The influence of self-efficacy on entrepreneurship interest of arts students at Durban University of Technology.

Abstract

Over the last two decades many countries worldwide experienced great economic challenges, resulting in a continuous growth in their unemployment rates, further stagnating their economic growth. Some of the affected countries have suffered a shortage of employment amongst the University Graduates, particularly in the field of Arts. Compared to Engineering, Business and Commerce graduates, Arts graduates are regarded as disadvantaged due to the perception that they are only employable in specific fields that are directly related to Arts and Design, while the counterparts could be employed in different industries. To counteract the shortage of organizational employment opportunities, entrepreneurship has been suggested as a useful alternative. The theoretical framework used was Self-efficacy. The main aim of the study was to raise awareness about entrepreneurship as a career option, as well as to identify and analyse factors that result in the development of entrepreneurship interest of Arts Students at DUT. A sample of 292 participants was drawn from a population of 1219 Arts and Design students, subsequently there were 307 valid questionnaires from respondents. The study was conducted using quantitative research methods. Simple Random Sampling was used to collect data from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year level Arts students in university venues. The Data was collected using hard copy survey questionnaire. SPSS statistical software was used for the analysis of data. The results affirmed that Arts students perceive entrepreneurship as a career option, however they are not willing to engage in entrepreneurship immediately after graduating, but rather 3 years later. The salient features of this study are that Entrepreneurship Education, Family Background and Strong Self-Efficacy positively influence Arts students to consider careers in Entrepreneurship, while Gender and Entrepreneurship Risk Fear has no significant impact on a student’s career decision. The results of the study were confirmed reliable using Cronbach's Alpha which ranged between 0.575-0.937 across all factors. It has been recommended that DUT should invest in the development of student’s entrepreneurship through various programmes, so that future graduates from the Faculty of Arts and Design will benefit.