A Study of Students’ Intention to Practice Entrepreneurship in Pharmacy

Abstract

Background: Entrepreneurship is frequently cited as a remedy to unemployment and stagnant economic growth. The rising demand for healthcare services has opened up nuance opportunities for entrepreneurship in the pharmaceutical industry. Yet, exposure of pharmacy students to entrepreneurship remains unappreciated. This study, therefore, investigated the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among pharmacy students in the University of Lagos. Methods: An integrated model was developed which combined factors from the theory of planned behaviour, the entrepreneurial events model, risk taking, and family background to explain determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among pharmacy students in the University of Lagos. The study used a cross-sectional descriptive research approach. The snowballing sampling approach was used to sample 148 students from the specified sampling frame. The model was estimated using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation technique, whereas the hypotheses and research questions were tested using the t-test. Results: The findings revealed that perception of entrepreneurial desirability is a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intentions. Parental agreement was also found to have a negative but significant impact on entrepreneurial intention giving partial support to the hypothesis. This result prompts further research on the influence of parents on entrepreneurial intention. The other variables – attitude, social norms, perceived behavioural control, perception of entrepreneurial feasibility, risk taking were not significant in determining entrepreneurial intentions. Conclusion: Research and policies regarding entrepreneurship should focus on how best to make entrepreneurship attractive to pharmacy students to boost productive investment in the health sector and address the epidemic of youth unemployment.