Socio-cultural Factors and Entreprenuerial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

A person’s intention to act entreprenuerially is a strong predictor of entreprenuerial action such as going into self-employment. In the quest to explain causation for entreprenuerial intentions, the present study examined the relationship between socio-cultural factors and intentions to become entreprenuers in the context of public undergraduate university students in Kenya. Specifically, intentions to become an entreprenuer were predicted using three of Hofstede’s grid for culture namely; individualism, masculinity and uncertainity avoidance. Other variables included gender; entreprenuerial disposition; entreprenuerial perceptions, ethinicity and exposure to entreprenuership education. The broad objective was to examine the effect of culture and gender on students’ entreprenuerial intentions. Review of the extant literature was done and a conceptual framework developed along with the research hypotheses. A positivism paradigm using descriptive cross-sectional reseach design was used. The population comprised all public undergraduate university students who were in their fourth year of study between January and March 2013. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used. The sample size was 2192 respondents selected from the seven public universities. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires measured on likert type interval scales. The study yielded a 70.8 percent response rate. Descriptive statistics comprising means and standard deviations were used to analyse the data. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson product moment correlations, ANOVA and regression analysis. The findings indicated that students do not consider gender when evaluating alternative career options. Confirming the researcher’s expectations and previous study results, significance of entreprenuership education on entreprenuerial intentions was supported. In congruence with previous studies, the study found support for a positive effect of entreprenuerial perceptions on students entreprenuerial intentions. In addition, the relationship between entreprenuerial disposition and entreprenuerial intentions was supported by the research findings. On the basis of the results of this thesis, it was concluded that culture has a direct and indirect effect on entreprenurial intentions and that there are no differences in any entreprenurial related variables between either gender or enthnicity. Based on the study findings, it also became apparent that entreprenuerial intentions were predominantly dependent on perceptions of desirablity and feasibility by the acting individual as well as dispositional traits that arms an individual in readiness to act entreprenuerially; and that entrepreneurship can be fostered through the current learning process adopted in our public universities curriculum as this relationship was empirically supported.