TITLE:
Spinning off an Entrepreneurship and Investment Culture among Zambian University Students: Prospects and Impediments
AUTHORS:
Kennedy Mwila, Enala S. Lufungulo, Gift Masaiti, Manuel Siampule, Maimbolwa Namuchana, Onwubuya Gift Chinemerem, Alex Mugala
KEYWORDS:
Entrepreneurship, Investment, Culture, University Students
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.10 No.4,
July
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: The responsibility for a society’s economic development rests not only on
policymakers. The general citizenries including university students have an imperative
to enable economic growth. In today’s competitive job market, many graduates face
difficulties in securing a job after the completion of their studies. Thus, examining
the significance and contributions of entrepreneurship and investment is becoming
increasingly popular at the college and university levels. The present study was
conducted on university students at a private university in Lusaka, Zambia. The
study sought to establish the relationship between the students’
study programs and their attitude towards entrepreneurship and investment culture.
It further sought to analyse the factors affecting students’ entrepreneurship and
investment culture. The study was purely quantitative in nature and employed a descriptive
correlational research design. A questionnaire survey was used as a tool for data
collection from 171 students. Key findings suggest that there established a significant
correlation between the study programs by students and their positive attitude towards
entrepreneurship and investment. Results indicated that students enrolled in the
School of Business and Management exhibited a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship
and investment compared to their counterparts in the School of Education, Social
Science and Technology, School of Law and School of Health Sciences. A further novel
finding through ANOVA test is that out of the eight factors that were interrogated
six of the factors were established to be significant in contributing to poor entrepreneurship
and investment culture among students these include: the academic program having
inadequate course content on entrepreneurship and investment; inadequate university
policies to support students to run business on campus; lack of family entrepreneurs
negatively affects students’ interest in business and entrepreneurship; it was difficult
to start up a business because of lack of capital
among others. The study, therefore, recommends among others inclusion of
significant course content on entrepreneurship and investment in non-business
and management-related programs. Future studies
should aim to replicate results using a qualitative approach for direct involvement
and deeper understanding through face-to-face interviews with the students.