PREDICTORS OF UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION STUDENTS’ ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS IN GOVERNMENT OWNED UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

<doi>10.24250/jpe/1/2024/SCN/DOE/GAJ/</doi>

Abstract

The study examined the predictors of undergraduate science education students’ entrepreneurial intentions in government owned universities in South-East Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used in the study. The population for the study consisted of all the 472 undergraduate science education students in two federal government owned universities in South-East Nigeria, this include Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka (261 students) and University of Nigeria Nsukka (211 Students).  Simple random sampling was used in selecting the sample for the study. The sample size for the study consists of 127 students. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire on four-point Likert scale adapted from Lee, et al. (2012) and Manzoor, Meheraj and Wali (2020), in addition, the research instrument was validated by three lecturers in the Department of Science Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Similarly, the reliability of the instrument was calculated using Cronbach Alpha reliability technique and a value of 0.76 was obtained. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The finding of the study shows that attitude, subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) have influence on entrepreneurial intentions (EI) of undergraduate science education students. Moreover, students’ attitude accounted to a high extent their EI than SN and PBC which were to a moderate extent. Based on the results, it was recommended that Parents should encourage their children to associate themselves with entrepreneurship-based groups that support entrepreneurship since social norms have a significant influence on entrepreneurial intention and Government should establish entrepreneurship networks in universities and communities to support entrepreneurship activities set up.