Graduate’s Entrepreneurial Intention and Artisanal Business Ventures in Nigeria

Abstract

Assessing graduate’s entrepreneurial intention towards starting their own businesses has continued to attract attentions among entrepreneurial researchers and other government stakeholders. This is so as the number of graduates from tertiary institutions is on the increase leading to increase in the rate of unemployment among graduates. Consequently, the Federal Government of Nigeria made entrepreneurship education compulsory for all students since 2006/2007 academic session to reduce graduates unemployment in the country. Hence, the changing context of academic work introducing the idea of academic artisans, an effort geared towards preparing graduates towards artisanal business venture since artisanal activities constitute a major component of livelihood choices in developing countries like Nigeria. Yet, it is still observed that the level of entrepreneurial intention in Nigeria is still low when compared to most countries of the world as majority of graduates still end-up looking for white collar jobs after graduating, despite their entrepreneurial knowledge. This study, which is a critical review of relevant literatures, aims to assess the determinants of graduate’s entrepreneurial intention towards artisanal business venture. The study advanced the dimensions of Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour in assessing graduates intention to start artisanal business. Literature revealed that Attitude, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioural Control, Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurship Education, are major determinants of graduates’ entrepreneurial intention towards artisanal business venture. While it seems that Self-Efficacy and Perceived Behavioural Control are synonymous, research suggests that Self-Efficacy can be a better predictor of intentions than Perceived Behavioural Control. Therefore, it is recommended that the predictive model developed in this study be validated by empirical research.