ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 338
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
New Venture Creation: Ethnicity, Family Background and Gender as Determinants of
Entrepreneurial Intent in a Poor Economy
Corresponding author: Fabian O. Ugwu, PhD
Department of Psychology, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria
Chidi Ugwu
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
New Venture Creation: Ethnicity, Family Background and Gender as Determinants of
Entrepreneurial Intent in a Poor Economy
Abstract
Although there have been plenty of studies focusing at entrepreneurial intents of students;
this study is one of the first attempts to examine ethnic/cultural influence of university
undergraduates toward entrepreneurial intent in Nigeria. It presents the results of an empirical
study of the predictive relationships between ethnicity, family business background, family
structure, birth order, gender and entrepreneurial intent. The cross-sectional survey method
was employed and data were analyzed by means of hierarchical regression. Consistent with
authors’ predictions ethnicity, family business background, family structure and birth order
significantly predicted students’ entrepreneurial intent. Contrary to our speculation, gender
was not a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent. This study helps to elucidate factors
influencing students’ intentions of becoming entrepreneurs in a multi ethnic and
impoverished society. The findings provide insight into the individuals’ entrepreneurial
intentions which may point toward the need to explain entrepreneurial tendencies among
ethnic groups through cross-cultural research endeavours.
Keywords: Ethnicity, family structure, birth order, gender, entrepreneurial intent, Nigeria
1. Introduction
Recent years have witnessed unprecedented economic crisis the world has ever experienced.
The economy of many countries has been crippled. Many people who had jobs have lost
them, and those who are seeking jobs are growing increasingly hopeless as the chances of
getting one grows slimmer by each passing day. To bring this situation under control seems
to have defied all known solutions, and there is no indication that the current circumstances
will lift in the near future. In such downturn, various governments advise the unemployed
that cannot find jobs to undertake entrepreneurial projects that could guarantee them
independence. In response many people no longer depend on employment but are open to
initiating and nurturing their own businesses (Narayanasamy, Rasiah, & Jacobs, 2011).
Entrepreneurship provides one the opportunity for growth and development, the opportunity
to generate wealth, create jobs and ultimately achieve recognition. It also tends to have
freedom of decision making and flexible working hours (Narayanasamy et al., 2011).
Entrepreneurship has some important career implications for individuals, as it presents a
viable option, increasing popular career opportunity (Barnier, Watson, & Hutchins, 2011).
This development makes the concept and study of entrepreneurship an interesting one,
especially in a country like Nigeria that has failed in her contractual obligation to providing
employment for her deserving citizens.
Entrepreneurship has been recognized by Dimov (2007) as a purposeful social process that
creates opportunities through discussion and interpretation, and accounts for the context in
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 339
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
which these opportunities emerge. Danes, Lee, Stafford and Heck (2008) describe
entrepreneurs as rugged individuals garnering creative forces of innovation and technology.
Entrepreneurial intention on the other hand is a cognitive representation of the behaviours to
be exhibited by individuals, either to establish independent new ventures or to create new
value within existing companies (Bird, 1988). In the context of the present study, it is an
individual’s cognitive inclination to pursue an entrepreneurial career after leaving school.
As a cornerstone of economic development and recovery strategies for many economies
entrepreneurship has continued to gain the support of a broad spectrum of scholars,
policymakers and governments. Nigeria has joined the rest of the world in the promotion of
entrepreneurship to enhance levels of creativity, innovation and economic growth. This is
because entrepreneurship is seen as a means of revitalizing stagnated economies; stimulating
developing ones and dealing with unemployment challenges by providing new job
opportunities. The nation’s effort to grow the economy is usually emphasized in the
government’s development plans, national budgets and in the current home grown reform
programmes as stated in the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy
(NEEDS) (Soludo, 2006). The central theme of the policy has been that Nigerians should
engage in small businesses to spearhead the nation’s drive towards economic recovery. A
core element in such development plan is the engagement of universities in the initiatives
using education to increase entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and intention among
undergraduates.
Education offered by universities mostly influences the career choice of students; universities
can be seen as potential sources of future entrepreneurs (Turker & Selcuk, 2009). However,
today’s students are tomorrow’s entrepreneurial giants and this explains why the present
study focuses on graduating university students who will soon leave school to pursue
different economic endeavours. Besides, there is little or no understanding of the factors that
affect students’ intentions of becoming entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Similarly, little or nothing is
known about differences in entrepreneurial intentions and attitudes among students belonging
to different ethnic groups in a multi ethnic country like Nigeria. This paper seeks to
contribute toward narrowing this gap in our knowledge by empirically examining ethnicity,
family background and gender as possible determinants of entrepreneurial intent among
Nigerian university undergraduates.
2. Context: Nigeria
Nigeria is a federal republic that is made up of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT). The nation boasts of over 250 identifiable ethnic groups that mark the cultural
diversity of the Nigerian society. The three dominant ethno-linguistic entities are: the Igbo in
the South-East, the Yoruba in the South-West, and the Hausa-Fulani in the North. The Igbo,
Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, Tiv, Kanuri, Edo, Nupe, Ibibio and Ijaw groups account for almost 80
per cent of the population (Aito, 2008). The country is eminently one of the largest (923,768
km2), geographically, socially and culturally most diverse countries on the African continent.
It is also the world’s most populous black nation, with an estimated population of about 150
million. Rich in oil and solid mineral resources, her GDP is second only to South Africa’s
(Okonjo-Iweala & Osafo-Kwaako, 2007). Yet, poor economic management has made the
country to experience a prolonged period of economic stagnation, rising poverty levels, and
the decline of its public utilities. In particular, the poor condition of the power sector
illustrates the severity of Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit. Specifically, per capita power
consumption in Nigeria is estimated at 82 kilowatts (kW) compared with an average of
456kW in other sub-Saharan African countries and 3,793kW in South Africa (Okonjo-Iweala
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 340
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
& Osafo-Kwaako, 2007). By every standard, human development indicators in Nigeria are
comparable to that of other least developed countries while endemic corruption seems to have
defied all solutions and has continued to impoverish the majority. World Bank (2000) cited in
Aworemi, Abdul-Azeez and Opoola (2010) reported that the poverty in Nigeria has increased
dramatically with 65% of the population living below poverty line as against 43% in 1992.
Oteh (2009) emphasized in her report that over half of Nigeria’s population live on less than
one dollar a day. According to Oteh’s report Nigeria is one of the top three countries in the
world that have the largest population of poor people. In fact, it has been observed that there
is no country in Africa whose deterioration in socio-economic status has been as severe as
that of Nigeria (Aworemi et al., 2010).
Worse still, general unemployment rate has skyrocketed and university graduates are the
worst hit. For instance, the World Bank’s (2009) report cited in Oteh (2009) indicated that
only one in every ten graduates get a job while a recent report by the National Directorate of
Employment (NDE) indicated that over 200,000 Nigerian graduates who completed the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the last few years, remained unemployed. The
National Institute for Social Research (NISER) revealed that over 55 percent of Nigerians of
working age are unemployed, representing one in five adults (see Oteh, 2009). In the face of
this present economic reality, setting up private venture seems to be the only alternative.
Although the collapse in infrastructure may not give businesses any chance of survival, some
people defy the odds to venture into creating new businesses. Thus, knowing these category
of people that nurse the intention to establish new businesses in a harsh economic
environment and the predisposing factors responsible for such intention is worthy of
investigation. Besides, the literature regarding cross cultural and international comparisons of
entrepreneurship practices remains limited (Lee & Osteryoung, 2001) because most of such
studies utilized samples from developed countries. Therefore such research findings may not
be valid for developing countries and contexts due to differences in economic, institutional
and cultural characteristics. Moreover, entrepreneurship in developing countries remains one
of the least-studied (Lingelbach, De la Viña, & Ase, 2005). By the present study the
researchers hope to bridge this gap by using samples from a developing country with its own
peculiar context.
3. Ethnicity and Entrepreneurial Intent
Ethnicity/culture entails common values, belief system, and practices based on nationality,
common ancestry, and/or common immigration experiences (Hill, Murry, & Anderson,
2005). Ethnic groups are culture-bearing units (Imperia, O’Guinn, & MacAdams, 1985) and
common group values are major contributors to a sense of identity and to peculiar ways of
perceiving, thinking, feeling, and behaving that influence action in everyday life (Chan &
Lee, 2004; Hanson, 2004), including entrepreneurial intent and the actual entrepreneurial
behaviour. Entrepreneurial activity in many societies is heavily influenced by cultural
practices. While some cultures tend to stifle the independent thinking and creative ability,
some other individuals whose culture is supportive tend to be more prolific in initiating
ventures (Urban, 2006). Moreover, previous studies (e.g., Kumar & Kelly, 2006; Steenkamp,
Hofstede, & Wedel, 1999) indicated that an individual’s cultural background determines how
personality traits are exercised, practiced and manifested, which can be implicated in superior
entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurs cannot act in a social vacuum, but are influenced
by the background into which they are born as well as environment in which they are raised
(Göksel & Aydintan, 2011). For instance, a bogus assumption is often made that individuals
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 341
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
from the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria exhibit the highest entrepreneurial tendencies, but this
has remained largely untested.
The relationship between ethnicity and entrepreneurship as conceptualised in many studies
(e.g., Martes, 2000; Sales, 2003) were on the basis of a strategy immigrants adopt to
overcome barriers and life challenges often experienced by people in new settlements. The
conceptualisation of the construct as used in this study represents the patterns of interaction
among people sharing common national background, but whose cultures differ in many
respects. Hofstede (2001) defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (p. 9). Since
ethnic group/culture determines peculiar way people generally live their lives, the way they
dress, farm, bury the dead, what they eat, what they give attention and priority to, it makes a
theoretical sense to also investigate whether this could determine entrepreneurial intent. It is
therefore hypothesised that:
Hypothesis 1: Ethnicity will significantly predict entrepreneurial intent among Nigerian
university undergraduates; such that the majority ethnic group (Igbo) will exhibit higher
entrepreneurial intent compared to their minority ethnic group (Tiv) counterparts.
4. Family Background and Entrepreneurial Intent
Danes, Lee, Stafford and Heck (2008) asserted that “to ignore ethnic and family contexts that
create the culture from which entrepreneurship emerges is to forge a myopic view of ethnic
businesses owned and operated by their family members” (p. 229). The family, with its own
interpersonal dynamics, acts as the crucible that mixes ethnic groups, and creates culture,
thereby serving as mediator for the entrepreneurial experience (Rogoff & Heck, 2003).
However, little attention has been paid to how families affect the core entrepreneurial process
(Aldrich & Cliff, 2003; Dyer, 2006). Because family is a channel of culture and core cultural
values (Landau, 2007), family background and relationships are even more fundamental to
the understanding of initiation process and management of businesses. As a result, Green and
Pryde (1990) described family as being one of the mediating entities that have promoted or
impeded entrepreneurial opportunities. The family is so vital in the life and activities of any
individual that Rogoff and Heck (2003) stated accordingly that the business of
entrepreneurship cannot ignite and prosper without the mobilisation of family forces. Family
background plays an important role in a variety of contexts. In the present study, family
background features consist of family business background, family structure and birth order.
Researchers have shown considerable interest in how family-owned businesses is transited
(Carr & Sequeira, 2007; Stavrou & Swiercz, 1999), but not many researches consider the role
that family business background plays in encouraging future engagement in entrepreneurship.
Family business background may affect future generation’s intentions to toll the same line
and this may be due to how they were socialised and the financial rewards such business
guarantees them and the psychological development of the whole family in the family
business (Dyer & Handler, 1994). Individuals from families with business background are
likely to be aware of these impacts (Fairlie & Robb, 2005). This might spur them to
incorporate their experiences, such that their attitudes and behaviours towards entrepreneurial
action are shaped towards nursing entrepreneurial intents. It has been found that an individual
whose father is self employed provides strong inspiration for them because at an early age,
the independent nature of self employment is instilled in them (Matthews & Moser, 1996).
Having entrepreneurial parents enables one to behave entrepreneurially and to work with
higher entrepreneurial orientation than those whose parents are employment oriented (Ullah
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 342
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
et al., 2011). However, research results on family business background and entrepreneurial
intent or actual entrepreneurial behaviour have been inconsistent. While several research
findings (e.g., Brown, 1990; Crant, 1996; Schiller & Crewson, 1997; Wang & Wong, 2004;
Drennan, Kennedy, & Renfrow, 2005; Ullah et al., 2011) showed that students whose parents
owned businesses demonstrate the highest preference for self-employment, some (e.g.,
Göksel & Aydintan, 2011) reported that family business has no influence on an individual’s
propensity to entrepreneurship. This study will broaden our understanding of family business
background and entrepreneurial intent.
The traditional two-parent-family structure has recently witnessed drastic shake up as single-
parent family structures are a growing phenomenon in many cultures including Nigeria.
Many adolescent children have only one parent, especially the mothers in the household to
attend to their economic and emotional needs. When there is not adequate allocation of
resources within the household due to the absence of one parent during the early childhood
development, the children’s cognitive development is affected, their human capital
accumulation (Ruhm, 2004), and their ability to take critical decisions in later years. It is
therefore germane to examine how the family setting affects the entrepreneurial intent of such
people due to the impact this may potentially have on their skills and future career decisions.
Studies have demonstrated the importance of two parent-household in ensuring overall
development of children (Antecol & Bedard, 2007; Cavanagh & Huston, 2006; Fomby &
Cherlin, 2007; Osborne & McLanahan, 2007). Earlier studies also have focused on the
outcomes of adults who grew up in single-parent households (Antecol & Bedard, 2007;
Corak, 2001; Lang & Zagorsky, 2001). However, there is still much to learn about the impact
of family structure on outcomes for adults’ chosen carrier such as entrepreneurial inclination.
It was Francis Galton (1874), cited in Hartshorne, Salem-Hartshorne and Hartshorne (2009),
who noted that firstborn sons and only sons were over-represented among scientists, making
birth order one of the earliest constructs to be studied in psychology. Ever since then, there
has been renewed interest in birth order research as numerous scientific investigations (e.g.,
Healey & Ellis, 2007; Michalski & Shackelford, 2002) have trailed Galton’s observation
about birth order. This research interest became heightened following Sulloway’s (1996)
famous study, ‘born to rebel’ (e.g., Paulhus, Trapnell & Chen, 1999; Saroglou & Fiasse,
2003). Much of these studies mainly centred on personality, social attitudes and educational
attainment (e.g., Beer & Horn, 2000; Healey & Ellis, 2007; Michalski & Shackelford, 2002;
Paulhus, Trapnell, & Chen, 1999; Saroglou & Fiasse, 2003). The results obtained from such
studies have been very inconsistent. While some studies (e.g., Hauser & Sewell, 1985;
Jefferson, Herbst, & McCrae, 1998) reported no significant birth order effect, others (e.g.,
Gary-Bobo, Prieto, & Picard, 2006) reported significant birth order effect, especially in
academic achievements. However, there is empirical evidence that the flow of investment
tends to be from older to younger siblings in modern societies (Essock-Vitale & McGuire,
1985). In a similar vein, Sulloway (1996) described firstborns as differentially likely to act as
surrogate parents within the family, and that they take on the role of family custodian. In
other words, they take more responsibility and are perceived as high achievers which
researchers (e.g., Robinson, Stimpson, Huefner, & Hunt, 1991) have correlated with being an
entrepreneur. They always have been seen as leaders, high-achievers, ambitious, and
conforming (McGuirk & Pettijohn, 2008). Although birth order has shown to be a standard
variable in psychological research for decades, literature evidence reveals that relatively little
attention has been paid to birth order influence on family related behaviours, and studies
linking birth order to business orientation/inclination are very scarce and need to be given
more empirical attention. From the foregoing therefore, it could be hypothesised that:
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 343
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Hypothesis 2: Family business background will significantly predict participants’
entrepreneurial intent; such that those with a family business exposure will report higher
entrepreneurial intent compared to their counterparts with employment orientation.
Hypothesis 3: Family structure will significantly predict entrepreneurial intent; such that
participants with both parents will report higher entrepreneurial intent compared to their
counterparts with single parents.
Hypothesis 4: Birth order will significantly predict entrepreneurial intent among Nigerian
undergraduate students; such that firstborn children will report higher entrepreneurial intent
compared to laterborn children.
5. Gender and Entrepreneurial Intent
Gender stereotypes can exert a strong influence on cognition and behaviour (Heilman, 2001).
These stereotypes influence in clear terms the careers men and women venture into. They
play a role in many achievement-related domains such as in business (Nosek, Banaji, &
Greenwald, 2002). Plethora of research evidence shows that gender stereotypes influence
men’s and women’s intentions to pursue entrepreneurship, an achievement-oriented career
domain (Gupta, Turban, Wasti, & Sikdar, 2005). Not surprisingly, studies find that current
views about entrepreneurs are heavily weighted toward traits traditionally viewed as
masculine (Ahl, 2006; Lewis, 2006), and these stereotypical beliefs adversely affect the entry
and development of women in entrepreneurship (Marlow & Patton, 2005). It is evident that
men and women differ in their motives and preferences for self-empowerment (e.g., De
Martino & Barbato, 2003), in a particular job or occupation (Bigoness, 1988) or a profession
(Valian, 1998). Studies (e.g., Thebaud, 2010; Yordanova & Tarrazon, 2010) found that
women have lower entrepreneurial intentions than men. But in the case of business
ownership, most men and women share the desire for independence (Sexton & Bowman,
1990).
Buttner and Moore (1997) reported that women have made great strides in recent years
toward closing the entrepreneurship gap. Today, the term entrepreneur is no longer
dominated by males. In this 21st century, the autonomy and power of woman have become
more obvious (Purdy, 2005). In fact, recent years have witnessed dramatic changes in the
number, size, and types of women-owned businesses. Globally, a 2005 report stated that
women represent more than one third of all people involved in entrepreneurial activity
(Minniti, Allen, & Langowitz, 2005). Their ventures are no longer petty trading in the home;
they now run mega businesses. In reality, woman-entrepreneurs are increasingly becoming
significant contributors to the entrepreneurial growth around the world, opening up
economies and creating employment. For instance, it is reported that in advanced market
economies, women own 25% of all businesses and the number of women-owned businesses
in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America is daily increasing (Jalbert, 2000). In the
United States for instance, it is reported that 6.7 million privately held majority women-
owned businesses account for $1.19 trillion in sales and employ 9.8 million people. The
growth rate of women-owned businesses is significant (National Women’s Foundation,
2004). Although Nigerian women may not have attained the status of their American
counterparts, the point remains that the gap between male and female successful
entrepreneurs is rapidly closing or might have been closed.
Besides, due to the present economic reality that has offered no job opportunities to either
group, these positions of male dominance in entrepreneurship may no longer hold as women
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 344
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
now challenge and compete effectively with men in virtually all economic ventures. Mueller
and Dato-On (2008) argued accordingly that times have changed and that dramatic social
changes ushered in over the last five decades have given rise to modern economically
advanced societies for which traditional sex roles and social barriers to historically “male”
vocations, including entrepreneurship, are more flexible. It is therefore expected that within
modern societies like Nigeria, differences in entrepreneurial intent between men and women
are marginal or non-existent. Yet, studies that explored this male-female entrepreneurial
supremacy in Nigeria have been largely very scarce. It therefore makes theoretical and
empirical sense to hypothesise that:
Hypothesis 5: Gender will significantly predict entrepreneurial intent among Nigerian
undergraduate students; such that male participants will report higher entrepreneurial intent
compared to their female counterparts.
6. Method
6.1 Participants and procedure
A sample of 425 final year undergraduate students was sampled from the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka and Benue State University, Makurdi. Two hundred and twenty one (221)
and 204 of the participants were selected from the two institutions respectively. They
consisted of 261 (61.41%) males and 164 (38.59%) female students. Their ages ranged from
21 to 50 years, with average age of 29.7 years. One hundred and ninety eight (46.59%) of the
participants were Tiv, a major ethnic group in Benue State that occupies the North central
part of Nigeria while 227 (53.41%) were Igbo, one of the three major ethnic groups in
Nigeria that occupies the South-eastern region. A total of 471 copies of the Individual
Entrepreneurial Intent Scale were administered to the participants in four departments:
Departments of Psychology and Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka and departments of Psychology and Geography from Benue State University,
Makurdi. Out of the 256 copies administered in the University of Nigeria, only 243 were
completed and returned representing 94.92% response rate. Out of this number, 22 (9.05%)
copies were lost to improper completion and only 221 (90.95%) were considered for analysis.
On the other hand, a total of 215 copies of the scale were administered in the two departments
in Benue State University, and 100% response rate was achieved. Out of this number, 11
(5.12%) copies were lost to improper completion and only 204 (94.88%) copies were
adequate for analysis. All together, of the 471 copies administered in the two institutions, 458
copies were completed and returned, representing 97.24% response rate. Out of this number,
33 (7.21%) copies were discarded due to poor completion bringing the number of valid
copies to 425 that were eventually used for analysis.
6.2 Instruments
Ethnicity, family business background, family structure, birth order and gender are dummy
variables and such information was obtained through demographic means. However, the most
common measures of socioeconomic status include parents’ income, education or occupation
(Moore, et al., 2010), but income is the most widely used indicator of family’s financial
resources (Chen, Matthews, & Boyce, 2002). Education on the other hand is adjudged the
most stable of these measures (Williams & Collins, 1995). However, recently the measure of
socioeconomic status has shifted to per capita expenditure and assets. Based on these
arguments, the present researchers adopted estimated parents’ income, weekly expenditure,
assets and their educational attainment to categorize the participants into high and low
socioeconomic status. The participants were therefore asked to estimate their parents’
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 345
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
monthly income, how much they spend weekly for family upkeep, assets and their
educational attainment. Those whose parents receive as much as ₦100, 000.00 ($700) per
month, whose parents live in upstairs/bungalow/duplex, have a minimum of first university
degree were classified as belonging to the high SES and others to low SES.
Thompson’s (2009) Individual Entrepreneurial Intent Scale (IEIS) was used to measure the
entrepreneurial intent of the participants. The scale is a unidimensional one made up of 10
items, 6 substantive and four distracter items. The 4 distracter items act as red herrings and
are not to be included in scale analyses (Thompson, 2009). Out of the 6 substantive items, 3
are negatively worded items and are inversely scored, whereas 3 items are positively worded
and thus are directly scored. The IEIS was designed in a 6-point Likert-type response format
ranging from 1) = Very untrue to 6) Very true. According to Thompson, the IEIS is
internationally reliable having been developed with people across different countries. The
scale’s Cronbach alpha coefficient of internal reliability for the present study is .88. Sample
items include: “Intend to set up a company in future”, “Never search for business start-up
opportunities”. An individual is expected to obtain scores ranging from 6 to 36. Higher scores
on the scale indicate higher entrepreneurial intent.
7. Statistical Analyses
Analyses were carried out on the data using hierarchical regression in order to assess the
amount of incremental variance explained by each type of predictor variable. We first,
entered the control variables (age, marital status, parent education and socioeconomic status).
Next, we entered the predictor variables in their sequence: ethnicity, family structure, family
business background, birth order and gender.
Table 1 and 2 Around Here
The results of the hierarchical regression analyses reveal that all the control variables
explained 1.6% of the variance in entrepreneurial intent, ΔF (4, 420) = 2.77, p < .02. Among
the four control variables entered, only parent education was significant on individual’s
entrepreneurial intent. Ethnicity explained 4.1% of the variance in the criterion variable over
and above the control variables, ΔF (1, 419) = 11.65, p < .01. In the regression equation
model, ethnicity significantly and positively predicted entrepreneurial intent (β = .17, p <
.01), with majority (Igbo) reporting higher entrepreneurial intent score compared to their
minority (Tiv) counterparts. This is consistent with the first hypothesis that ethnicity will
significantly predict entrepreneurial intent.
Family structure explained 11.3% of the variance in the criterion variable over and above the
control variables and ethnicity, ΔF (1, 419) = 35.27, p < .001. In the regression equation,
family structure significantly and positively predicted entrepreneurial intent (β = .27, p <
.001). This is consistent with the second hypothesis that family structure will significantly
predict entrepreneurial intent. Participants with both parents reported higher entrepreneurial
intent score relative to those with single parent. Family business background explained 14.1%
of the variance in entrepreneurial intent above and beyond the control variables, ethnicity and
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 346
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
family structure, ΔF (1, 417) = 14.63, p < .001. In the regression equation model however,
family business background significantly and positively predicted entrepreneurial intent (β =
.20, p < .001). Participants with family business exposure reported higher entrepreneurial
intent score compared to their employment oriented counterparts.
Birth order explained 21.1% of the incremental variance in entrepreneurial intent above and
beyond the control variables, ethnicity, family structure and family business background, ΔF
(1, 416) = 29.36, p < .001. The regression equation model also confirmed the significance of
birth order in predicting entrepreneurial intent (β = .24, p < .001). Thus, firstborn children
reported higher entrepreneurial intent score compared to their laterborn counterparts. This is
also consistent with the fourth hypothesis that birth order will significantly predict students’
entrepreneurial intent. Furthermore, hypothesis 5, which anticipated significant gender
prediction of students’ entrepreneurial intent; such that males will report higher
entrepreneurial intent compared to their female counterparts was not confirmed. As shown in
Table 2, the 6th
hierarchical regression equation model revealed that gender did not
significantly predict entrepreneurial intent.
8. Discussion
The primary objective in this study was to broaden our understanding of some predictor
variables of entrepreneurial intent in a bad economy by testing predicted relationships
between ethnicity, family background, gender and entrepreneurial intent. Results
demonstrated as speculated that ethnicity significantly predicted entrepreneurial intent, such
that majority (Igbo) reported higher entrepreneurial intent score relative to their minority
(Tiv) counterparts. This finding seems to suggest that different cultures determine what is
important and which endeavour should be given priority. The result is consistent with the
findings in many previous studies that ethnicity is essential in self-employment decisions
(Clark & Drinkwater, 1998). It is also in agreement with Göksel and Aydintan (2011), Kumar
and Kelly (2006), Steenkamp, Hofstede and Wedel (1999) that individuals’ cultural
background, where they are born and the environment they are raised, significantly influence
how they behave in a variety of contexts, which includes entrepreneurial inclination.
The result also showed that students’ family business background significantly and positively
predicted entrepreneurial intent. This study confirms the observations of Matthews and Moser
(1996) and Ullah et al. (2011) that individuals whose fathers are self-employed often draw
strong inspiration from them to also strive to own businesses. It is consistent with various
prior studies (e.g., Brown, 1990; Crant, 1996; Schiller & Crewson, 1997; Wang & Wong,
2004; Drennan, Kennedy, & Renfrow, 2005) which separately found that individuals whose
parents owned businesses demonstrate the highest preference for self-employment. Despite
the consistency of the result with several previous studies, it contradicts that of Göksel and
Aydintan (2011) who found that family business has no influence on individuals’ propensity
to entrepreneurship.
Family structure was found to significantly predict individual’s entrepreneurial intent.
Participants with both parents showed higher entrepreneurial tendencies compared to their
counterparts with single parents. This finding has further strengthened our understanding that
when there is depletion in the supply of economic and emotional resources within the
household due to the absence of one parent, the children’s cognitive development is
impaired, which is usually carried over to adulthood and which in turn affect their ability to
take critical decisions such as establishing or owning businesses. The result is consistent with
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 347
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
many earlier studies (e.g., Antecol & Bedard, 2007; Corak, 2001; Lang & Zagorsky, 2001)
which observed that adults who grew up in single-parent households often have poor
outcomes in a variety of achievement domains. This result also seems to support the
importance of two parent-household in ensuring overall development of children, which
enhances their skills and ability to take defining decisions in adulthood (Cavanagh & Huston,
2006; Fomby & Cherlin, 2007; Osborne & McLanahan, 2007).
Consistent with hypothesis 5, birth order predicted individual’s entrepreneurial intent, with
firstborns reporting higher entrepreneurial intent score compared to their laterborn
counterparts. The result seems to support the assertion that the flow of investment tends to be
from older to younger siblings (Essock-Vitale & McGuire, 1985). It confirms Sulloway’s
(1996) description of firstborns as most likely to act as surrogate parents within the family
and as a result take up huge and often times, premature financial responsibility on behalf of
the family. They are the armour bearers of the family in times of difficulty, and therefore are
often compelled by circumstances to initiate and pursue entrepreneurial projects. This result
is in line with Gary-Bobo, Prieto and Picard’s (2006) study that birth order effect is related
with some positive outcomes in many achievement domains. However, the result contradicts
many prior findings (e.g., Hauser & Sewell, 1985; Jefferson, Herbst, & McCrae, 1998) which
reported no significant birth order effect in their respective studies.
Furthermore, contrary to our prediction on gender, the result of the study demonstrated that
gender did not significantly predict students’ entrepreneurial intent. Although research
evidence shows that gender stereotypes influence men’s and women’s intentions to pursue
entrepreneurship (Gupta, Turban, Wasti, & Sikdar, 2005), the present finding fails to confirm
supremacy in owning businesses. It contradicts the results of previous studies (e.g., Thebaud,
2010; Yordanova & Tarrazone, 2010) that women perceive themselves as having less
entrepreneurial ambition than their male counterparts. The reason for this contradiction might
be that the present economic turbulence ravaging Nigeria that has offered no job
opportunities to both genders, the position of male dominance in many achievement-oriented
career domains is rapidly fading away. This result shows that men and women share the
desire for prosperity and independence through owning businesses (Sexton & Bowman,
1990), especially when there are no job options. It seems to agree with Mueller and Dato-
On’s (2008) assertion that dramatic social changes that characterize modern societies for
which traditional sex roles and social barriers assigned men and women to specific roles
including entrepreneurship has become more flexible.
9. Implications of the study
Our study provides insight into the entrepreneurial intentions of individuals which may point
toward the need to delineate entrepreneurial characteristics among ethnic groups through
cross-cultural research efforts. In understanding differences among prospective ethnic
entrepreneurs, one implication points toward promotion of greater participation of the
minority Tiv in the ownership of businesses in Nigeria since intentions may sometimes lead
to actual behaviour (Ajzen, 1991); one can hardly deserve what one did not desire. Promotion
in this context means re-orientating through business counselling or training a group of
people to accept taking up the challenge of establishing and growing businesses.
The group’s and individual’s adequate knowledge of the benefits associated with being an
entrepreneur and acquisition of the skills to establish and run successful ventures is likely to
increase their desire to nurse entrepreneurial intentions. With the current economic turbulence
which has stifled job opportunities, taking to entrepreneurship seems to be the only way
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 348
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
forward for the Nigerian youth whose involvement is expected to stimulate the economy.
There are limited opportunities for innovative and creative ideas for new entrepreneurs who
may want to get involved, but some factors that make the business of entrepreneurship
attractive such as regular power supply and infrastructural development which have been in
deplorable condition must become government priority.
10. Limitations of the study
The present study like every other human endeavour is under the weight of some limitations.
First, the study focuses on the intentionality and it is obvious that intentions may not often
turn into actual behaviours in the future. Therefore, even if one participant stated a high
entrepreneurial propensity in the survey, they might deviate from actualizing these intentions
if other good opportunities present themselves. This has been a common problem for almost
all studies in the literature but unfortunately there is no other better or accurate way to
measure the tendency for entrepreneurship beside information from respondents about their
entrepreneurial intention.
Second, the problem often associated with all survey research (cross-sectional design) of the
study does not allow for causal inferences. Another limitation of the study was that all data
were collected via self-report measures, which may lead to the problem of common method
bias and inflated the predictive relationships between the study variables. This might not have
adversely influenced the result because as Ajzen pointed out, self-reports are generally quite
accurate when information gathered is not of a sensitive nature (Ajzen, 1988), and no
sensitive information was gathered in this study. All information was as to whether
respondents nurse any intention of becoming entrepreneurs in future.
Third, among about 247 identifiable minority ethnic groups in Nigeria only one (Tiv) was
considered in the study. Similarly, among the three major ethnic groups, only one (Igbo) was
involved. Thus, there is gross under representation of these ethnic groups in the study, which
questions the generalisability of its findings.
11. Further Research
Although several researchers (e.g., Azjen, 1991) expressed strong belief that intentions lead
to actual behaviour, it is imperative to also state that intentions may not often translate into
actual behaviours in the future as individuals are almost likely to deviate from actualising
their stated intentions if other good opportunities present themselves along the way.
Therefore, further studies are of necessity to enrich our knowledge and understanding of the
extent to which these intentions are pursued to its practical end or translate to actual
behaviour.
In this study, the various ethnic groups in Nigeria were under-represented, giving rise to the
question of generalisability. For a more generalisable result to be achieved, future researches
should include as many ethnic groups as possible to ensure a fair representation of multi-
ethnic groups in Nigeria. There is abundant evidence that attitudes such as entrepreneurial
intention could be a function of personality or individual difference characteristics (Armitage,
Norman, & Conner, 2002). Some other attitudinal variables such as perceived desirability and
perceived feasibility, and situational factors such as employability and future commitments
have been reported as mediating and moderating variables on entrepreneurial intents
respectively (Byabashaija & Katono, 2011). Although our study controlled for any effects
that some demographic variables, such as age, marital status, parent education and
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 349
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
socioeconomic status may exert, there could also be other individual/student characteristics
we did not control for. Therefore, future research should consider the influence of a wide
range of individual differences, attitudinal and situational variables that could explain
entrepreneurial intent.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 350
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
References
Ahl, H. (2006). Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(5), 595–621.
Aito, E. (2008). A glottopolitical appraisal of diversity in nation building in Nigeria. The
International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, 8(2),
281-291.
Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality and behaviour. Chicago, Illinois: Dorsey Press.
Ajzen, I. (1991). Theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human
Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
Aldrich, H. E., & Cliff, J. E. (2003). The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship:
toward a family embeddedness perspective. Journal of Business Venturing, 18(5),
573–596.
Antecol, H., & Bedard, K. (2007). Does single parenthood increase the probability of teenage
promiscuity, substance use, and crime? Journal of Population Economics, 20, 55-71.
Armitage, C. J., Norman, P., & Conner, M. (2002). Can the theory of planned behaviour
mediate the effects of age, gender and multidimensional health locus of control?”
British Journal of Health Psychology, 7, 299–316.
Aworemi, J. R., Abdul-Azeez, I. A., & Opoola, N. A. (2010). Impact of socio-economic
factors on the performance of small-scale enterprises in Osun State, Nigeria.
International Business Research, 3(2), 92-99.
Barnir, A., Watson, W. E., & Hutchins, H. M. (2011). Mediation and moderated mediation in
the relationship among role models, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial career intention, and
gender. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(2), 270-297.
Bigoness,W. (1988). Sex differences in job attribute preferences. Journal of Organizational
Behaviour, 9, 139–147.
Bird, B. J. (1988). Entrepreneurial behaviour. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, London.
Brown, R. (1990). Encouraging enterprise: Britain’s graduate enterprise program. Journal of
Small Business Management, 28(4), 71–77.
Buttner, E. H., & Moore, D. P. (1997). Women’s organizational exodus to entrepreneurship:
self-reported motivations and correlates with success. Journal of Small Business
Management, 35(1), 34–46.
Byabashaija, W., & Katono, I. (2011). The impact of college entrepreneurial education on
entrepreneurial attitudes and intention to start a business in Uganda. Journal of
Developmental Entrepreneurship, 16(1), 127-144.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 351
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Cavanagh, S., & Huston, A. (2006). Family instability and children’s early problem
behaviour. Social Forces, 85(1), 551-581.
Carr, J. C., & Sequeira, J. M. (2007). Prior family business exposure as intergenerational
influence and entrepreneurial intent: A theory of planned behaviour approach. Journal
of Business Research, 60, 1090–1098.
Chan, S., & Lee, E. (2004). Families with Asian roots. In E. W. Lynch and M. J. Hanson
(Eds.), Developing cross-cultural competence: A guide for working with children and
their families (pp. 219–298). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Chen, E., Matthews, K. A., & Boyce, W. T. (2002). Socioeconomic differences in children’s
health: How and why do these relationships change with age? Psychological Bulletin,
128(2), 295-329.
Clark, K., & Drinkwater, S. (1998). Ethnicity and self-employment in Britain. Oxford
Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 60(3), 383-407.
Corak, M. (2001). Death and divorce: The long-term consequences of parental loss on
adolescence. Journal of Labor Economics, 19(3), 682-715.
Crant, J. M. (1996). The proactive personality scale as a predictor of entrepreneurial
intentions. Journal of Small Business Management, 34(3), 42–49.
Danes, S. M., Lee, J. Stafford, K., & Heck, R. K. Z. (2008). The effects of ethnicity, families
and culture on entrepreneurial experience: an extension of sustainable family business
theory. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 13(3), 229–268.
De Martino, R., & Barbato, R. (2003). Differences between women and men MBA
entrepreneurs: exploring family flexibility and wealth creation as career motivators.
Journal of Business Venturing, 18(6), 815–833.
Dimov, D. (2007). Beyond the single-person, single-insight attribution in understanding
entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurship, Theory, and Practice, 31(5), 713–
731.
Drennan, J., Kennedy, J., Renfrow, P. (2005). Impact of childhood experiences on the
development of entrepreneurial intentions. International Journal of Entrepreneurship
& Innovation, 6(4), 231-238.
Dyer, W. G. (2006). Examining the ‘family effect’ on firm performance. Family Business
Review, 19, 253–273.
Dyer, W. G, & Handler, W. (1994). Entrepreneurship and family business: Exploring the
connections. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 19(1), 71–83.
Essock-Vitale, S. M., & McGuire, M. T. (1985). Women’s lives viewed from an evolutionary
perspective II patterns of helping. Ethology and Sociobiology, 6, 155–173.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 352
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Fairlie, R. W., & Robb, A. M. (2005). Families, human capital, and small business: Evidence
from the characteristics of business owners survey. Washington, DC: Center for
Economic Studies, Bureau of the Census.
Fomby, P., & Cherlin, A. J. (2007). Family instability and child wellbeing. American
Sociological Review, 72, 181-204.
Gary-Bobo, R., Prieto, A., & Picard, N. (2006). Birth-order and sibship sex-composition
effects in the study of education and earnings. Mimeo, CEPR and THEMA.
Göksel, A., & Aydintan, B. (2011). Gender, business education, family background and
personal traits; a multi dimensional analysis of their affects on entrepreneurial
propensity: findings from Turkey. International Journal of Business and Social
Sciences, 2(13), 35-48.
Green, S., & Pryde, P. (1990). Black entrepreneurship in America. New Brunswick, NJ,
Transactions Publishers.
Gupta, V. K., Turban, D., Wasti, S. A., & Sikdar, A. (2005). Entrepreneurship and
stereotypes: Are entrepreneurs from Mars or from Venus? In K. M. Weaver (Ed.),
Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. Honolulu, HI: Academy of
Management.
Hanson, M. (2004). Ethnic, cultural, and language diversity in service settings. In E. W.
Lynch and M. J. Hanson (Eds.), Developing cross-cultural competence: A guide for
working with children and their families, (pp. 3–18). Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes.
Hartshorne, J. K., Salem-Hartshorne, N., & Hartshorne, T. S. (2009). Birth order effects in
the formation of long-term relationships. Journal of Individual Psychology, 65(2),
156-176.
Hauser, R., & Sewell, W. (1985). Birth order and educational attainment in full sibships.
American Educational Research Journal, 22(1), 1-23.
Healey, M. D., & Ellis, B. J. (2007). Birth order, conscientiousness, and openness to
experience: Tests of the family-niche model of personality using a within-family
methodology. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 28, 55–59.
Heilman, M. E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent
women’s ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 657–674.
Hill, N. E., Murry, V. M., & Anderson, V. D. (2005). Sociocultural contexts of African
American families. In V. C. McLoyd, N. E. Hill and K. A. Dodge (Eds.), Diversity in
African American family life: Context, adaptation, and policy, 2, 21–44. New York:
Guilford.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Imperia, G., O’Guinn, T. C., & MacAdams, E. A. (1985). Family decision making role
perceptions among Mexican American and Anglo wives: A cross cultural comparison.
Advances in Consumer Research, 12(1), 71–74.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 353
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Jalbert, S. E. (2000). Women entrepreneurs in the global economy study. Center for
International Enterprise, Washington, DC.
Jefferson, T., Jr., Herbst, J. H., & McCrae, R. R. (1998). Associations between birth order
and personality traits: evidence from self-reports and observer ratings. Journal of
Research in Personality, 32, 98–509.
Kumar, R., & Kelly, L. (2006). Self-efficacy, social and cultural issues in designing online
technology skills transfer programs: A Mexican context. Journal of Information
Systems and Technology. Special Issue on IT Investments in Emerging Economies.
Landau, J. (2007). Enhancing resilience: Families and communities as agents of change.
Family Process, 46(3), 351–365.
Lang, K., & Zagorsky, J. L. (2001). Does growing up with a parent absent really hurt? The
Journal of Human Resources, 36(2), 253-273.
Lee, S. S., & Osteryoung, J. S. (2001). A comparison of determinants for business start-up in
the U.S. and Korea. Journal of Small Business Management, 39(2), 193–200.
Lewis, P. (2006). The quest for invisibility: Female entrepreneurs and the masculine norm of
entrepreneurship. Gender, Work & Organization, 13, 453–469.
Lingelbach, D., De la Viña, L. and Ase, P. (2005), “What’s distinctive about growth-oriented
entrepreneurship in developing countries?” UTSA College of Business Center for
Global Entrepreneurship. Working Paper No. 1.
Marlow, S., & Patton, D. (2005). All credit to men? Entrepreneurship, finance, and gender.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29, 717–735.
Martes, A. C. B. (2000). Brasileiros nos Estados Unidos: Um Estudo sobre Imigrantes em
Massachusetts [Brazilians in the United States: a study on immigrants in
Massachusetts]. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.
Matthews, C. H., & Moser, S. B. (1996). A longitudinal investigation of the impact of family
background and gender on interest in small firm ownership. Journal of Small Business
Management, 34, 29–43.
McGuirk, E. M., & Pettijohn, T. F. (2008). Birth order and romantic relationship styles and
attitudes in college students. North American Journal of Psychology, 10, 37-52.
Michalski, R. L., & Shackelford, T. K. (2002). An attempted replication of the relationships
between birth order and personality. Journal for Research on Personality, 36, 182–
188.
Minniti, M., Allen, I. E., & Langowitz, N. (2005). Global entrepreneurship monitor report on
women and entrepreneurship. Babson College, The Centre for Women’s Leadership,
and London Business School, London.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 354
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Moore, S., Daniel, M., Bockenholt, U., Gauvin, L., Richards, L., & Stewart, S. (2010).
Associations among socioeconomic status, perceived neighbourhood control,
perceived individual control, and self-reported health. Journal of Community
Psychology, 38(6), 729-741.
Mueller, S. L., & Dato-On, M. C. (2008). Gender-role orientation as a determinant of
entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 13(1), 3–
20.
Narayanasamy, K., Rasiah, D., & Jacobs, C. J. (2011). An empirical study of factors
influencing gender differences in entrepreneurship. International Business and
Economics Research Journal, 10(10), 17-29.
National Women’s Foundation (2004). Capturing the impact: women-owned businesses in
the United States. Center for Women’s Business Research.
[www.nfwbo.org/pressreleases/ nationalstatetrends/capturingtheimpact.htm].
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2002). Math = male, me = female,
therefore math ≠ me. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 44–59.
Okonjo-Iweala, N., & Osafo-Kwaako, P. (2007). Nigeria’s economic reforms: Progress and
challenges. Brooklyn Global Economy and Development.
Osborne, C., & McLanahan, S. (2007). Partnership instability and child well-being. Journal
of Marriage and Family, 69, 1065-1083.
Oteh, A. (2009). The role of entrepreneurship in transforming the Nigerian economy. Paper
presented at the 7th
convocation lecture, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State,
Nigeria, 4th
December.
Paulhus, D. L., Trapnell, P. D., & Chen, D. (1999). Birth order effects on personality and
achievement within families. Psychological Science, 10, 482–488.
Robinson, P. B., Stimpson, D. V., Huefner, J. C., & Hunt, H. K. (1991). An attitude approach
to the prediction of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 15(4),
13-32.
Rogoff, E. G., & Heck, R. K. Z. (2003). Evolving research in entrepreneurship and family
business: Recognizing family as the oxygen that feeds the fire of entrepreneurship.
Journal of Business Venturing, 18(5), 559–566.
Ruhm, C. (2004). Parental employment and child cognitive development. The Journal of
Human Resources, 39(1), 155-192.
Sales, T. (2003). Brazilians away from home. NY: Center for Migration Studies.
Saroglou, V., & Fiasse, L. (2003). Birth order, personality, and religion: A study among
young adults from a three sibling family. Personality and Individual Differences, 35,
19–29.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 355
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Schiller, B. R. & Crewson, P. E. (1997). Entrepreneurial origins: A longitudinal inquiry.
Economic Inquiry, 35(3), 523–531.
Sexton, D. L., & Bowman-Upton, N. (1990). Female and male entrepreneurs: Psychological
characteristics and their role in gender-related discrimination. Journal of Business
Venturing, 5, 29–36.
Stavrou E. T., & Swiercz, P. M. (1998). Securing the future of the family enterprise: A model
of offspring intentions to join the business. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
23(2), 19–39.
Steenkamp, J. B. E. M., Hofstede, F., & Wedel, M. (1999). A crossnational investigation into
the individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness. Journal
of Marketing, 63, 55–69.
Soludo, C. C. (2006). Can Nigeria be the China of Africa? A lecture delivered at the
Founders’ day of the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, November, 23.
Sulloway, F. J. (1996). Born to rebel: Birth order, family dynamics and creative lives. New
York: Pantheon.
Thebaud, S. (2010). Gender and entrepreneurship as a career choice: Do self-assessments of
ability matter? Social Psychology Quarterly, 73(3), 288-304.
Thompson, E. R. (2009). Individual entrepreneurial intent: Construction clarification and
development of an internationally reliable metric. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 33(3), 669-694.
Turker, D., & Selcuk, S. S. (2009). Which factors affect entrepreneurial intention of
university students?” Journal of European Industrial Training, 33(2), 142-159.
Ullah, H., Dean, B. S., & Kaleem, M. (2011). A study of owner’s inherited factors affecting
entrepreneurial orientation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan. Interdisciplinary
Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(1), 712-725.
Urban, B. (2006). Entrepreneurial self-efficacy in a multicultural society: Measures and
ethnic differences. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 32(1), 2-10.
Valian, V. (1998). Why so slow? The advancement of women. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wang, C. K., & Wong, P. (2004). Entrepreneurial interest of university students in Singapore.
Technovation, 24, 163–172.
Williams, D. R., & Collins, C. (1995). US socioeconomic and racial differences in health:
Patterns and explanation. Annual Review of Sociology, 21, 349-386.
Yordanova, D. I., & Tarrazon, M. (2010). Gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions:
Evidence from Bulgaria. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 15(3), 245-261.
ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 356
AUGUST 2012
VOL 4, NO 4
Results
Table 1: Means, Standard deviation and inter-correlation between study variables
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Entrepreneurial intent 4.40 1.09 1
Age 25.63 4.34 -.02 1
Marital status 1.12 .33 -.01 .39*** 1
Parents education 1.40 .49 -.15** -.08* -.14** 1
Socioeconomic status 1.51 .50 -.07* -.08* -.11** .63*** 1
Ethnicity 1.49 .50 .16*** - .22*** -.18*** .05 .21*** 1
Family structure 1.74 .44 .26*** -.03 -.03 .03 .08* -.01 1
Family Business background 1.44 .50 .24*** .09* .12** -.47*** -.28*** -.03 .07* 1
Birth order 1.29 .46 .24*** .03 .07* -.00 -.02 -.01 .03 .00 1
Gender 1.38 .49 -.05 -.25*** -.01 .11* .16*** .18*** -.01 -.13** .02 1
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. A total of 425 final year undergraduate students completed the entrepreneurial intent scale. Gender (1 =
male, 2 = female); marital status (1 = single, 2 = married); parents education (1 = low, 2 = high); ethnic group (1= Tiv, 2 = Igbo); family
structure (1 = single parent, 2 = both parents); socioeconomic status (1 = low, 2 = high); parents occupation (1 = employment orientation, 2 =
business orientation); birth order (1= laterborn children, 2 = firstborn children); gender (1 = male, 2 = female). Entrepreneurial intent is coded so
that higher scores indicated higher entrepreneurial intent.
Top Related