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Chapter One of The Impact of Entrepreneurship Development Studies Among Students Tertiary Institution in Nigeria (a Case Study of Obafemi Awolowo University
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Entrepreneurship is considered to be an individual’s capacity to turn ideas into action. The concept of entrepreneurship is broken down to mean creativity, innovation and the ability to achieve set objectives and become self-reliant or independent. This is in line with everyone in day-to-day activities in the society. Entrepreneurship has become a word of the day. Academic institutions like monotehnics, polytechnics and universities in Nigeria have adopted it as a course of study to prepare their students for the outside world. In addition to this, lectures, symposia, conferences and workshops are being organised at every nook and crannies of Nigeria to emphasise the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy the nation, community as well as individual growth and development (Béchard and Toulouse (1998); Schaper and Volery (2004); Matlay and Westhead 2005).
A number of studies have been conducted to answer questions such as “Why do some university students do better than others? These studies have revealed that academic factors have influence on academic performance (Noble 2001; Callender 2008; Chee et al. 2005, Russell and Lehman 2008). While considerable research has been conducted to assess factors affecting academic achievement as measured by GPA, previous research has given little attention to the effect of student employment (working hours) on students’ academic achievement as measured by cumulative GPA. In addition, prior studies concerning the impact of college student employment and working hours on GPA either used first-year college GPA’s as a success measure (Bleyaert 2010; Paszczyk 1994; Stumpf and Stanley 2002) and were criticized for low validity [for many less outstanding students take many lower level courses during the first year which likely increases their GPA (Stumpf and Stanley, 2002) or used a small sample size. In addition, the most recent studies reveal that students’ prior academic achievement (e.g., ACT scores), which could moderate the effect of student employment (working hours) on GPA was not controlled.
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The correlation between work and study was studied from the different perspectives (Lang, 2012), always taking into account that the main desire of the university students is to obtain their degree and finish their studies: the time and energy available for the external work the primary orientation of each student for studying or working the primary orientation to work for economic survival (Froment, 2012). But there is a practical consensus that students working more than 16 hours per week (equivalent to 2 days a week with an 8 hour schedule) experience negative impacts on academic performance because they have less time to study or to do other activities and necessities such as co-curricular activities, social activities, spending time with family or sleeping. Other variables were taken into consideration in the studies such as age, sex, ethnicity, academic year, social class, workplace and the difficulty in finding a job (Lang, 2012; Riggert et al., 2006; Golden & Baffoe-Bonnie, 2011). Universities have also been studied under this topic, in regards to tuition costs (different among countries and between public and private universities), pedagogical systems, programs and extracurricular activities (or co-curricular events) in order to determine their contributions in the process of learning and socializing. A systematic review and meta-analysis show the influences on academic performance from the following factors: personality traits, motivation factors, self-regulatory learning strategies, students’ approach to learning, and psychosocial contextual influences (Richardson, Abraham & Bond, 2012).
Guzmán (2004) found that in the UK and USA, research focused on the characteristics of individuals and work; while in France, articles looked at broader issues such as living conditions when studying, student labor, and other aspects, such as the overcrowding of universities; and in South America, research focuses on socio-economic conditions, labour market participation and the relationship between the education system and the work force. There is no research in Nigeria on the effect of entrepreneurship on the academic performance of students in the faculty of social sciences in the Nigerian university and this is what this study will focus on. There have been studies conducted regarding the impact of work-study on academic performance in England, Ireland, Australia and the USA (Moore, 2008). Several findings suggest that the impact of work is negative, when work schedules are intense (many working hours). A study in Northern Ireland showed that students working in clinical activities had advantages in clinical practice compared to those who did not work (Hasson, McKenna & Keeney, 2012).
Statement of the Problem
A major concern in undergraduates’ entrepreneurship is the number of hours per week that students spend on the job. King and Bannon (2002) indicated that of all full-time students who also worked in the 1999-2000 academic year, 46% worked 25 or more hours per week and 20% worked 35 hours per week or more almost the equivalent of full-time employment. Despite the amount of time that college students devote to work, King and Bannon (2002) indicate that 84% of those who work still identify themselves primarily as students working to meet college expenses, in contrast to employees who enroll to take credit classes. While less information is available about how college student employment may vary across institutional type, the high numbers of undergraduate students working while in school is common at all institutions. Although working has long been a part of the experience of community college students, the greatest increase in student employment has been at public and private four-year universities (Stern & Nakata, 1991).
The trend which finds an increasing number of college students on the job, in some cases for long hours, suggests that the work experience of college students should be of interest to both administrators at institutions of higher education and policymakers. College students’ work experience is an important topic not only because work has increasingly become an essential part of an undergraduate’s life but also because the type of job students hold, and the amount of hours they work, may affect the quality of the student’s experience in college and their chances of success.
The decision by an individual to become an entrepreneur is at the core of entrepreneurship. Harvey and Evans (1995) posited that there are unique times in ones’ career life cycle when the opportunity to become an entrepreneur is most favourable, considering one of the first ‘strategic windows’ to be the ‘college experience’. Tertiary students are typically contemplating career options leading-up to and after graduation. Gorman, Hanlon and King (1997) reviewed a decade of the literature in entrepreneurship education confirming that preliminary evidence suggests entrepreneurial attributes can be influenced through entrepreneurship education however stated that a stronger empirical focus was required in future research. It is in the light of this that study aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship development studies among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria as a case study.
Research Questions
The following are some of the questions which this study intends to answer:
i) What are the reasons for entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University?
ii) What is the prevalence of entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University?
iii) What are the effects of entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University?
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship development studies among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria as a case study. However, the specific objectives are:
i) To determine reasons for entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University
ii) To study the prevalence of entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University
iii) To assess the effects of entrepreneurship development among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria by using Obafemi Awolowo University
Research Hypotheses
The research hypotheses to be tested include:
i) There is no significant relationship between entrepreneurial involvement and academic performance of undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University
ii) There is a significant correlation between socioeconomic status of undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University and academic performance
Significance of the Study
The study is highly significant in enabling parents, educationist and educational stakeholders in measuring the effect of undergraduate entrepreneurship on the academic performance. The findings of this study will help determine the relationship undergraduate entrepreneurship and student academic performance and also this study will be of benefit to educationist who are interested in knowing how non classroom factors/variables affect student academic performance.
This study is also germane to parents who are interested in the educational performance of their students most especially in social science and parents who are tending to mould their children to become social scientists in the future as this study tends to access the effect of school variable and student academic performance.
Also, this study will be of immense contribution to professional social science bodies who programed of catching the best social scientists young in their fields as this study will explain the relationship between the variables and such student performance in the field of social sciences and other related courses and as such enable them to make proper plan of hunting the best student in social science and also understand the cause-effect of school variable and student academic performance.
Scope of the Study
The study will be conducted among the students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. This study is aimed at investigating investigate the impact of entrepreneurship development studies among students of tertiary institution in Nigeria. This study is also limited to the identified variables used in the study.
Limitation of the study
The study will be faced with a lot of challenges and one it the problem of finance. There is not going to be enough funds to print questionnaires and to also transport the researcher to meet the desired respondents. Another one is time; the researcher is currently busy with the demand of his academics. A lot of assignments are available for the researcher to do and coupled with his desire to read and learn at the same time. These are the major challenges of this study.
Definition of Terms
The following terms were used in the course of this study:
Academic Performance: Scores attained by students in form one end of year examination.
Entrepreneurship: The capacity and willingness to develop organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit.
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