Gender differences in entrepreneurial interest and practice among undergraduate students in Nigeria

  • Received March 1, 2023;
    Accepted May 11, 2023;
    Published June 12, 2023
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.21(2).2023.45
  • Article Info
    Volume 21 2023, Issue #2, pp. 482-492
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

The economic turbulence in the last two decades and the Covid-19 pandemic have impaired several economies, heightened unemployment, and worsened job loss and socio-economic hardships. Promoting entrepreneurship inclusiveness has become a critical strategy to revamp the economy. Meanwhile, the global economy has been projected to grow faster with an increase in women entrepreneurs. However, there seems to be a gender gap and differential in start-ups, which draws down women’s inclusion in the business environment. This study examines the gender differential in entrepreneurial interest and practice among 12,485 university students in Nigeria. The results reveal that 88% of male and 84% of female students want to start their own businesses. Both males (66%) and females (65%) reported high entrepreneurial interest, with no statistically significant difference between both genders. The logistic regression analysis shows that entrepreneurship education, relational support, risk-taking, self-efficacy, university ecosystem, and attitudes toward behavior are the main drivers of entrepreneurial interest among male and female students. However, the university ecosystem is found to not significantly affect entrepreneurial interest among male students. Similarly, all factors except for the university ecosystem significantly influence entrepreneurial practice among male and female students. However, relational support is not statistically significant for female students. The study concludes with appropriate policy suggestions that could improve and sustain entrepreneurship interest and practice in both male and female students.

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    • Table 1. Characteristics of the respondents
    • Table 2. Descriptive analysis of entrepreneurial interest among male and female students
    • Table 3. Ordered logistic regression analysis of factors influencing entrepreneurial interest in male and female students
    • Table 4. Ordered logistic regression analysis of factors influencing entrepreneurial practice in male and female students
    • Conceptualization
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Data curation
      Caleb Adelowo
    • Investigation
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Methodology
      Caleb Adelowo
    • Project administration
      Caleb Adelowo
    • Resources
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Supervision
      Caleb Adelowo
    • Validation
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Writing – original draft
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Writing – review & editing
      Caleb Adelowo, Yusuf Akinwale
    • Formal Analysis
      Yusuf Akinwale
    • Software
      Yusuf Akinwale