Open AccessPerceptions of University Students on Entrepreneurship; A South African Case Study
Author(s) -
Harris Maduku,
Makhosazana Faith Vezi-Magigaba
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of economics and behavioral studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-6140
DOI - 10.22610/jebs.v11i5(j).2963
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , entrepreneurship , poverty , unemployment , perception , economic growth , stratified sampling , probit model , ordered probit , political science , business , demographic economics , marketing , psychology , economics , engineering , finance , mechanical engineering , statistics , mathematics , neuroscience , econometrics
South Africa currently suffers from high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment. However,the involvement of citizens in entrepreneurship is still very low for the country to rely on entrepreneurshipas a solution to curb its socio-economic crisis. Survival rates of established businesses have also proved to beworrisome in the country with lack of skills cited as one of the most contributing factors. The country is inneed of more entrepreneurs with better skills and understanding of business as that can facilitate jobcreation, poverty alleviation and economic growth. The objective of this paper is to analyse how Universitystudents perceive entrepreneurship in South Africa. Using random sampling, the study used a structuredquestionnaire to gather data from University of Zululand students. Employing the probit logistic regressiontechnique on 152 observations, the study finds Age, family business background, business course andentrepreneurial interest statistically significant on influencing perceptions of students towardsentrepreneurship. The study recommends that the South African Universities’ curricular be revised so as tostart equipping all registered students with entrepreneurship skills as this impact on their perceptions tostarting their own businesses after graduation. Also Universities should start acting as innovation andentrepreneurial hubs for both their students and the business community.