open University Malaysia and showed that the more students value the entrepreneurial career path, the stronger their intentions to be entrepreneurs.
Also, it is confirmed that entrepreneurial attitude is significantly related to entrepreneurial intention among university students in Xi’an, China (Peng et al., 2013). Empirically, a study conducted by Ghani et al. (2013) of university students in Tehran showed that psychological capital, including its attributes (self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience), correlated positively with entrepreneurial intention. Ferreira et al. (2012) also found that personal attitude affected entrepreneurial intention among secondary students in Portugal. Gautam et al. (2015) in their study ascertained that entrepreneurship education often improves the attitude of students towards entrepreneurship. In another study by Jin et al. (2017) also had similar findings-that hope, resilience, and self-efficacy have a positive effect on start-up intentions, whereas optimism does not have a significant impact on this intention. This finding confirms that positive psychological capital among beginner entrepreneurs is closely related to the intention of starting their business.
On the contrary, Shar & Sooro (2017) investigated entrepreneurial intention among public-sector university students in Pakistan. The purpose of their paper was to identify factors that may influence students’ entrepreneurial intention. The result from the analysis indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between attitude towards behaviour and entrepreneurial intention. Following their research, Wei et al. (2019) deduced that entrepreneurship education encourages student's attitude as well as their intentions towards entrepreneurship by enhancing students' skills, knowledge and belief. They also found that intention inspires them to opt for a career in entrepreneurship.
Perceived Behaviours of Students and Entrepreneurial Intention
Basu & Virick (2008) stated that prior experience of starting a business is significantly related to great levels of self-efficacy and a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. People with experience of being successful will have higher self-efficacy and more confidence in their ability to repeat that behaviour, as compared to those who do not have prior experience. This supports theory, where perceived behavioural control relies on experience with the behaviour. Furthermore, Zaidatol, et al (2009) in their study found that students who need entrepreneurial exposure have a higher score on perceived behavioural control. This implies that the greater the students are exposed to entrepreneurial issues, the greater will be their perceived behavioural control.
Previous studies, such as Ruhle et al. (2010), investigated the impact of perceived behaviour on the entrepreneurial intentions of students. For instance, the study of Ruhle et al. (2010) finds that “students who need entrepreneurial exposure have a higher score on perceived behaviour”. This means that perceived behaviour has an influence on the desirability of students to engage in entrepreneurial activities or undertake risks in ventures. In the same vein, Ruhle et al. (2010) also found that “perceived behaviour has a great impact on students’ intentions as there is a supportive range of perceived feasibility that can enhance the entrepreneurial intentions.” The findings of Kadir et al. (2012) confirmed that “behaviour contributes largely towards entrepreneurial intention amongst university students”.
Mahmoud & Muharam (2014) stated that behavioural control could be seen as the ability of one to perceive, keep, recover, react and assess information. In addition, Ali (2016) explored why students want to start a business.
Kim-Soon et al. (2016) carried out a study to assess the level of undergraduates’ entrepreneurial motivation and entrepreneurship career intention at a public University using the theory of planned behaviour. The study employed correlation and regression analytical tools in the data analysis. Perceived behaviour was found to be significantly related to the student’s immediate career intention but not significantly associated with the student’s future entrepreneurship career intention.
Using the TPB model, the author investigates the entrepreneurial intention of students and finds that TPB is a useful instrument in determining the entrepreneurial intention of students. Based on Ajzen's planned behavioural theory, Tiwari et al. (2017) conducted a study to find out the relationship between cognitive styles and self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students.
In a study by Farrukh et al. (2018), to inculcate personality traits in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and analyse the mediation of perceived behaviour control, it was found that the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions (EI) and personality traits was mediated by PBC and attitude toward entrepreneurship. According to Alzamel et al. (2020), their research discovered that perceived behaviour has a favourable impact on entrepreneurial intention and that the association between perceived behaviour and TPB components is statistically significant. Likewise, in a cross-sectional study by Vamvaka et al. (2020), to identify gender-related differences in the levels of and the interrelations among attitudes toward entrepreneurship, perceived behaviour, and entrepreneurial intention. The findings indicated that affective attitude and perceived behavioural control are the strongest predictors of intention, thus highlighting the role of emotions in the entrepreneurial process.
A quantitative research design was adopted for the purpose of this research study. A structured questionnaire was utilised to elicit the necessary information on entrepreneurial intention behaviours amongst postgraduate business students. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted because it allows for all data to be collected at once, with limited deviations. The questionnaire used for this study measured the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Prior to the finalisation of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted among a group of a few students. The finalised questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity using Cronbach’s Alpha.
Survey Questionnaire
The finalised questionnaire comprised a set of 56 questions, in a subset of the demographic question (6) and factors of entrepreneurial intention questions (50). The first subset comprised of questions such as gender, age, major field of study, family-owned business and educational background and race.
The second subset of the questionnaire assessed the factors of the entrepreneur intention of the postgraduate business students via a set of intuitive and cognitive questions. This comprised of a total of 50 questions that were constructed via a 5-point Likert scale. The scale measured the factors that influence business students’ entrepreneurial intention and some general information.
Respondents for the study were selected from postgraduate business students (MBA & M.COM) who had been more exposed to entrepreneurship or exhibited the necessary requirements for entrepreneurial success at the UKZN Westville campus. These were surveyed once using self-completion questionnaires. A total of 130 respondents participated in this study. Out of the 130 questionnaires distributed to all the respondents, 129 questionnaires were returned, making a response rate of 99.2%.
Data analysis-Descriptive and Frequencies of Data
The study utilised a convenient sampling technique to achieve a total of 130 respondents who participated in this study. Out of the 130 questionnaires distributed to all the respondents, 129 questionnaires were returned, making a response rate of 99.2%. Therefore, all the findings from this study are based on the response rate of 129 respondents. Detailed characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 1.
| Table 1 The Characteristics Of The Study’s Respondents |
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|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Number | Percentage |
| Age Group | ||
| 21 – 23 years | 3 | 2.3 |
| 24 – 26 years | 15 | 11.7 |
| 27 – 29 years | 31 | 24.0 |
| 30+ years | 80 | 62.0 |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 66 | 51.2 |
| Female | 63 | 48.8 |
| Degree | ||
| Master of Commerce (Management) | 46 | 35.7 |
| Master of Business Administration (MBA) | 83 | 64.3 |
To assess the influence of attitude and perceived behaviour on the entrepreneurial intention of business students, SPSS package, Version 25.0 was utilised to capture, clean, organise, and to analyse the raw quantitative data. Furthermore, the study employed the use of descriptive statistics, which describe one variable at a time to measure the central tendencies and dispersion amongst the variables-especially the Mean (M) and Standard Deviation (SD) were used, such that frequencies of two or more variables were cross-tabulated. In addition, inferential analysis was used to demonstrate the relationships between variables by means of chi-square and ANOVA analysis to evaluate the degree of association and the nature of the relationship among variables in the dataset. The cleaned data of the dependable variables were then used to estimate the statistical values computed in this chapter against its associate variables. Thereafter, the traditional <0.05 criterion of statistical significance was employed for all tests computed in this study.
Data analysis-Inferential Analysis
In this study, a t-test was conducted to examine whether the independent variables have a significant influence on business students’ entrepreneurial intention for confirmation testing. Thereafter the study further tested for differences among the means using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) tool. Then a correlation analysis was used to measure the co-variation and association between entrepreneurial intention and its two independent variables (attitude toward the behaviour and perceived behaviour). The test was done at 5% or 1% significance level.
Students’ Attitudes and Entrepreneurial Intention in South Africa
In exploring the attitudes toward entrepreneurial intentions among students, five attitudinal items were used to decipher postgraduate students’ attitudes toward the entrepreneurial intention.
To accurately estimate the attitudes of the students towards entrepreneurial intention, the survey responses on respondents’ attitudes were transformed from strings data variable to a numeric-categorical variable; coded as 1 Strongly Disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Neutral, 4 Agree, and 5 Strongly Agree. These were later transformed into “Negative Attitudes”=(1 Strongly Disagree+2 Disagree); “Neutral”=(3 Neutral); and “Positive”=(4 Strongly Agree+5 Agree).
Thus, the relationship between the students’ attitudes and the entrepreneurial intention was hereby analysed and presented descriptively herein.
With reference to Table 2, on postgraduate students’ attitudes towards having entrepreneurial intention, the descriptive analysis on all the five items on Attitude suggested that most of the respondents have positive attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention all the five items, with 82.2%, 86.0%, 91.5%, 85.3%, and 88.4%, accordingly.
| Table 2 Respondents’ Attitudes Towards Entrepreneurial Intention (N=129) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attitude questions | Negative Attitude | Neutral | Positive Attitude | M | SD |
| Question B1 | 3 (2.3%) | 20 (15.5%) | 106 (82.2%) | 2.79 | .457 |
| Question B2 | 2 (1.6%) | 16 (12.4%) | 111 (86.0%) | 2.84 | .404 |
| Question B3 | 3 (2.3%) | 8 (6.2%) | 118 (91.5%) | 2.89 | .379 |
| Question B4 | 3 (2.3%) | 16 (12.4%) | 110 (85.3%) | 2.82 | .435 |
| Question B5 | 3 (2.3%) | 12 (9.3%) | 114 (88.4%) | 2.86 | .409 |
| Total scores | 2 (1.6%) | 11 (8.5%) | 116 (89.9%) | 14.22 | 1.678 |
Furthermore, with a mean value of 14.22 and a standard deviation of 1.678, the overall analysis conducted on all five items of respondents’ attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention suggested that most of the respondents (n=116) 89.9% have positive attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention as compared to the (n=2) 1.6% of the respondents who have negative attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention. However, about (n=11) 8.5% of the respondents have a neutral attitude towards entrepreneurial intention.
Also, the relationship between the students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention vis-à-vis their current degree of the study was further analysed and presented descriptively herein.
| Table 3 Respondents’ Attitudes Towards Entrepreneurial Intention Versus Current Degree |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Attitudes of Entrepreneurial Intention | |||
| Degrees | Negative Attitude | Neutral | Positive Attitude |
| Master of Commerce | 0 (0.0%) | 4 (8.7%) | 42 (91.3%) |
| Master of Business Administration | 2 (2.4%) | 7 (8.4%) | 74 (89.2%) |
| Total | 2 (1.6%) | 11 (8.5%) | 116 (89.9%) |
Upon comparing the respondents’ attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention and respondents’ current degree, the cross tabulation computation revealed that most of the respondents currently doing their Masters in Commerce (M.Com) have good attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention as compared to those currently doing their Masters in Business Administration (MBA), with (n=42) 91.3% and (n=74) 89.2%, respectively. This indicates that there are more Management students with a positive attitude towards entrepreneurial intention than MBA students.
Furthermore, A correlation analysis was used here to determine whether UKZN’s Management and MBA post graduate students’ attitudes impact their entrepreneurial intention.
Hence, as seen in Table 4, with a p-value set at <0.05, the analysis indicated that there is a strong relationship between respondents’ attitudes and their entrepreneurial intentions, as determined by Pearson Chi-square test and Likelihood ratio test (X2=47.831, p=0.000; Likelihood Ratio=17.948, p=0.001).
| Table 4 Shows The Impact Of Attitudes Towards Entrepreneurial Intention (N=129) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Test | Test Value | Df | Sig |
| Pearson Chi-Square | 47.831 | 4 | 0.000 |
| Likelihood Ratio | 17.948 | 4 | 0.001 |
This correlation analysis was further validated by one-way ANOVA that indicated that a strong relationship exists between respondents’ attitudes and their entrepreneurial intention, with F = 21.499 and p=0.000. This finding implies that respondents’ attitudes towards entrepreneurial intention are an influential factor in their entrepreneurial intention. This indicates that the students have the favourableness of being self-employed. When the students have a more positive view about the outcome of getting a business started, the more favourable will be their attitude towards the behaviour and, subsequently, the stronger their intention to take the initiative to start up a business. Conversely, if students perceive that entrepreneurship will not bring any advantages for them, they will have a negative attitude towards behaviour and will not have any intention.
This result is consistent with the studies of Ferreira et al. (2012); Gautam et al. (2015); Jin et al. (2017); Wei et al. (2019) which revealed the significance between attitudes and entrepreneurial intention. Jin et al. (2017) confirms that positive psychological capital among beginner entrepreneurs is closely related to the intention of starting their business. Likewise, Wei et al. (2019) deduced that entrepreneurship education encourages student's attitude as well as their intentions towards entrepreneurship by enhancing students' skills, knowledge and belief. They also found that intention inspires them to opt for a career in entrepreneurship.
Students’ Behaviours and Entrepreneurial Intention in South Africa
To measure the students’ behaviour towards entrepreneurial intention within the MBA and Master of Management programmes, the responses from nine behavioural items were transformed into a categorical variable as “Poor Behaviour”=(1 Strongly Disagree+2 Disagree); “Neutral”=(3 Neutral); and “Good Behaviour”=(4 Agree+5 Strongly Agree). Since item B11 and B12 were reversely coded in the questionnaire, this was taken note of when transforming all nine items. The transformations helped to accurately measure and quantify the respondents’ behaviour towards entrepreneurial intention.
Thus, the relationship between the student's behaviours and the entrepreneurial intention was hereby analysed and presented descriptively herein.
The computation is done on each of the items suggested that about (n=61) 47.3% of the respondents have good behaviours towards starting a business; while (n=43) 33.3% have poor behaviours towards starting their business Table 5. On whether sustaining a successful business would be easy for each of the respondents, only (n=35) 27.1% of the respondents exhibited good behaviours towards this item; while about (n=53) 41.1% exhibited poor behaviours towards it. When measuring whether the respondents know how to develop an entrepreneurial business plan, the analysis indicates that most of the respondents (n=81) 62.8% have good behaviours towards knowing how to develop an entrepreneurial business plan. Similarly, most of the respondents (n=94) 72.9% have good behaviours towards becoming successful when starting a business.
| Table 5 Respondents’ Behaviour Towards Entrepreneurial Intention (N=129) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behaviour questions | Poor behaviour | Neutral | Good behaviour | M | SD |
| Question B11 | 43 (33.3%) | 25 (19.4%) | 61 (47.3%) | 2.13 | 0.890 |
| Question B12 | 53 (41.1%) | 41 (31.8%) | 35 (27.1%) | 1.86 | 0.817 |
| Question B13 | 12 (9.3%) | 36 (27.9%) | 81 (62.8%) | 2.53 | 0.661 |
| Question B14 | 0 (0.0%) | 35 (27.1%) | 94 (72.9%) | 2.72 | 0.446 |
| Question B15 | 5 (3.9%) | 21 (16.3%) | 103 (79.8%) | 2.75 | 0.511 |
| Question B16 | 6 (4.7%) | 24 (18.6%) | 99 (76.7%) | 2.72 | 0.544 |
| Question B17 | 47 (36.4%) | 41 (31.8%) | 41 (31.8%) | 1.95 | 0.827 |
| Question B18 | 8 (6.2%) | 25 (19.4%) | 96 (74.4%) | 2.68 | 0.586 |
| Question B19 | 6 (4.7%) | 19 (14.7%) | 104 (80.6%) | 2.75 | 0.527 |
| Total scores | 6 (4.7%) | 55 (42.6%) | 68 (52.7%) | 22.13 | 2.952 |
Considering whether the respondents have the necessary determination and work ethics to start a business, the analysis here indicates that most of the respondents (n=103) 79.8% exhibited good behaviours towards having the necessary determination and work ethics to start their own business. Likewise, most of the respondents (n=99) 76.7% indicated good behaviours towards having the necessary skills to start a business. On having the necessary resources to start a business, the analysis suggested that about (n=41) 31.8% of the respondents have good behaviours, while (n=41) 31.8% are neutral, and (n=47) 36.4% have poor behaviours towards having the necessary resources to start their own business.
The analysis here indicated that most of the respondents (n=96); 74.4% exhibited good behaviours towards having the leadership skills that are needed to be entrepreneurs. Similarly, the results here also indicated that most of the respondents (n=104) 80.6% have good behaviours towards having the mental maturity to be entrepreneurs. Furthermore, with M=22.13 and SD= 2.952, the overall analysis conducted on all the nine items of respondents’ behaviour towards entrepreneurial intention suggested that most of the respondents (n=68) 52.7% have good behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention as compared to the (n=6) 4.7% of the respondents who have poor behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention. However, about (n=55) 42.6% of the respondents have neutral behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention.
Thereafter, the relationship between the student's behaviour towards entrepreneurial intention vis-à-vis their current degree of the study was further analysed and presented descriptively herein.
More so, a cross tabulation computation was used to obtain a raw percentage score between respondents’ behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention and respondents’ current degrees. Hence, the analysis indicated that most of the respondents currently doing their master’s in Business Administration have good behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention as compared to those currently doing their masters in Commerce, with (n=44) 53.0% and (n=24) 52.2%, respectively. This suggests that many of the MBA students have good behaviour towards entrepreneurial intention than Management students Table 6.
| Table 6 Respondents’ Behaviours Towards Entrepreneurial Intention Versus Current Degree |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Behaviours of Entrepreneurial Intention | |||
| Degrees | Poor behaviour | Neutral | Good behaviour |
| Master of Commerce | 4 (8.7%) | 18 (39.1%) | 24 (52.2%) |
| Master of Business Administration | 2 (2.4%) | 37 (44.6%) | 44 (53.0%) |
| Total | 6 (4.7%) | 55 (42.6%) | 68 (52.7%) |
When computing respondents’ behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention and whether respondents’ families own a business, the analysis suggested that most respondents that come from families that own a business have good behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention as opposed to those respondents that come from families that do not own a business, with (n=33) 57.9% and (n=35) 48.6%, accordingly. The analysis suggests that more respondents from families that own a business have good behaviours towards entrepreneurial intention than respondents from families that do not own a business.
In addition, a correlation analysis was used here to evaluate whether the post graduate business students’ behaviours have an impact on their entrepreneurial intention.
Using a p-value of <0.05, the Pearson Chi-Square test and Likelihood ratio test conducted herein suggested that there is a strong statistical significance between respondents perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention, with (X2=21.513, p=0.000; Likelihood Ratio=16.898, p=0.002) Table 7. This correlation was further determined by one-way ANOVA that a strong relationship exists between respondents' perceived behaviours and entrepreneurial intention, with F=10.276 and p=0.000. This finding indicates that the perceived behaviours of the student's impacts on their entrepreneurial intention.
| Table 7 Shows The Impact Of Perceived Behavioural Control Towards Entrepreneurial Intention (N=129) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Test | Test Value | Df | Sig |
| Pearson Chi-Square | 21.513 | 4 | 0.000 |
| Likelihood Ratio | 16.898 | 4 | 0.002 |
This result is consistent with the studies of Kim-Soon et al. (2016); Tiwari et al. (2017); Farrukh et al. (2018); Alzamel et al. (2020), where perceived behaviours has a significant relationship with the entrepreneurial intention. In a study by Muhammad et al. (2015), to inculcate personality traits in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and analyse the mediation of perceived behaviour control, it was found that the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions (EI) and personality traits was mediated by PBC and attitude toward entrepreneurship. Likewise, Vamvaka et al. (2020) indicated that affective attitude and perceived behavioural control are by far the strongest predictors of intention, thus highlighting the role of emotions in the entrepreneurial process.
On the subject matter of entrepreneurial intention, the findings of this research study concluded that the majority of the postgraduate students showed entrepreneurial intentions that can lead them to establish new independent ventures. This is evident as they exhibited positive attitudes and behaviours such as the desire, determination, and drive to make every effort to manage their own business.
Specifically, in the realm of attitude towards entrepreneurship, it was observed that there is a significantly positive relationship towards having entrepreneurial intentions among South African business students. Similarly, the study also concludes a significantly positive relationship between perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention. This is particularly crucial as it implies that many young adults studying business degrees at a postgraduate level have the right mental mind-set, maturity and leadership traits to be selfemployed and create job opportunities. There is no gainsaying that entrepreneurs play a huge role in the growth, sustenance and survival of an economy through the creation of jobs and the development of niche industries.
Hence, it is sufficient to say that universities play a pivotal role in the sharpening of individuals who have an innate aspiration to be self-employed and job creators. Therefore, it is recommended that students should also be given practical scenarios for practical business situations, like delegating a student to come up with a business idea and then carrying that out to extremes; this could include trading, if need be, and experiencing first-hand troubles that normal entrepreneurs go through. This strategy may help in developing their attitudes towards entrepreneurship as a career. In addition, it is further recommended that the government and universities should provide students with the necessary resources to enable entrepreneurial intentions. This could be in the form of start-up funds, tax incentives, tools and equipment, lands and business mentors.
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Received: 22-Oct-2022, Manuscript No. AJEE-22-12717; Editor assigned: 25-Oct-2022, Pre QC No. AJEE-22-12717(PQ); Reviewed: 08-Nov-2022, QC No. AJEE-22-12717; Revised: 29-Dec-2022, Manuscript No. AJEE-22-12717(R); Published: 05-Jan-2023