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 Management Research Review
Determinants of entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates in a Muslim
community
Precious C. Ezeh, Anayo D. Nkamnebe, Uzezi P. Omodafe,
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Precious C. Ezeh, Anayo D. Nkamnebe, Uzezi P. Omodafe, (2019) "Determinants of entrepreneurial
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Muslim
Determinants of entrepreneurial community
intention among undergraduates
in a Muslim community
Precious C. Ezeh
Department of Business Administration, Federal University, Gusau,
Zamfara, Nigeria Received 19 September 2018
Revised 20 November 2018
25 January 2019
Anayo D. Nkamnebe Accepted 3 February 2019
Department of Marketing, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,
Anambra, Nigeria, and
Uzezi P. Omodafe
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Department of Marketing, Delta State Polytechnic Ogwashi Uku,

Ogwashi-Uku, Nigeria

Abstract
Purpose – As part of the strategy to curb the rising unemployment among Nigerian undergraduates,
entrepreneurship subjects were made compulsory in the curriculum of all the higher educational institutions
(HEIs) in Nigeria. The idea is to trigger strong desire for enterprise creation rather than remaining job seekers
among the undergraduates upon graduation. Accordingly, this paper aims to determine predictors to
entrepreneurial intentions among university students in Muslim community of Northern Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach – Theory of planned behaviour was extended to include compatibility
and educational support. The model was empirically tested and was analysed using the partial least square
structural equation modelling technique on a sample of 312 higher institution students in Zamfara State.
Findings – The finding shows that entrepreneurial intention is taken as a function of educational support,
compatibility and perceived behavioural control. The extended model has predictive relevance, and it
explained 36 per cent of variance in entrepreneurial intention.
Originality/value – The inclusion of compatibility has a unique effect on this study; no study has tested
the effects of compatibility in entrepreneurial intention. In addition, no study has been conducted in a core
Muslim state in Northern Nigeria, where most of the economic policies are Islamic-driven and unemployment
rate is relatively high. In addition, no study has been conducted in the context of necessity entrepreneurship
using TPB.
Keywords Entrepreneurial intention, Undergraduates, Muslim community, TPB, Compatibility,
Educational support
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Ideally, the youth represents the most active workforce of any productive society. Therefore,
it is abnormal if youth unemployment becomes high. In such situations, reversing such ugly
trend is crucial strategic choice for productivity and economic development. In the case of
Nigeria and core Northern states in particular, youth unemployment is on a steady rise. For
instance, the National Bureau of Statistics reports that youth unemployment rate in Nigeria Management Research Review
averaged 21.73 per cent from 2014 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 33.10 per cent in © Emerald Publishing Limited
2040-8269
the third quarter of 2017 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Northern Nigeria is DOI 10.1108/MRR-09-2018-0348
 MRR predominately a Muslim enclave. Hence, Abdullahi (2018, p. 1) captures the state of youth
unemployment in Northern Nigeria as follows:
Today’s Northern Nigeria wears its ugliness like some kind of tribal marks; from Adamawa to
Zamfara, from Kano to Kwara, from Borno to Birnin Kebbi. Poverty is a general Nigerian
condition. However, in the North, poverty speaks with a debilitating accent that is peculiarly
northern, displaying some of the worst human development indicators in the world. It is reported
that 71.5 per cent of the population in North Eastern Nigeria lives in absolute poverty and more
than half are malnourished, making it the poorest part of the country. With the activities of Boko
Haram, which has disrupted economic and social activities for more than half a decade the
situation has definitely gone worse. A 2013 World Bank report shows that poverty in 16 of the 19
Northern States have doubled since 1980. In 2010, nine of the 19 Northern States had the highest
levels of unemployment in Nigeria. National Bureau of Statistics reported that in 2010, Zamfara
State recorded the highest rate of unemployment at 42.6 per cent when overall unemployment in
Nigeria is 23.9 per cent. This is not peculiar to Zamfara. In fact, nine States in Northern Nigeria
had the highest levels of unemployment in the country, some as high as 40 per cent or even
higher. In addition, while youth unemployment has reached a critical stage for the whole of
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Nigeria, the young Northerner is overwhelmingly the least likely to find a job. This is hardly
surprising, as almost the entire industrial base of the north has collapsed. Kano State reported the
disappearance of 48 companies in 2004 alone. The collapse of the majority of textile and sugar
companies had direct impact on cotton and sugar cane farming thereby spreading poverty to the
core of the society. New Nigerian Newspaper disappeared. Bank of the North collapsed. Kano and
Kaduna that used to be the bustling hub of manufacturing in Nigeria have become one massive
graveyard of dead factories.
The consequences of the above state of affair is increasing vulnerability of the youth to
exploitation by the elites, thereby resulting to anti-social behaviour and general
backwardness. Indeed the recent incidence in the North Eastern Nigeria by the “BokoHaran”
is argued to represent a classical evidence of such vulnerability where youths are recruited
by the elites for their selfish political and economic gains. In contrast to the above assertion,
many studies have found that Islam encourages entrepreneurship activities (Anggadwita
et al., 2017; Ramadani et al., 2015; Oukil, 2013). Moreover, religion has significant impact on
entrepreneurial intention (Raiz et al., 2016). Therefore, identifying the factors that predict
entrepreneurial intention in a Muslim community becomes imperative. Of a matter of
interest to note is that entrepreneurship is an agent for social and economical development
(Koe et al., 2012). In this context, introducing entrepreneurship as part of curriculum in
schools becomes a well-thought out plan to empower youths to create their own businesses
and become economically independent.
Thus, there has been a call by Nigerian Government and higher education institutions
(HEIs) to encourage undergraduates to embrace entrepreneurship. For example, in 2004 the
National Universities Commission (NUC) mandated all universities in Nigeria to introduce
entrepreneurship education as part of course requirement before graduation (NUC, 2004).
The goal of (NUC) is to enforce entrepreneurial mind-set among Nigerian undergraduates
and also infuse necessary entrepreneurship knowledge and skills to them. Furthermore, a
number of programmes and agencies are mounted to address the issue of youth
unemployment in Nigeria.
Arguably, this policy direction acknowledges the importance of entrepreneurship as a
promoter of employment and economic development. Thus, entrepreneurship offers
university graduates an opportunity and the mind-set of becoming employers of labour
rather than job seekers. Surprisingly, Sodipo (2014) observed that the Nigerian university
graduates still roam about the street seeking for employment. Thus, in Spain, Liñán et al.
(2011) found that student’s high preference to be an employee is associated with lower
 entrepreneurial intention. This state of being suggests the need to empirically determine the Muslim
factors that triggers entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduates in Northern Nigeria. community
Even though a number of studies (Ramoni, 2016) have looked at entrepreneurial intention in
Nigeria, but none of these studies examined Zamfara State in particular. Thus, Zamfara
state is seen as a core Muslim state; hence, the Islamic religious attributes of this state makes
this study unique. In addition, according to Abdullahi (2018), Zamfara State recorded the
highest rate of unemployment, at 42.6 per cent in 2017. However, Islam encourages all
Muslims to be innovative and active entrepreneurs (Faizal et al., 2013). Contrarily, the high
rate of unemployment in Zamfara state makes this study timely and important.
Despite the research in the general area of entrepreneurial intentions, some studies, such
as Moriano et al. (2011) and De Pillis and Reardon (2007) postulate that predictors of
entrepreneurial intentions vary across cultures and personality trait. Furthermore, Paul et al.
(2017) and Madichie et al. (2008) equally report the role of culture as predictor of
entrepreneurial outcome. Thus, the need for context specific research makes researching
entrepreneurial intentions of undergraduates in a Muslim community valid and urgent. In
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addition, no study has been conducted in the context of necessity entrepreneurship.

Accordingly, this paper seeks to determine predictors of entrepreneurial intentions among
the undergraduate in a Muslim state where unemployment rate is alarming. After this
foregoing introduction, the rest of the paper is divided into brief review of literature,
methodology, analysis and discussion.

2. Literature review
Generally, entrepreneurs are considered to be innovators who take risk with the view of
positively changing their environment. Hence, contributions of entrepreneurs towards
economic development cannot be overemphasised. Specifically, Job creation has been
regarded as one of major contributions of entrepreneurs (Koe et al., 2012). However, based on
Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs, those who show positive entrepreneurial attitude will
regard entrepreneurship as a way of achieving self-actualisation, while those who have
negative attitude will regard entrepreneurship as a last resort. Arguably, many Nigerian
graduates who cannot find white-collar job view entrepreneurship as a last resort. In
addition, Varamäki et al. (2015) posit that higher education schooling has a negative impact
on the development of entrepreneurial potential of individuals. In addition, Fayolle and
Gailly (2015) found positive effects of an Entrepreneurial Education Programme on students
whose previous entrepreneurial exposure is weak or inexistent, while it will not impact on
those who have been exposed to entrepreneurship. However, Boulton and Turner (2005)
postulate that entrepreneurs are made and not born; thus, one can be trained to become an
entrepreneur. Also, Turker and Selcuk (2009), argue that the level of entrepreneurial
intention is as a result of educational support. Thus, according to Papa et al. (2018b), social
media instigates knowledge that lead to entrepreneurial intention. Nevertheless, Laukkanen
(2000) argue that there are other factors that contribute to entrepreneurial intention. On this
note, there is a limit to what can be taught in entrepreneurship training programmes. In
addition, Henry et al. (2005) found that only some aspects of entrepreneurship can
successfully be taught. The forgoing arguments indicate that some aspects of entrepreneur
are inherent in the individual. Thus, Madichie et al. (2008) and De Pillis and Reardon (2007)
posit that there are personal qualities that inform an entrepreneur. Furthermore, Shane
(2010) posits that individual DNA or genes influences his/her becoming an entrepreneur.
Thus, we conceptualised Compatibility as the degree to which an individual DNA or gene
and culture are compatible with being an entrepreneur. In the other words, the degree to
which entrepreneurship is inherent in ones genes and culture, will determine his/her
 MRR entrepreneurial intention. However, many scholars have examined the impact of
compatibility in adoption of innovation (Bunker et al., 2007). Surprisingly, no study has ever
studied the impact of compatibility on entrepreneurial intention.

2.1 Empirical review

A number of scholars have studied the entrepreneurial intention of students (Usman, 2016),
but none was specifically in a Muslim community. However, Palamida et al. (2016) study a
turbulent environment, and Koe et al. (2012) study millennial generation. In addition,
empirical work by Usman (2016) found that Ajzen theory of planned behaviour (TPB) could
predict the entrepreneurial intention among Muslim student. Usman (2016) found that
personal behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control influence
entrepreneurial intention among Muslim undergraduates. However, our study is on
entrepreneurial intention among the undergraduate in a Muslim community.
In addition, Mwiya et al. (2017) examined the influence of subjective norms, attitude
towards entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control on entrepreneurial intention.
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They found that perceived behavioural control, attitude to entrepreneurship and social
norms predict entrepreneurial intention. Equally, Yang (2013) found that entrepreneurial
attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control significant influence Chinese
students’ entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, Paço et al. (2011) confirmed that personal
attitudes and perceived behavioural control are very important in explaining the
entrepreneurial intention.
Thus, scholars have argued that inclusion of other constructs increases the explanatory
power of TPB towards entrepreneurial intention (Roy et al., 2017). Therefore, Roy et al.
(2017) added entrepreneurial personality traits, entrepreneurial knowledge and perceived
career option to the TPB model and the predictive power increase from 0.27 to 0.36, while
when perceived self-efficacy was treated as a mediator between entrepreneurial personality
traits and entrepreneurial intention the predictive power increased by 5 per cent. In addition,
Ferreira et al. (2012) develop a model that combines both psychological and behavioural
approaches, to study the entrepreneurial intention of secondary school students. Their
proposed model explained 62.2 per cent of the variance in entrepreneurial intention. They
conceptualised psychological approach as locus of control, propensity to take risk, self-
confidence, need for achievement, tolerance of ambiguity and innovativeness, while the
behavioural variables are personal attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural
control. They found that only need for achievement, self-confidence and personal attitude
affects entrepreneurial intention. Yurtkoru et al. (2014) modified TPB model by eliminating
subjective norm as a direct effect on entrepreneurial intention. Zhang et al. (2015)
conceptualised attitude, social norm, controlled behaviour, short-term risk taking preference
and psychological well-being as factors that influence entrepreneurial intention. They found
that social norm, controlled behaviour and short-term risk taking preference are the
determinant of entrepreneurial intention, while psychological wellbeing and attitude are not.
This study is contradictory to the known fact that more positive and self-determined a
student is the more his entrepreneurial intention, this finding is faulted by the AVE score of
psychological wellbeing that is below 0.50 (Hair et al., 2014).
In addition, Ambad and Ag Damit (2016) applied the TPB to determine the
undergraduate students’ entrepreneurial intention in Malaysia. Out of the perceived
educational support, perceived relational support, perceived structural support, personal
attitude, and perceived behavioural control tested. They found that personal attitude,
perceived behavioural control, and perceived relational support are the predictors to
entrepreneurial intention. Equally, Alexandera and Honig (2016) investigate the possible
 moderating role of indigenous ethnic culture on the attitude, subjective norm and perceived Muslim
behavioural control on entrepreneurial intention relationships. In support of the TPB, community
attitude and perceived behavioural control have a positive influence on the probability of
becoming an entrepreneur but subjective norm was not a significant predictor. Thus, the
current study extends TPB by adding educational support and compatibility.

2.2 Theoretical review

TPB, according to Ajzen (1991), held that human action or behaviours are guided by three
main considerations: attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived
behavioural control which cumulatively produce behavioural intention. Thus, TPB has four
major elements which are attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and
behavioural intention. One new construct, compatibility, from innovation diffusion theory
(Rogers, 2003) and educational support, from the literature reviewed were added to measure
their relationship with entrepreneurial intention of undergraduates in a Muslim community.
Many models have been used to study entrepreneurial intentions, for example, Shapero
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and Sokol (1982) or Bird (1988). None has as much influence as Ajzen’s TPB (Ajzen, 1991;
Palamida et al., 2016). Hence, TPB is an effective and influential model for studying and
understanding entrepreneurial intention (Moriano et al., 2011). In addition, Ajzen and
Fishbein (1980) posit that the three antecedents of TPB are sufficient to explain behavioural
intentions. They went further to argue that TPB provides coherent theoretical framework
with general applicability, and TPB allows researchers to understand intentions from social
as well as personal perceptions. The need for this study arises because of disagreement on
the impacts of the three determinants factors on entrepreneurial intention in previous
studies. Furthermore, this study sorts to determine the effect of TPB in the context of
necessity entrepreneurship activities. Thus, Krueger (2009) argues that there has been
growing concern about the inconclusive empirical findings of the relationship between
Entrepreneurial Intention and its determinants. In addition, Moriano et al. (2011) found that
determinants that predict entrepreneurial intention vary across countries and cultures.
According to Paul et al. (2017), country’s culture and an individual’s proactive personality
directly determine the degree of entrepreneurial intention. Thus, these contradictions in the
empirical results necessitate a model of the TPB in different contextual settings.
Furthermore, many researchers postulate the inclusion of supplementary constructs in
TPB model to advance the predictive power of the model (Roy et al., 2017; Koe et al., 2012).
Hence, Sommer and Haug (2011) extend the basic TPB model by adding new variables in
their study. Thus, Tong et al. (2011) added need for achievement, family business
background. In addition, Ambad and Ag Damit (2016) applied perceived educational
support, perceived structural support to study entrepreneurial intention among the
undergraduates. Most studies on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention
in Nigeria (for example; Alese, 2014), none of the studies examine the effects of TPB,
educational support and compatibility on undergraduates’ intention to choose entrepreneurial
career upon graduation, specifically in a Muslim community.
2.2.1 Attitude. Attitude towards behaviour is the individual's positive or negative
feelings about performing an action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Among the basic constructs
of TPB, Roy et al. (2017) found that attitude had the most significant relationship with
entrepreneurial intention. This finding is in line with Marques et al. (2012), who found
attitude as a major contributor for entrepreneurial intention among vocational course
students. In addition, Yurtkoru et al. (2014) found that personal attitude predicted the
entrepreneurial intention. Contrarily, other scholars, (Siu and Lo, 2013; Zhang et al., 2015)
found that attitude is not significant predictor of entrepreneurial intention. Thus, Zhang
 MRR et al. (2015) argue that divergent result could be explained by a lack of entrepreneurial
experience which will constitute difficulty in assessing the expected value of starting a
business among university students:

H1. Entrepreneurial intention of university students positively relates with their

perceived attitude.
2.2.2 Subjective norms. Subjective norms are a person’s own estimate of the social pressure
to perform or not perform the target behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). They went
further to state that subjective norms have two components which work in interaction:
beliefs about how other people, who may be in some way important to the person, would like
them to behave (normative beliefs), and the positive or negative judgments about each belief
(outcome evaluations). Past scholars have shown controversial results on the relationship
between social norm and entrepreneurial intention; For instance, (Moriano et al., 2011; Siu
and Lo, 2013; Zhang et al., 2015), found positive relationships between social norm and
entrepreneurial intention. And Roy et al. (2017) found a weak positive relationship between
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subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention. On the contrarily, (Paço et al., 2011; Sommer
and Haug, 2011) found that social norm is weak or insignificant predictor of entrepreneurial
intention. These contradictory findings necessitate a further investigation on the
predictability of subjective norm on entrepreneurial intention in a Muslim community:

H2. Entrepreneurial intention of university students positively relates with subjective

norms.
2.2.3 Perceived behavioural control. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) stated that perceived
behavioural control is the perceived ability and confidence a person possesses in performing
behaviour. Wilson et al.(2007) postulate that people who are positive about their capabilities,
who see entrepreneurship as an opportunity rather than a risk show a stronger
entrepreneurial intention than do those who are negative. Thus, many studies (Mwiya et al.,
2017; Ambad and Ag Damit, 2016; Yurtkoru et al., 2014; Yang, 2013; Paço et al., 2011)
confirmed that perceived behavioural control predicts entrepreneurial intention:

H3. Entrepreneurial intention of university students positively relates with perceived

behavioural control.
2.2.4 Compatibility. Rogers sees compatibility as the degree to which an innovation is
perceived as consistent with the adopter’s personality. Furthermore, Rogers (2003) posits
that the more an innovation is compatible with the potential adopter, the more the adoption
of such an innovation. However, there is contradictory submission on whether entrepreneurs
are born or made. Thus, researchers have argued that there is a limit to what can be taught
in entrepreneurship training programmes (Henry et al., 2005). The forgoing indicates that
some aspects of entrepreneur are inherent in the individual (Madichie et al., 2008).
Furthermore, Shane (2010) posits that individual DNA or genes influences his/her becoming
an entrepreneur. Thus, we conceptualised Compatibility as the degree to which an
individual gene or personality determines his/her entrepreneurial intention. However, many
scholars have examined the impact of compatibility in adoption/acceptance of innovation
(Bunker et al., 2007). However, no study has tested this concept in the area of
entrepreneurship adoption/acceptance:

H4. Entrepreneurial intention of university students positively relates with

compatibility.
 2.2.5 Perceived educational support. Educational support is an efficient way of obtaining Muslim
necessary knowledge about entrepreneurship (Boulton and Turner, 2005; Turker and community
Selcuk, 2009; Koe et al., 2012; Papa et al., 2018a). Thus, academic institutions have important
roles in the encouragement of young people to choose an entrepreneurial career. According
to Chukwuma and Ogbeide (2017), there is a strong positive relationship between
entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intention in Nigeria. Many studies have
shown that entrepreneurial attributes is positively influenced by educational programme
(Athayde, 2009; Kor et al., 2007; Raposo et al., 2008; Roy et al.2017; Türker and Selçuk 2009).
Thus, Varamäki et al. (2015) found that active-based entrepreneurship education increase
entrepreneurial potential, while lecture-based pedagogy decreased entrepreneurial potential.
Contrarily, Yurtkoru et al. (2014) found that entrepreneurial education is not related to
entrepreneurial intention. Arguably, the contradictory findings may be due to the teaching
method adopted by a given institution. According to Morris et al. (2013), entrepreneurship
education serves as a vehicle that present information about norms and relevant knowledge
about entrepreneurship:
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H5. Entrepreneurial intention of university students positively relates with perceived

educational support.

3. Research methodology
The scale used in the current study was adapted from different scholars and slightly
modified to suit the context of the study. The TPB scale was adapted from Fishbein and
Ajzen (1975) and Koe et al. (2012); while educational support was from Roy et al. (2017) and
Yurtkoru et al. (2014); finally compatibility was from Rogers (2003) and Bunker et al. (2007)
(see Appendix). In the questionnaire, all responses were obtained on a five-point Likert-type
scale from (5) strongly agree to (1) strongly disagree. The study focussed on the third year
students at Federal University Gusau, students in their Higher National Diploma (HND II) at
Federal Polytechnic Kaura Namoda and students in their third year at College of Education
Technical, all in Zamfara State. These were students who must have gone through
entrepreneurship Studies and Skill training. This study made use of convenience sampling.
Data were collected through the use of self-administered questionnaire in a survey. Three
hundred and fifty (350) pieces of questionnaires were distributed in class to the students
with the assistance of the lecturers, but only 312 pieces were good for analysis.

4. Measurements and result

We used TPB to study entrepreneurial intention of undergraduates in a Muslim community.
And Koe et al. (2012) argue that TPB is an important socio-cognitive theory that has been
successfully applied in a wide variety of fields. Thus, the Coding and data entry was done
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The constructs were label
thus: Attitude ATT1-ATT6, Subjective norms as SUBN1-SUBN4, Perceived Behavioural
control as PBC1-PBC5, Compatibility COMP1-COMP4, perceived Educational support
PES1-PES4, and Entrepreneurial intention as ENI1-ENI6. Cleaning of data was conducted
and there was no case of missing value or out of range in the data set. The Mahalanobis
Distance D2 (Pallant, 2011), was conducted and there was no outlier in the data set. The
normality test was not conducted based on facts that Partial least squares (PLS-SEM)
method handles non-normal dataset (Hair et al., 2014). In testing for multicollinearity, the
VIF value should be below 10 and the Tolerance statistics should be above 0.1 (Field, 2013).
Therefore, in the current study none of the variables has VIF value above 10 or tolerance
 MRR value below 0.1 (see Table I). The initial test for Cronbach’s alpha value was conducted. The
generally accepted Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.8 is appropriate for cognitive tests such as
intelligence tests, ability tests of 0.70 is more suitable but psychological constructs values
below even 0.70 can, and realistically be expected because of the diversity of the constructs
being measured (Kline, 1999). Nunnally (1978) even suggest that in the early stages of
research, values as low as 0.50 will suffice. However, 0.76 Cronbach’s alpha value was
recorded in this study.
Majority of the respondents is male 73.1 per cent. The religion of the respondents
recorded about 81.4 per cent Muslim, and 18.6 per cent non-Muslims. This shows that the
majority of respondents are Muslims. 82.1 per cent of respondents have parents who own a
business, and 80.8 per cent have business experience. SmartPLS software 2.0 was used to
conduct the standard PLS algorism (see Figure 2) (Ramayah, 2015). In addition, cross-
loadings, composite reliability and AVE were used to assess the internal consistency.
Generally, the value for individual item loading below 0.60 was deleted (Hair et al., 2011). In
addition, there were some that loaded above 0.60 that were equally removed because their
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removal increases the composite reliability and average variance extracted (Hair et al., 2014).
When the PLS algorism was calculated initially, there were items that loaded below the
threshold value and they were removed (Table II).
Starkweather (2012) argues on shortcomings of Cronbach Alpha’s reliability test; he
posits composite reliability as more robust measure of assessing internal consistency
reliability. Our initial Cronbach’s alpha value is 0.76, but we equally subjected this study to
more robust test for internal consistency. Therefore, according to Hair et al. (2011),
composite reliability should be greater than 0.70, while 0.60 is considered acceptable in
exploratory research. Therefore, the composite reliability for all the latent constructs in this
study are greater than 0.70 (Table III).Convergent validity is another method of assessing
internal consistency (Zikmund and Babin, 2010). Thus, Hair et al. (2014) posit that
convergent validity is a degree of agreement among multiple indicators in measuring a
particular concept, and Average Variance Extracted is used to assess the convergent
validity. Furthermore, an AVE value of 0.50 or higher indicates that the construct explains
more than half of the variance of its indicators. Thus, the result of the PLS algorism shows
that AVE value for all the constructs are 0.50 and above (Table II).
It has been shown that discriminant validity is how different constructs differ from other
constructs (Hair et al., 2014). Thus, the loading of a particular indicator should be higher in
its own construct above its shared loading with other constructs. In this current study, the

Unstandardized Standardized Collinearity

coefficients coefficients statistics
Model B Std. error Beta T Sig. Tolerance VIF

1
(Constant) 0.966 0.282 3.424 0.001
Attitude
0.049 0.058
0.041
0.847 0.398 0.801 1.248
Compatibility 0.197 0.049 0.216 4.023 0.000 0.662 1.510
SubjNorm 0.052 0.041 0.067 1.268 0.206 0.681 1.468
PercEDU 0.221 0.050 0.215 4.413 0.000 0.807 1.238
PercBEH 0.360 0.052 0.378 6.956 0.000 0.646 1.548
Table I.
Coefficientsa Note: aDependent Variable: EnterInten
 Atude Muslim
community
Subjecve
norms
Entrepreneurial
Perceived Intenon
behavioural

Compability

Figure 1.
Educaonal
support
Researcher model
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Figure 2.
Measurement model

individual items correlation indicated good discriminant validity since there is no indicator
that loaded higher in another construct other than its originator construct (Table III).
There are five direct hypotheses in this study, and the p-value was used to ascertain if the
paths are significant (Hair et al., 2014). The PLS bootstrapping resampling was run with
5,000 bootstrapping samples to obtain the statistical t-values and the standard error.
Therefore, Table IV shows the result of direct hypotheses testing. Perceived Behavioural
control ! Entrepreneurial intention path has the highest value of path coefficient (beta
0.3775), t-values of (5.0447), standard error (0.0748), and the p-value is 0.000; therefore, the
hypothesis is accepted. Compatibility ! entrepreneurial intention path has path coefficient
(beta 0.2128), t-values of (3.5903), standard error (0.05903), and the p-value is 0.00, therefore
the hypothesis is accepted. In addition, perceived educational support ! Entrepreneurial
intention path has path coefficient (beta 0.2356), t-values of (3.6245), standard error (0.065),
and the p-value is 0.00, therefore the hypothesis is accepted. Lastly, Attitude and Subjective
 MRR Constructs Items Loading AVE Composite reliability

Attitude ATT2 0.8797 0.5687 0.7181

ATT5 0.6029
Compatibility COMP2 0.6215 0.5461 0.7793
COMP3 0.8794
COMP4 0.6918
Entrepreneurial intention ENI3 0.7441 0.5642 0.838
ENI4 0.7209
ENI5 0.7811
ENI6 0.7571
Perceived behavioural control PBC1 0.6372 0.5131 0.8076
PBC2 0.7607
PBC3 0.709
PBC4 0.7518
Perceived educational support PES1 0.6936 0.5169 0.81
PES2 0.7765
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PES3 0.7381
PES4 0.6624
Subjective norm SUBN1 0.8959 0.7159 0.8825
Table II. SUBN2 0.8838
Internal consistency SUBN3 0.7509
and convergent
validity Source: PLS output

Constructs Attitude Compatibility ENI PBC PES SubjNorm AVE

Attitude 0.7541 0.5687

Compatibility 0.3436 0.7389 0.5461
ENI 0.1665 0.3729 0.7511 0.5642
PBC 0.1337 0.3216 0.5078 0.07163 0.5131
PES 0.2123 0.2637 0.4205 0.3638 0.7189 0.5169
SubjNorm 0.171 0.4602 0.2593 0.4592 0.1703 0.8461 0.7159
Table III.
Discriminant validity Source: PLS output

Hypotheses Direct relationship Path coeff Std error T-value p-value Decisions

H1 Attitude ! ENI 0.0019 0.0447 0.0428 0.97 Rejected

H2 SubjNorm ! ENI
0.0524 0.0619 0.8469 0.40 Rejected
H3 PBC ! ENI 0.3775 0.0748 5.0447 0.00 Supported
H4 Compatibility ! ENI 0.2128 0.0593 3.5903 0.00 Supported
H5 PES ! ENI 0.2356 0.065 3.6245 0.00 Supported
Table IV.
Direct hypotheses Source: PLS output

norm have p-value of 0.97 and 0.40 respectively, the hypotheses (H1 and H2) were not
supported. We further evaluation the effect size of the exogenous variable in the model. The
procedure of calculating the effect size (f 2) according to Hair et al. (2014) was used. The R2 is
0.357 included and for excluded, attitude 0.357, compatibility 0.331, perceived behavioural
 control 0.263, Perceived educational support 0.313 and subjective norm 0.355. According to Muslim
Cohen (1988), the values should be substituted in the following formula: community


f 2 ¼ ðR2 included –R2 excludedÞ=ð1 –R2 includedÞ

Cohen (1988) argues that effect size can be evaluated as small (0.02), medium (0.15) or large
(0.35). The higher the (f 2) the greater the influence of the independent construct. The result
of the effect sizes are, perceived behavioural control 0.15, perceived educational support 0.07,
compatibility 0.04, attitude 0.00 and subjective norm 0.00. Thus, according to Cohen (1988),
attitude and subjective norm have no effect size; compatibility and perceived educational
support have small effect size; while perceived behavioural control has medium effect size.
Therefore, the most important predictor of entrepreneurial intention in Muslim community
is perceived behavioural control.

5. Discussion
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The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that influence the entrepreneurial
intention among undergraduate students in northern Nigeria, particularly a Muslim state.
TPB states that human intentions or behaviours are influenced by their attitude and belief
(Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). This theory is widely used to predict and explain a wide range of
people’s behaviours and intentions. It has equally been used in the area of entrepreneurial
intention (Alexandera and Honig, 2016; Ambad and Ag Damit, 2016; Koe et al., 2012;
Palamida et al., 2016; Ramoni, 2016; Usman, 2016). Entrepreneurship is the source of
economic growth and employment creation, thus, it is important to know the factors that
influence students’ entrepreneurial intention, especially in a developing economy. This
study found that Perceived educational support, Perceived behavioural control and
Compatibility have significant impact on entrepreneurial intention.
Perceived educational support has a significant effect on students’ entrepreneurial
intention. Thus, it is suggested that the ability of teacher to teach and encourage the
students towards entrepreneurship, the greater the entrepreneurial intention. This study is
similar with the study of Turker and selcuk (2009). Equally, Ramoni (2016) found that
entrepreneurship education significantly helped to predict entrepreneurial intention among
new graduates. Furthermore, this study is in line with the findings of (Athayde, 2009; Kor
et al., 2007; Raposo et al., 2008; Roy et al., 2017; Türker and Selçuk 2009). However, this
finding contradicts Yurtkoru et al. (2014) study.
In addition, perceived behavioural control was found to have a significant impact on
entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students. This finding is similar to that of
Usman (2016) study on entrepreneurial intention among Muslim undergraduate students in
USA International University-Africa. Thus, Muslim community provide enabling
environment for entrepreneurial activities. Also work of Ambad and Ag Damit (2016) as
well as Alexandera and Honig (2016) are similar with this study. Furthermore, compatibility
has significant impact on entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates in Muslim
community. Thus, compatibility is a measure of the values or beliefs of consumers and the
ability of an innovation to meet their social and cultural needs (Zaltman and Stiff, 1973).
Surprisingly, subjective norm is found to have no significant impact on entrepreneurial
intention among undergraduates in a Muslim community. In other words, parents, family,
friends, and people surrounding undergraduates have no influence on their entrepreneurial
intention. This study is consistent with work of Alexandera and Honig (2016). This study
contradicts a lot of studies (Yurtkoru et al., 2014; Zapkau et al., 2015) which postulate that
the role of friends and role models are prominent in influencing the decision to become an
 MRR entrepreneur. Our finding does not disprove the TPB, but it suggests that subjective norm
does not predict entrepreneurial intention in this context. The reason might be because of
people over dependence on government.
Finally, attitude is found to have no significant impact on entrepreneurial intention
among undergraduates in a Muslim community. This study is in line with other scholars,
(Siu and Lo, 2013; Zhang et al., 2015) who found that attitude is not significant predictor of
entrepreneurial intention. However, this study contradicts Alexandera and Honig (2016)
study. There are other studies which support the influence of attitude towards adoption of a
product (Teo and Pok, 2003). Thus, this study found that attitude has no influence on
entrepreneurial intention of undergraduates in a Muslim community. This study
corresponds with the speech made by President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, in April 18,
2018 in Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster that “a lot of Nigerian youths wait
on handouts from the government”. However, the data for this study was based on the
perceptions of the respondents; there may be possibility of difference between “perceptions”
and “reality”.
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5.1 Conclusion and recommendations

This study underscores the importance of entrepreneurship education, compatibility and
perceived behavioural control in improving entrepreneurial intention among the
undergraduates in Muslim community. Therefore, educational institutions should introduce
and strengthen entrepreneurial education from an early age. That will assist in changing the
attitude of undergraduates towards entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship should be made a
compulsory module at all levels and in all educational institutions. Successful entrepreneurs
from various fields should be invited to give practical talks to students in all educational
levels. Government agencies should make student entrepreneurship as one of their core
missions. In addition, the religious leaders should emphasis on dignity of labour in their
various place of worship.
As reflected from the study, it is evident that entrepreneurship education, perceived
behavioural control and compatibility predict undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention.
This shows the need for government, universities and other stakeholders to ensure that the
youth develops interest in starting their own venture. This can only happen if the youth are
exposed to business. It is equally important for both the public and private institutions to
educate the society on the importance of entrepreneurship. The undergraduates believe that
they have the practical skill to ensure that a venture succeeds. Their values support
entrepreneurship. Therefore, university and other interested institution should ensure that
the confidence level is maintained. Thus, a further research should be conducted to identify
what increases the perceived behavioural control to an optimum level.

5.2 Implication
The result of this study has some theoretical implication. Although Entrepreneurial
intention study has been widely studied across contexts and constructs, but there is limited
study in the area of Muslim community in a Pluralistic/secular developing country like
Nigeria. Therefore, this implies that the application of Theory of Plan behaviour in area of
Muslim community is sacrosanct. Hence, Whetten (2009) argues that formulation of novel
model or extension of existing ones is considered as a contribution to theory. Furthermore,
Whetten, 2009 state that there has been persistent emphasis on the role of context in the
theory development. Interestingly, this study is contextually driven, because of the
pluralistic nature of Nigerian state and the study’s target of Muslim community. Another
theoretical contribution of this study is the introduction of compatibility in the study of
 entrepreneurial intention. In addition, empirical evidences proved that perceived educational Muslim
support, perceived behavioural control and compatibility predict entrepreneurial intention community
among undergraduates in a Muslim community.

5.3 Limitation and recommendation for further study

This study is limited to Muslim state in Northern Nigeria. This therefore, makes it difficult
to generalise the findings. However, specifically, the current study can be used to infer to
other core Muslim community. However, other scholars can study the core non-Muslim
community in southern Nigeria. Equally, it is not our aim to test all possible exogenous
factors affecting entrepreneurial intention. Therefore, the fact that some portion of the
variance in entrepreneurial intention remains unexplained may be a signal that other
relevant exogenous variables were omitted. It would be useful to examine other salient
variables that could improve the predictive power of the TPB. Further research is therefore
recommended to capture more factors and scope in studying entrepreneurial intention. This
could be done by replicating this study in other areas and/or wider environment. In addition,
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other researcher may use compatibility and educational support as moderating variables or
as indirect relationship with entrepreneurial intention.

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 Appendix Muslim
community
S/n Items SD D N A SA

Atti Being an entrepreneur would bring great satisfactions for me 1 2 3 4 5

Atti Being an entrepreneur would benefit the society by creating jobs 1 2 3 4 5

Comp Entrepreneurship fit into my life style 1 2 3 4 5

Comp I would rather suffer now, but I must become an entrepreneur 1 2 3 4 5
Comp Being an entrepreneur is very important to me 1 2 3 4 5

SubN People who are important to me think that I should become an 1 2 3 4 5

entrepreneur
SubN People who are familiar with me think that I should become an 1 2 3 4 5
entrepreneur
SubN People who influence my behavior think that I should become an 1 2 3 4 5
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entrepreneur

PES My entrepreneurship class encourages me to develop creative ideas for 1 2 3 4 5

being an entrepreneur
PES My entrepreneurship class provides the necessary knowledge about 1 2 3 4 5
entrepreneurship
PES My entrepreneurship class develops my entrepreneurial skills and 1 2 3 4 5
abilities
PES I can start a new business because I attend entrepreneurship classes 1 2 3 4 5

PBC I have the ability to start a new business 1 2 3 4 5

PBC I can control the process of creating a new business 1 2 3 4 5
PBC Starting a business and keep it working would be easy for me 1 2 3 4 5
PBC I am prepared to start a viable business 1 2 3 4 5

EI I will make every effort to start and run my own business 1 2 3 4 5 Table AI.
EI I am determined to create a business in the future 1 2 3 4 5
EI I have very seriously thought of starting a business 1 2 3 4 5
Questionnaire on
EI I have got the business intention to start a business some day 1 2 3 4 5 entrepreneurial
intention in a Muslim
EI: entrepreneurial intention community

Corresponding author
Precious C. Ezeh can be contacted at: precious17400@yahoo.com

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