Entrepreneurship education and graduate self employment : the mediating role of self-efficacy and moderating roles of university support and family background

Abstract

In the current economic situation, the increasing amount of unemployment among graduates has been a major issue in Malaysia. Thus, the government has been promoting entrepreneurship education, particularly among the students in institutes of higher learning, to cater for this issue. Although it is believed that entrepreneurship education has the capacity to solve unemployment problem among graduates in Malaysia, the impact of entrepreneurship education is still undervalued. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to investigate: (a) the impact of entrepreneurship education on student’s self-employment intention; (b) the mediating role of entrepreneurial selfefficacy on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and self-employment intention; and (c) the moderating role of perceived university support and family background on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and selfemployment intention. The study employed the quantitative approach comprising of surveys, which were conducted using online and mail methods, as it has the advantage of achieving higher response rates at lower costs. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Scoial Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) were selected as the frameworks for understanding this phenomenon. Data were collected via questionnaire involving 388 students from five different public universities in Malaysia. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse respondents’ characteristics and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed in determining the relationship among the variables of the study. The results of the study indicated that the entrepreneurship education was positively significant to the self-employment intention with 62.7 percent (R2=0.627). This could be attributed to the effort taken by the Ministry of Higher Education in promoting entrepreneurship among students. All hypothesis were accepted. The mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy was supported and showed a statistically significant positive influence and mediated the relationship between entrepreneurship education and self-employment intention among students to pursue an entrepreneurial career. The study also confirmed that the perceived university support and family background moderated the relationship between entrepreneurship education and self-employment intention among students. The result of the study has valuable implications for policy makers in Ministry of Higher Education, universities and entrepreneurship educators. In addition, the findings of the study contribute to the body of knowledge by producing an informed policy direction to the policy makers and providing support to the important role of entrepreneurship education towards student’s self-employment intention.