STUDENTS’ PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS IN NIGERI

This study examined how entrepreneurial intentions are influenced by personal attributes such as family business background, degree of specialisation and length of exposure to entrepreneurship education of the final year students at the federal universities in the South-South geopolitical zone in Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey research was employed. The population of the study comprised all the final year students who had taken at least one entrepreneurship course in all the federal universities in the south-south geopolitical zone in Nigeria, irrespective of the course of study. A sample size of 512 students was taken and copies of questionnaire administered to them. Out of the questionnaire retrieved, 483 copies were found to be valid and usable. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. Independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the relationships between students’ personal attributes and entrepreneurial intentions. All tests were performed at a 5% significance level using SPSS software. The study found that degree of specialization has no significant influence on the entrepreneurial intention of university students. However, family business background and length of exposure to entrepreneurship education significantly influence entrepreneurial intention. This study recommends that various universities' Centre for Entrepreneurship Development should perform regular studies to evaluate the impact of the entrepreneurship programme on students' entrepreneurial aspirations, motivations, and successes to boost their intentions to start and manage entrepreneurial ventures.