Entrepreneurship Education Intention and Performance Indicators of SMEs amongst Managers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Across the globe, it has been established that the activities of small and medium enterprises are critical for the growth and development of a country, thus attracting investigations. The aim of this empirical study is to investigate issues relating to entrepreneurship education intention and performance indicators of small and medium enterprises amongst managers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design was used and primary data collected via questionnaire. With the aid of statistical package for social sciences version 25, mean, aggregate mean, correlation and spearman rank were used to analyze the data collected. From the empirical findings, the study concludes that entrepreneurship education intention relates positively and significantly to performance indicators as measured by dimensions of cognitive education and customer service – their respective proxies. It is, therefore, recommended that for SMEs to operate competitively and profitably, thereby contributing significantly to the economic recovery and growth of Nigeria, owners and managers of entrepreneurial ventures need to continuously acquire entrepreneurial education for themselves and their employees. Also, leaders or managers of SMEs in Nigeria need to engage more in transformational leadership styles. More specifically, the contents of personnel development programmes should be intentionally geared towards enhancing the cognitive dimensions of entrepreneurship education for managers of SMEs for them to operate efficiently in order to gain competitive advantage.