The Entrepreneurial Intention of Undergraduate Students in South Africa: The Influences of Entrepreneurship Education and Previous Work Experience

Abstract

The primary aim of the study is to assess the entrepreneurial intention of business students. These are students that have done entrepreneurship and small business management modules. The study will also investigate empirically whether there is a significant difference in the entrepreneurial intention of students who have previous work experience compared with students without previous work experience. The study focussed on the final year students (undergraduate level) in the Department of Business Management of a South African university. This study made use of convenience sampling. Data was collected through the use of self-administered questionnaire in a survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and the T-test. The results indicate business students have a high level of entrepreneurial intention. In addition, students with previous work experience have a higher level of entrepreneurial intention compared to students without previous work experience. However, the difference is not statistically significant. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p294