Effects of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial capabilities on graduate employability in Ghana.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education and training has been considered as a crucial tool in ensuring the development of national economies through the development of human resources (entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs). These products (entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs) of entrepreneurship education and training programmes are considered as the fourth most essential factor of production in both developed and developing economies. Their roles within global and local economies have been useful since the beginning of human history. This study sought to establish the connection that exists between entrepreneurship education and graduate employability in an emerging economy, which is an area that is under-researched and has been characterised with uncertainty of results. Specifically, the study investigated whether exposure to entrepreneurship education had the tendency to influence the development of graduates’ entrepreneurial capabilities, and their effects on employability in Ghana.

The study was carried out in some twelve state-owned enterprises and three tertiary institutions in Ghana. A convergent mixed methods approach was adopted to gather data from a sample of three hundred and forty-two (342) respondents, comprising of three hundred and thirteen (313) graduates, seventeen (17) human resource managers, and twelve (12) entrepreneurship lecturers. Quota and convenience sampling techniques were employed to identify graduates, while academics (lecturers) and human resource managers were selected by way of census. A census was used because of the small number of academics and human resource managers involved in the study (i.e., less than fifteen in each case). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and interview guide, respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data, while content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data with the help of NVivo 12 Pro. Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicated that entrepreneurial education has a significant positive effect on graduate employability in Ghana. Specifically, the study revealed that entrepreneurship education influences the acquisition and development of graduates’ entrepreneurial capabilities within the Ghanaian labour market. Entrepreneurial capabilities were also found to be relevant to the development and growth of state-owned enterprises in Ghana,

in terms of competitive advantage, survival and sustainability, employee performance, organisation productiveness, as well as resource mobilisation and utilisation. The results also revealed that both entrepreneurial activities and approaches to entrepreneurship education influence the development of entrepreneurial capabilities of Ghanaian graduates. The findings of the study have implications for the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship in tertiary institutions, graduate empowerment and employment, as well as the recruitment and selection of graduates by human resource managers. It is, therefore, recommended that a national policy should be developed to provide a policy direction for entrepreneurship education, and resources should be devoted to its teaching and learning, as well as for research. Future research should focus on evaluating the effects of entrepreneurship education on graduate employability, with special attention on entrepreneurial engagements.