The Impact of Socio-Cognitive Factors and Psychological Attributes on Undergraduates’ Entrepreneurial Intention and Intensity in Ghana

Abstract

Entrepreneurial thinkings and ideas aspire to motivate and nurture Ghanaian students to self-employment and having the intention to start new jobs or ventures. Undergraduates and graduate students possess a great potential of becoming entrepreneurs and are somewhat near the stage of choosing a career. Although, entrepreneurial education among undergraduates were introduced and made compulsory in Ghana universities over the past two decades, little research have been done with the aim of assessing its impact on socio-cognitive factors as well as psychological attributes and to ascertain whether there exist relationships between entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial intensity and students’ career of becoming entrepreneurs. This research seeks to contribute to the field by investigating the impacts of Internal Locus of Control, Motivation, General Self Efficacy, Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy, Perceived Desirability, Perceived Enterprenuerial Success Factors and Subjective Norm (LOC, MOT, GSE, ESE, PD, PESF and SN) on Entrepreneurial Intention (EIN) and Entrepreneurial Intensity (EIY) for the purpose of seeing the importance of certain socio-cognitive factors and psychological attributes of Ghana undergraduates on their entrepreneurial intention and intensity. The study was carried out among 184 students as a sample and gives insights into appraising entrepreneurial mind-sets of undergraduates in Ghana. It was discovered that to a large extent LOC, PD, ESE, MOT, and PESF have a positive impact on EIN and ESE, MOT, and PESF were found to have a positive impact on EIY among this same group of people.