Effect of Entrepreneurial Attitude on Business Idea Generation of Final Year Business Administration Students of State Universities in South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Entrepreneurial attitude plays a key role in ensuring that young people are able to develop business ideas and therefore become self-employed even in the face of acute unemployment.  However, studies have shown that adequate education and preparation is lacking in Nigeria educational system to create the right kind of attitude in students. This attitude formation becomes a problem due to unwillingness on the part of the students, weak curriculum and pedagogical approach on the part of the teachers and poor internship programs in the industry. This often has led to poor business idea generation. The study therefore evaluated the effect of entrepreneurial attitude on business idea generation of final year Business Administration students of State Universities in South Eastern Nigeria. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. The population comprised 936 final year Business Administration students from the state universities in South East Nigeria. Taro Yamani formula was used to determine the sample size of 364. A validated questionnaire was administered.  The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the constructs ranged from 0.72 to 0.86. The response rate was 94.7%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that attitude has a significant effect on business idea generation of final year Business Administration students of state universities in south Eastern Nigeria (β = 0.546, t = 11.385, R = 0.515, R² = 0.265, F (1, 359) 129.609, p< 0.05). the study concludes that entrepreneurial attitude has a significant effect on business idea generation of final year Business Administration students of State universities in south Eastern Nigeria. Therefore, students are encouraged to develop a positive entrepreneurial attitude by emulating people who have succeeded in entrepreneurship. The schools also are encouraged to have career programs where successful entrepreneurs and industrialists will be invited to speak to students.