Graduate entrepreneurial intentions in the rural provinces of South Africa

Abstract

This paper investigated the entrepreneurial intentions of 355 finalyear commerce students from two universities in the predominantly rural provinces of South Africa, namely Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. The study was based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The objectives of the study were to test whether the TPB can help explain the entrepreneurial intentions of rural university students in a South African context and to assess whether these students will have the intentions to start their own businesses in the future. The study was conducted by means of a survey using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the TPB is a valuable tool in understanding entrepreneurial intentions, and that the majority of students intend to start a business in the future. The attitude towards becoming an entrepreneur explained the most variance in entrepreneurial intention of the respondents, followed by perceived behavioural control. Subjective norms did not have a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. The results suggest that the TPB could be a valuable tool for measuring entrepreneurial intentions as part of a comprehensive entrepreneurship development programme in rural areas.

Key words: entrepreneurial intention, rural entrepreneurial activity, Limpopo province, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, theory of planned behaviour, youth entrepreneurship development