The entrepreneurial intention of university students : the case of a university of technology in South Africa

Abstract

This quantitative study was executed from a realist’s ontological perspective and its epistemological leaning is towards that of an empiricist. The study essentially sought to determine the existence or otherwise of entrepreneurial intentions among the students. Ample emphasis needs to be placed on entrepreneurship education and practical entrepreneurship schemes (such as mentorship programmes) if developing countries are to realise the goal of having a productive and virile youth population, which would represent a significant shift from today’s yawning youth unemployment position. The study collected data in a cross-sectional manner from a random sample of 150 students drawn from a leading South African University of Technology. In analyzing the data, there was recourse to the use of descriptive as well as inferential statistics. Interestingly, results show no statistically significant relationships between students’ entrepreneurial intention and selected sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, culture, etc. While we acknowledge that the results of this study emerged from a sample of 150 students of a particular university and therefore betray the concept of generalization, we are equally confident that the findings have significant implications for developing economies around the world including South Africa.