CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background to the Study

Education is one of the vital aspects of the environment that needs to be understood if the individual needs to be successful. Being educated about a certain activity or event equips an individual with competitive advantage; this is because education provides individuals with the needed knowledge and skills. Because of the significance of entrepreneurship education as identified by scholars like (Khalifa & Dhiaf, 2016), it therefore becomes important to understand the components that define effective entrepreneurial education (Kirketerp, 2010). It is important to note that entrepreneurship education cannot be discussed without looking at the type of knowledge and skills to be acquired (Learning competence), sources of acquiring the knowledge (Learning cultures), the available resources and settings (Learning environment), and the deployed and designed activities (Learning activities) used to attain the objectives of the institution (Kalyoncuoglu, Aydintan, & Goksel, 2017).

Learning competencies is that learning process that is effective and brings about the growth of the behavior, understanding and perspective of the individual (Kirketerp, 2010). Learning competencies bring about a certain changes and development in the perspective of the individual, which therefore becomes a great tool because it shows the entrepreneur that every challenge is worth handling if it brings about success at the end. Venturing into entrepreneurship is a complex and rigorous task as it requires the entrepreneur to face and overcome a lot of challenges (Abubakar S. , 2017), it is therefore important to note that learning competencies are aimed at providing the entrepreneur with the ability to overcome the challenges to be encountered in the business environment. Learning competencies ensures that the individual is developed in the way he behaves, handles situations, makes decisions and implements them. In as much as learning competence is very vital in developing the behavior and approach of the individual towards his goal of becoming an entrepreneur, the culture of the school environment is also vital as the individual gains a lot of values and norms that will become a part of him when he eventually goes into entrepreneurship.

Learning culture comprises of the values and norms that the institution teaches its students in order to differentiate them in terms of their pursuit of becoming entrepreneurs in the future. Culture instills in the students, values and norms that are channeled towards the pursuit of becoming entrepreneurs. In other words, when the individual is taught a culture that shows consistency, involvement and persistence, then it becomes a way of life. The individual is therefore equipped with the mindset that guides them in following up on their goals and objectives of entrepreneurship.  Learning culture is more like a guide which strengthens what an individual does, decisions he makes and what he ventures into. When an institution has a strong culture, then the individuals around that culture learn and adopt that culture, which then becomes their way of life. Learning culture is ideally characterized by partnership and team based learning. It is designed in alignment with the overall norms and values of the institution. The learning culture in the organization is therefore used to develop the learning environment of the school.

The learning environment in this context is more than just the physical environment but it comprises of the other settings which even includes the culture of the school. The learning environment contains much more than the visible environment that the individual sees and carryout his day-to-day learning. Learning environment also includes other intangible components like the philosophy and ethos of the school which gives the setting a different and unique perspective. The individual is bound to gain a lot of attachment to his/her environment and as such practices the values he learns.  These values therefore that are being taught to the individual are as a result of the environment which has the ability of making the individual develop the desire to engage himself in entrepreneurship.

Finally the learning activities are set of defined practical goals that are set by the lecturer or instructor which enable the students to participate in a more practical way of learning. This will give the students the advantage of having to face real life obstacles that will help prepare them in starting a business. Learning activities take place in accordance with learning culture and learning environment of the institution. Learning activities consist of generating new ideas, defining and planning projects, finding information, collaborating with external partners on development, experimenting with different solutions and reflecting about processes and progress. However, it is important to note that entrepreneurship education is taught by schools so as to create entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs, these are students that develop the intent of becoming entrepreneurs.

Understanding the value and processes of entrepreneurship education is one thing, and also knowing how entrepreneurship education motivates the individual to practice what he was taught is another. The aim of entrepreneurship education in institutions is to craft, form and create individuals that will eventually practice entrepreneurship and not individuals that will seek for where they will be employed by others,  after graduation. So entrepreneurship education can only be termed as a successful process, when there are a large percentage of individuals that were taught, who are willing to go into entrepreneurship after their course in school. Since entrepreneurship education is taught so as to build the intent of individuals towards becoming entrepreneurs, it is therefore important to know that when entrepreneurship education is discussed, the entrepreneurial intention will also be discussed as it is what defines the end of the entrepreneurial education of the individual.

Entrepreneurial intention is the stage that the individual reaches and wishes to engage in entrepreneurial activities such as creating a new venture. Entrepreneurial intention can be attained as a result of certain factors, but according to Akhuemonkhan, Raimi, and Sofoluwe, (2013), intention is developed when the individual is taught and he realizes the value and benefits of entreprneurship. This means that when the individual is equipped with the right entrepreneurship education,  the ability to see opportunities, and the excitement to own a business is developed. This stage that the individual attains is the level of entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurship education provides students with the education needed in enhancing their skills, attitudes, knowledge and willingness to become entrepreneurs (Kumara, 2012).

1.2  Statement of the Problem

Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention have become a concern for researchers overtime (Awogbenle & Iwuamadi, 2010), this is because of the importance of entrepreneurship in the generation of wealth and economic development. Based on this assertion, Francisco, Juan, and Jose (2011), also support that there are empirical studies on entrepreneurship education and entreprenerial intention of students. But even with the availability of studies, empirical studies like Arogundade (2011) and Akhuemonkhan, Raimi and Sofoluwe (2013) have been conducted regarding entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention. These studies however differ in their methodologies and approach, thereby making use of different tools in analysisng their data. Studies like Ekundayo, Babatunde and Babatunde(2014) used tools of analysis like Chi-square, others like Asraf and Khan (2017) made use of descriptive statistics, these statistical tools used by the studies tend to only describe the variables and do not possess the capability for checking relationship or the predicition capability. This therefore means that the findings of these studies cannot be used to predict the effect between the variables.  However there are few related studies such as Sultan, Maqsood and Sharif (2016), Abiodun and Oyejoke (2017) that have made use of descriptive statistics to describe the variables of the study, correlation to understand the trend of relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention, ANOVA to draw the significance and regression to realize the prediciton of the variables. Based on the studies that have used statistical tools that are not robust in analysising their data, it therefore provides a room for the usage of more robust tool to analyse the data and as such a methodological gap to explore.

In the quest to understand the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention, empirical studies have considered different approches. Studies like Luthje and Franke, (2003) considered the relationship between the entrepreneruship education and entrepreneurial intention in engineering students. Other studies like Ching and Kitahara, (2017) looked at the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention amongst management students. Some of these studies like Ndofirepi and Rambe (2017) have looked at the relationship in the entire undergraduate students, other studies have looked at the intention of postgraduate students. However, few related studies like Rengiah and Sentosa(2016) have considered the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention in 400 level students of different faculties and compared the findings between the faculties in the same school to see which of the students have higher entrepreneurial intention after undergoing entrepreneurship education. Undestanding the perception of 400 level students is very vital because at that stage it is expected that all the students have undergone the stages in entrepreneurship education and are about to graduate. It is therefore important to note that comparison amongst various faculties can show how entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial intention in different faculties. The comaprison will show which of the faculties students’ become more entrepreneurial, show high entrepreneurial capability or develop entrepreneurial  thinking after the entreprneeurship education. So knowing if the students are willing to practice what they learned in school is very paramount. This therefore provides a literature gap to explore.

Theories are very vital in explaining and guiding a study, this is because studies are built around theories and models that will suit the subject matter of the study. These theories or models help the researcher in defining the variables in the context of the study. In order to define entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention in the context of their studies, studies like Ndofirepi and Rambe (2017), Hunjra, Ahmad, Ur-Rehman and Safwan (2011) and have been backed by the Ajzens theory of planned behaviour. However few studies like Rothkrantz (2016) have been built on the entrepreneurial education didactic theory to back their study. Hence the theoretical gap to be explored.

Though the existence of studies on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention have been identified, it is important to consider where these studies have been conducted. Because of the importance of entrepreneurship, studies like Del rio-rama, Peris-ortiz, Alvarez-Garcia, and Rueda-armengot(2016), Khalifa and Dhiaf(2016), Kalyoncuoglu, Aydintan and Goksel(2017) have considered the effect of  entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention in different countries like Portugal, Malaysia and United Arab Emirate respectively. Even in Nigeria, studies like Agbim and Oriarewo(2013), Ekundayo, Babatunde and Babatunde(2014), Abiodun and Oyejoke(2017), Chukwuma and Ogbeide(2017) have been conducted in the South and western part of the country. Though studies like Abubakar, Kabir and Nalado(2014), Buba, Aminu and Rikwentishe(2015), Bambale and Aliyu(2016), Mahammed and Haruna(2016) have been conducted in the northern part of the country, some of these studies like Bambale and Aliyu(2016), and Abubakar (2017) have made use of literature review approach, and hence the need for more empirical studies in the northern part of Nigeria. Which therefore provides an environmental gap to be explored.

1.3  Research Questions

The study raised the following questions to address the main and the specific objectives.

i.                    To what extent does learning competencies affect entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano?

ii.                  How does learning culture affect entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano?

iii.                To what extent does learning environment affect entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano?

iv.                What is the effect of learning activities on entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano?

1.4  Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the study is to determine the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano. Other specific objectives are to;

i.                    examine the effect of learning competencies on entrepreneurial intention in students of Bayero university Kano.

ii.                  analyse the effect of learning culture on entrepreneurial intention in students of Bayero university Kano.

iii.                determinethe effect of learning environment on entrepreneurial intention in students of Bayero university Kano.

iv.                investigatethe effect of learning activities on entrepreneurial intention in students of Bayero university Kano.                    

1.5  Hypotheses of the Study

In line with the specific objectives of the study, the following hypotheses were formulated null form;

H01:Learning competencies have no significant effect on entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano.

H02:Learning culture has no significant effect on entrepreneurial intention of students in Bayero University Kano.

H03:Learning environment has no significant effect on entrepreneurial intention of students inBayero University Kano.

H04:Learning activities have no significant effect on entrepreneurial intention of students inBayero University Kano.

1.6  Significance of the Study

The study will be of relevance to the government and government agencies, because it will provide an understanding of the components of entrepreneurship education that have effect on entrepreneurial intention. This will give the government the knowledge of the vital policies needed to be developed that will bring about an effective learning.

The study will also be relevant to the management of the universities as it will help in understanding how entrepreneurship education as represented by the proxies in this study leads to the intention to become entrepreneurs in undergraduate students. It will help them in knowing which of the areas of entrepreneurship education needs more focus for better effectiveness.

The study will also be relevant to regulatory agencies and bodies like National Universities Commission (NUC) and also Federal Ministry of Education by providing them with those elements of entrepreneurship education that needs to be focused on when impacting the entrepreneurial knowledge in the individual. Having the understanding of these factors will help the agencies in developing policies and regulations that will guide the institutions towards effective entrepreneurship education. 

The study will also add to the existing studies on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention with a different perspective. The study will also provide areas for further research.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study is conducted on the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention. There are certain models for studying entrepreneurship education like the Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, but this study is limited to the use of the entrepreneurial education didactic model.

The study also made the use of primary data, which comprise of questionnaires and interviews; however the study is limited to the use of questionnaires to gather information.

The study is conducted on the students of Bayero University Kano, but it is limited to the 400 level students. The study is also limited to some faculties that have programmes which are expected to last for four-five years.

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