Abstract:
There is a need for developing countries to further enlighten entrepreneurship as a
professional path for students and an avenue to reduce graduate unemployment. The
use of Entrepreneurship Education to stimulate Entrepreneurial Intentions has been
widely studied but its impact has yielded contrasting results in different contexts. Little
is known about low-income economies like Uganda as most studies are from middle income and the developed world. Besides, there is scanty literature on the interactive
effects in this area since past research has focused on the direct effects. The study,
therefore, filled these research gaps by focusing on the conditional indirect impact of
Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy (ESE) on the link between Entrepreneurship Education
(EE) and Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI) via Entrepreneurial Attitude (EA). The study
was guided by eight objectives; To determine the impact of; EE, EA, and ESE on EIs,
Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Attitude; the mediating effect of
Entrepreneurial Attitude on the link between Entrepreneurship Education and
Entrepreneurial Intentions, the conditional effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy on
the associations between Entrepreneurial Attitude and Entrepreneurial Intentions,
Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions, lastly, the moderated
mediation impact of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy on the link between Entrepreneurship
Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions via Entrepreneurial Attitude. The study was
grounded on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Social Cognitive Theory, and
Entrepreneurial Event Model. The positivist research paradigm in line with the
explanatory design was employed to obtain and analyze data. From a population of
6,408 undergraduates, a sample of 458 was determined. Data was collected using
multistage sampling coupled with both random and systematic sampling using a self administered questionnaire. Hierarchical and multiple regression models using
PROCESS macro were used to test for the hypotheses. Findings indicate that:
Entrepreneurship Education (β=.489, P=.000, R2=.274, R2∆=.212), Entrepreneurial
Attitude (β=.544, P=.000, R2=.412, R2∆=.138), and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
(β=.302, P=.000, R2=.454, R2∆=.042) had a significant positive impact on
Entrepreneurial Intentions. Also, Entrepreneurship Education significantly affects
Entrepreneurial Attitude (β=.405, P=.000); Entrepreneurial Attitude partially mediates
the link between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions (β=.220,
CI=.152, .294). Lastly, the study revealed that ESE has an antagonistic conditional
effect on the association between; EA and EIs (β=-.201, P=.006, CI=.-.342, -.059) and
mediating effect of EE on EIs through EA (β= -.081, SE=.038, CI=.-.158, -.008). To
this end, the study provides insights by revealing that Entrepreneurial Attitude is a
better predictor of EIs. In addition, there is evidence of a moderated mediation effect of
ESE on the relationship between EE and EIs via EA. Implying that at low levels of
ESE, the indirect effect of EE on EIs via EA is high and significant. Therefore,
educators and policymakers need to establish students’ entrepreneurial competence
gaps, such that the entrepreneurial course is customized to the competence needs of the
students other than a generalized and standardized entrepreneurial course. Also,
entrepreneurship teaching should be introduced right from primary schools such that
this career option is oriented to students before they develop their career intentions.
Finally, a special financing program should be designed for graduates to enable them
easily access start-up capital. However, a longitudinal study is needed to examine how
intentions are developed, other than undergraduate, other student population should be
focused on and a comparative study for business and non-business students are
recommended.