Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Mindset: Towards Societal Re-Engineering

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a derivative of entrepreneurial learning which promotes functional unemployment reduction through university education. However, universities in Nigeria have turned to producers of unemployed graduates instead of job creators in the face of high rate of global unemployment. This is due to the non appreciation of entrepreneurship among university undergraduates in Nigeria. Few studies have been conducted on the effect of self-efficacy and entrepreneurial mindset for societal, reengineering with most scholars concentrating on entrepreneurship and economic growth. This study adopted survey research design. The population comprised of 25,353 four hundred level undergraduates in all Federal Universities in SouthWest , Nigeria. The sample size of 1,673 was obtained using Krejcie and Morgan formula. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting the respondents. A validated structured questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranging from 0.73 to 0.95 was employed in the study. The response rate was 76.91%. The study adopted stratified random sampling technique and a structured questionnaire with 6-point Likert scale was used for data collection). Self-efficacy had a significant effect on mindsets towards entrepreneurship (R 2 = 0.238, t(1671) =22.843, β = 1.029, p<0.05).The study recommended that, government, academia and the society should focus on measure to promote university undergraduates' self-efficacy. Contribution/Originality: The study contributes to literature by affirming the applicability of the social learning theory by Bandura which supports the finding of this study that undergraduates with a higher self-efficacy for entrepreneurship participate more readily, work harder, persist longer when they encounter difficulties and achieve at a higher level. 1. INTRODUCTION Globally, industrially developed countries like USA, Germany and Japan are the evidences that entrepreneurship contributes re-engineering of a nation. Governments of nations of the world have been under pressure to reduce unemployment especially following the 2007-08 global crisis. According to limited opportunities to gain employment occurred mostly in competitive environments. In line with this statement, graduates from universities and colleges also found some difficulties to secure their employment in both public and private sectors due to the current volatile economic environment. The importance of entrepreneurial activities in a developing country like Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Its potentials include the creation of positive multiplier effects on