An Appraisal of Entrepreneurial Skills of Construction Professionals to the Development of the Service Sector in Nigeria

Abstract

Construction industry is one of the important service sectors in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).Construction industries are not “footloose” hence all progress that is made in improving the sustainability and performance of the construction industry benefit the region and countries they operate in. The aim of this study is to investigate the entrepreneurial skills of construction professionals in the built environment of the development of the service sector in Nigeria. This was achieved by establishinginnovativeness of construction professionals, determining willingness take risk by construction professionals and the roles of human resource management of construction professionals actually contribute to the development of the service sector in Nigeria.In this study construction professionals were restricted to only those in the built environment; consist of Architects, Builders, Estate valuers, Land Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors and Town Planners. The questionnaire was designed based on open-ended format of the item used. A total of 304 questionnaires were sent out to registered professionals in the built environment in Abuja and Lagos towns were construction of the built environment is visible. 204 questionnaires representing 67% of the sample were returned and deemed useable. The data was analyzed using percentage, graph and linear regression for descriptive and inferential analyses respectively. The study established that majority (83.8%) of the respondents agreed that entrepreneurial skills of construction professionals was statistically significant in explaining the development of the service sector in Nigeria. The study concluded that entrepreneurial skills of construction professionals contribute to the development of the service sector in Nigeria. The study recommends capacity building as this is paramount to development of the service sector in Nigeria through training, workshop etc.