International Journal of Business and Economics Research

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Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Students Orientation Towards Entrepreneurship at the Malawi Polytechnic

Received: 28 September 2016    Accepted: 07 October 2016    Published: 14 December 2016
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Abstract

Entrepreneurship education has proliferated in universities following empirical studies linking it to entrepreneurship practice. The University of Malawi introduced entrepreneurship and innovation course to the bachelor of business administration programme and aims to make entrepreneurship a core module across academic programmes. This study assessed the effects of the entrepreneurship and innovation course on the entrepreneurial orientation of students thereby joining research into the investigation of the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial orientation of students. A questionnaire was administered on a class of 58 students before commencement of the course and at the end of the course delivery to assess movement in students knowledge about entrepreneurship, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, self efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions that could be attributed to entrepreneurship education holding other factors constant over the period of study. The study found that entrepreneurship education positively effects students knowledge about entrepreneurship and their self efficacy; the self confidence in skills and competences that they can engage in entrepreneurship successfully. The study however found weak correlation between entrepreneurship education and students attitudes towards entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial intentions and did not find any relationship between entrepreneurship education and students' subjective norms. Although attitudes, subjective norms and self efficacy are factors that influence intentions,which are an antecedent of behaviour within the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study found that entrepreneurship education positively and significantly effects self efficacy only within this framework.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17
Published in International Journal of Business and Economics Research (Volume 5, Issue 6, December 2016)
Page(s) 235-245
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Entrepreneurship Education, Attitudes, Subjective Norms, Self Efficacy and Intentions

References
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Author Information
  • Management Studies Department, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi

  • Management Studies Department, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi

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    Charles Mwatsika, Eric Sankhulani. (2016). Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Students Orientation Towards Entrepreneurship at the Malawi Polytechnic. International Journal of Business and Economics Research, 5(6), 235-245. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17

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    Charles Mwatsika; Eric Sankhulani. Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Students Orientation Towards Entrepreneurship at the Malawi Polytechnic. Int. J. Bus. Econ. Res. 2016, 5(6), 235-245. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17

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    Charles Mwatsika, Eric Sankhulani. Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Students Orientation Towards Entrepreneurship at the Malawi Polytechnic. Int J Bus Econ Res. 2016;5(6):235-245. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17,
      author = {Charles Mwatsika and Eric Sankhulani},
      title = {Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Students Orientation Towards Entrepreneurship at the Malawi Polytechnic},
      journal = {International Journal of Business and Economics Research},
      volume = {5},
      number = {6},
      pages = {235-245},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20160506.17},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijber.20160506.17},
      abstract = {Entrepreneurship education has proliferated in universities following empirical studies linking it to entrepreneurship practice. The University of Malawi introduced entrepreneurship and innovation course to the bachelor of business administration programme and aims to make entrepreneurship a core module across academic programmes. This study assessed the effects of the entrepreneurship and innovation course on the entrepreneurial orientation of students thereby joining research into the investigation of the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial orientation of students. A questionnaire was administered on a class of 58 students before commencement of the course and at the end of the course delivery to assess movement in students knowledge about entrepreneurship, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, self efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions that could be attributed to entrepreneurship education holding other factors constant over the period of study. The study found that entrepreneurship education positively effects students knowledge about entrepreneurship and their self efficacy; the self confidence in skills and competences that they can engage in entrepreneurship successfully. The study however found weak correlation between entrepreneurship education and students attitudes towards entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial intentions and did not find any relationship between entrepreneurship education and students' subjective norms. Although attitudes, subjective norms and self efficacy are factors that influence intentions,which are an antecedent of behaviour within the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study found that entrepreneurship education positively and significantly effects self efficacy only within this framework.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AB  - Entrepreneurship education has proliferated in universities following empirical studies linking it to entrepreneurship practice. The University of Malawi introduced entrepreneurship and innovation course to the bachelor of business administration programme and aims to make entrepreneurship a core module across academic programmes. This study assessed the effects of the entrepreneurship and innovation course on the entrepreneurial orientation of students thereby joining research into the investigation of the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial orientation of students. A questionnaire was administered on a class of 58 students before commencement of the course and at the end of the course delivery to assess movement in students knowledge about entrepreneurship, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, self efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions that could be attributed to entrepreneurship education holding other factors constant over the period of study. The study found that entrepreneurship education positively effects students knowledge about entrepreneurship and their self efficacy; the self confidence in skills and competences that they can engage in entrepreneurship successfully. The study however found weak correlation between entrepreneurship education and students attitudes towards entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial intentions and did not find any relationship between entrepreneurship education and students' subjective norms. Although attitudes, subjective norms and self efficacy are factors that influence intentions,which are an antecedent of behaviour within the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study found that entrepreneurship education positively and significantly effects self efficacy only within this framework.
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