Entrepreneurship Education and Business Start-Up Intentions Among EBSU Economics Graduates

Entrepreneurship education has gained increasing recognition as a mechanism for cultivating business creation intentions among university graduates, particularly in economies where formal employment absorption rates remain low. This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurship education and business start-up intentions among Economics graduates of Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki, with data collected from 2020 to 2024. The study is anchored on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by Ajzen, which posits that intention to undertake a specific behavior, such as starting a business, is predicted by attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. A survey research design was employed, targeting EBSU Economics graduates within five years of graduation. From an estimated population of 2,200 recent graduates, a sample of 327 respondents was drawn using systematic random sampling. Structured questionnaires constituted the primary instrument. Binary logistic regression was applied to determine the predictors of entrepreneurial intention. Findings reveal that entrepreneurship education significantly and positively predicted business start-up intention, with graduates who completed entrepreneurship courses exhibiting 2.4 times higher odds of pursuing business start-up relative to those without such exposure. Access to start-up capital and business mentorship were the strongest moderating factors between education and actual start-up behavior. The study concludes that entrepreneurship education at EBSU meaningfully shapes graduate start-up orientation. It is recommended that EBSU formalize entrepreneurship education across all Economics courses and establish a graduate business incubation center with seed funding partnerships.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, start-up intentions, planned behavior, EBSU, graduate employment