Enhancing young graduates’ intention towards entrepreneurship development in Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Basic Student Entrepreneurial Programme (BSEP) among local university graduates who have undergone the training programme in entrepreneurship development.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 410 respondents who had participated in BSEP were interviewed with a structural questionnaire to gather information on their social attitude towards the effectiveness of BSEP on their intention to become an agri‐entrepreneur. Chi‐square analysis was used to determine the relationship between demographic variables towards motivating agri‐entrepreneurship among the participants.

Findings

The results show that the participants agreed upon the effectiveness of BSEP in developing graduates’ intention towards becoming agri‐entrepreneurs. The results also show that there is a significant relationship between three variables which motivate participants to become agri‐entrepreneurs. These were the origin of the participant, the presence of family members already involved in entrepreneurial activities and educational background.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is only concerned with students’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of BSEP in encouraging them to become agri‐entrepreneurs. The results from this paper are limited in terms of determining whether they really become an agri‐entrepreneur or not because this research only focuses on intention.

Practical implications

The paper provides an important exploratory analysis of the BSEP programme to enable further research to take place in the area of entrepreneurship education. The findings provide a valuable insight on effective teaching methodologies in the area of entrepreneurship education.

Originality/value

The paper expands on Ajzen's framework to provide a basis to improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in Malaysia.

Citation

Mohamed, Z., Rezai, G., Nasir Shamsudin, M. and Mu’az Mahmud, M. (2012), "Enhancing young graduates’ intention towards entrepreneurship development in Malaysia", Education + Training, Vol. 54 No. 7, pp. 605-618. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911211265648