Contextual Influences of Scholarly Ambition on Entrepreneurship Education in Kenya

Abstract

Increased involvement in entrepreneurial activity in the past few decades has generated an overwhelming interest in entrepreneurial careers and academic opportunities in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education is multidimensional and manifests on the premise of creative strategies, innovative techniques, courageous leadership and understanding of trends in the business environment. Scholarly ambition as a Social Cognitive Career predictor is useful in describing intrinsic motivations in career choice as it provides the basis for motivation, determination, and strength when making career choices. Scholarly ambition is not only involved in defining entrepreneurship discipline but also stimulates involvement in the entrepreneurial process. This study sought to determine the role of scholarly ambition in pursuit of entrepreneurship specialization amongst undergraduate students in Kenya. A correlation quantitative research designed as a descriptive survey had a sample of 327, third year students who participated in the research. Data was collected using questionnaires modeled through hierarchical regression and analyzed using SPSS version 24 and was presented in form of comprehensive tables that depicted the relationship between scholarly ambition and entrepreneurship education. There was statistically significant and positive relationship between scholarly ambition and entrepreneur education specialization. It further revealed that, Scholarly ambition, as an intrinsic factor, contributed to 24.7% of factors affecting entrepreneurship education specialization uptake. The study further went on to give recommendations relevant to stakeholders including students, educators, parents, institutions and government agencies based on a better understanding of the role scholastic ambition plays in determining student choice of career specialization.