UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF FINAL YEAR STUDENTS IN VERITAS UNIVERSITY, ABUJA

Abstract

Extant literature has demonstrated support for the university environment - entrepreneurial intentions nexus. However, these studies only employed diverse aspects of the interacting factors in the environment as the dimensions of university environment. Thus, neglecting to validate the role of the core mandates of universities in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, with the years of teaching of entrepreneurship as general studies and as a degree course in universities in Nigeria, the rate of triggering of entrepreneurial intentions in university students has remained below expectation. With a special focus on final year students in Veritas University, Abuja, this study investigated the effects of teaching, academic research and community service on the students’ entrepreneurial intentions. A cross-sectional survey research design, and criterion sampling, proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques were adopted to select the 216 respondents that completed the questionnaire. The generated data which were subjected to regression analysis showed that teaching triggered entrepreneurial intentions, while academic research and community service did not contribute to the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. The researcher concludes that academic research and community service can be reinvented and repositioned to better stimulate students’ entrepreneurial intentions. A replication of the study in both public and private universities using longitudinal research design and triangulation method is advocated.

Keywords: University Environment, Entrepreneurial Intentions, Teaching, Academic Research,
Community Service