Entrepreneurial Orientation and Growth of Youth-Owned Businesses in Nsukka Urban: Implications for Graduate Employment

Youth entrepreneurship has gained significant policy attention as a sustainable strategy for addressing graduate unemployment in Nigeria, where the absorptive capacity of formal labour markets remains severely constrained. This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and the growth of youth-owned businesses in Nsukka Urban, with implications for reducing graduate unemployment. The study is anchored on Lumpkin and Dess's Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) framework, which identifies innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy as the core dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation. A survey research design was adopted. The study population comprised 231 youth-owned businesses registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and operating for a minimum of two years within Nsukka Urban. Using random sampling, 145 business owners were sampled, and a structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analysed through factor analysis and multiple regression. Findings reveal that innovativeness and proactiveness are the strongest predictors of business growth in the study context, while risk-taking orientation significantly moderates growth outcomes depending on access to capital. The results also indicate that youth entrepreneurs with formal business education demonstrate stronger EO scores and higher growth trajectories. It is concluded that entrepreneurial orientation is a critical pathway to sustainable business growth and graduate employment creation in urban Nigerian communities. The study recommends that tertiary institutions embed practical entrepreneurship modules in all undergraduate curricula and partner with financial institutions to ease capital access for young graduates.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation, youth-owned businesses, graduate unemployment, innovativeness, Nsukka