The Influence Of Entrepreneurial Precursors On Entrepreneurial Behaviour: A Case Of Master Of Business Adminstration Alumni At Strathmore University

ABSTRACT

The importance of entrepreneurship in the creation of jobs and the economic advancement of nations has led many countries to encourage entrepreneurial educational in various academic disciplines such as management and business in order to inspire learners to become entrepreneurs. Developing countries like Kenya which are persistently plagued by low levels of entrepreneurship and high levels of unemployment thus present the ideal case for entrepreneurial education to be embedded in courses such as the Masters of Business Admininistration. The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of entrepreneurial precursors such as entrepreneurial learning, self-efficacy and intention on the entrepreneurial behaviour of MBA alumni of a leading African business school who graduated between 2009 and 2018. The research adopted a descriptive research design whereby convenience sampling of past Strathmore Business School alumni was used generating 44 responses using a partially close ended questionnaire with ordered responses. Minitab 19 was used to provide descriptive analyses of responses and a linear regression model used to assess the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The results of the research subsequently demonstrated that majority of MBA alumni exhibited entrepreneurial behaviour after graduating with some of these alumni having never worked closely with entrepreneurs or as entrepreneurs before their MBA. Additionally, the research showed that the Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Learning of respondents but not their Entrepreneurial Intention were strongly correlated with their entrepreneurial behaviour with their Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy having the stronger influence over their behaviour compared to their Entrepreneurial Learning. These results therefore highlight the importance of entrepreneurial precursors in influencing the entrepreneurial behaviour of past students of a leading business and management postgraduate programme.