Nigerian Journal of Banking and Financial Issues (NJBFI)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ORIENTATION: PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT GENERATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY, LOKOJA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on employment generation among undergraduate students in Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State. The effect of entrepreneurial orientation on employment generation remains underexplored. Given the country's high unemployment rates, particularly among university graduates, there is a pressing need to investigate how entrepreneurial orientation can serve as a tool for alleviating this issue. The specific objectives are to: determine the effect of innovativeness on youth employment among undergraduate students in Federal University, Lokoja; evaluate the effect of proactiveness on youth unemployment among undergraduate students in Federal University, Lokoja; and investigate the level of risk taking on youth unemployment among undergraduate students in Federal University, Lokoja. Survey research design was adopted for this study. The study used all the undergraduate students of Federal University, Lokoja. As of June 2024, the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) has over 17,000 students (FUL Official Website). For this study, a cluster sampling and simple random sampling were adopted. The Krejcie and Morgan formula is used for the study to determine the sample size of 220. The findings of the study showed that there is a strong relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) and youth employment. The R value (0.9609) suggests a very high correlation between the predictors and the dependent variable. The R-squared value (0.921< 0.005) implies that 92.1% of the variation in youth employment can be explained by the combined effect of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking.  The study concluded that youth unemployment in Nigeria is endemic and one way to get over it is through entrepreneurial orientation. Based on the findinof this study, the following recommendations are proffered: the government through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) should create a supportive and enabling environment that will improve SMEs participation in entrepreneurship development in Kogi State. To improve the relationship between perceived desirability and youth self-employment, there is need for the government and community leaders to improve the perception of youths and their desire. This is because, perceived desirability can impact how young individuals perceive the risks associated with entrepreneurship.