Moderating role of entrepreneurship education on personality traits and entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students

Abstract

Studies in entrepreneurship indicates that quantum of research work was conducted to examined entrepreneurial characteristics at individual level in relation to intention, the relationship between the personality traits such as self-efficacy, risk-taking propensity, locus of control, innovation, need for achievement and entrepreneurial intention findings continuous to indicate inconsistent and contradictory results. This study aims at examining the moderating effect of entrepreneurship education on the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurial intention. The study adopted survey research design using questionnaire. The questionnaire were administered to 383 respondents from a population of 3024 final year undergraduate students of Universities in the north-eastern Nigeria. The data were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of the study revealed that all the personality trait variables in the study (self-efficacy, risk-taking propensity, locus of control, innovation, and need for achievement) had a positive and significant direct relationship with entrepreneurial intention. Also, entrepreneurship education has a direct significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, the findings revealed that entrepreneurship education moderates the relationship between innovation and
need for achievement and entrepreneurial intention. However, EE fails to moderate between the three variables (self-efficacy, risk-taking propensity, and locus of control) and EI. The study concludes that entrepreneurship education is a crucial factor in developing innovation enthusiasm and strengthening the need for achievement among students at universities in north-eastern Nigeria. Finally, the researcher recommends that university management and policymakers should focus on strengthening entrepreneurship education as it is a major conduit in shaping students’ enthusiasm for innovation and improving their need for
achievement particularly if combined with a practical approach, also future research should consider environmental factors as independent variables with similar study.