Effect of Entrepreneurship Training on Entrepreneurial Behavior of Rural Youth in Bomet County
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Date
2017-04
Authors
Nasonga, Muganda Rose
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Today’s dynamic business environment and global competition necessitate the identification of
new ways to enhance entrepreneurship training especially to the youth. This not only help them to
better entrepreneurs or be self-employed but also contribute to increase the perception of important
entrepreneurship aspects, as well as create a real vision of entrepreneurship problems. The main
objective of the study therefore was to establish the effect of entrepreneurship training on
entrepreneurial behaviour of the Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise
programme in Bomet County. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to
determine the effect of entrepreneurship attitude, skills, knowledge and social network on
entrepreneurial behaviour of the youth in Bomet County. The study reviewed the theoretical
foundation focusing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Entrepreneurial Event Model as well
as the relevant empirical literature guided by the specific objectives which provided better
understanding of the concepts and their relationships. Descriptive design was used in collecting
the data from respondents because it ensures complete description of the situation, making sure
that there is minimum bias in the collection of data. The target population was five hundred
whereby a sample size of hundred respondents was drawn comprising of entrepreneurship trainers
and youth trainees who were still attending entrepreneurship training programme in Bomet
County. Questionnaires was used for collecting data containing mainly closed ended questions to
the sample respondents thus ensuring that each respondent received the same set of questions. The
data collected was then cleaned, checked for errors, coded and then analyzed using descriptive
statistics employing mean and standard deviation with the aid of SPSS. Data collected and
analyzed was finally presented in various formats such as charts, graphs and tables. From the
regression analysis, all the factors of entrepreneurship training studied, that is, attitude, skills,
knowledge and social network/norms have a significant effect on entrepreneurial behaviour of
rural youth in Bomet County. 77.3 % of the variance in attitude, 70.6 % of the variance in skills,
89.7 % of the variance in knowledge, and 78.2% of the variance in social network representing the
independent variables as shown by linear regression has a significant effect on the entrepreneurial
behaviour. All the predictor variables, that is, attitude, skills, knowledge and social network β-
values were positive indicating that they directly proportional to entrepreneurial behaviour of rural
youth in Bomet County, in which case an improvement in attitude, skills, knowledge and positive
support from the social network causes a positive change towards entrepreneurial behaviour of
rural youth in the County. The study therefore recommends that both the national and county
government should make flexible policies to attract young graduates to be entrepreneurs to develop
their socio-economic status. Also, they should facilitate entrepreneurial training programmes for
the youth so as to enable them to develop the right skills, knowledge and competence in
entrepreneurship. The study also recommends that social groups, families and peer groups should
share their knowledge, skills, ideas and network with one another so as to build stronger
entrepreneurial behaviour and ensure business success for the youth
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master in Business Administration (Entrepreneurship Option) of Kenyatta University