Moderating Effect of Effectuation on Entrepreneurial Traits of University Graduates and Venture Creation in Kwara State, Nigeria.

Abstract

In the current economic and social environment, entrepreneurs have contributed in a large measure to job creation through a ceaseless pursuit of new ventures thereby alleviating the problem of unemployment in many countries of the world. Given this entrepreneurial effectiveness in economic development, scholars, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders   have sought to explore the underlining traits that distinguish entrepreneurs from the rest of the populace. The focus of this paper was to unveil some of these traits and examine the causal relationship between them and venture creation intention by university graduates, and, the moderating role of effectuation on the traits. Using a survey design approach, data were collected randomly from 243 students in four selected universities across Kwara State, Nigeria. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse the data.  Our findings showed that traits such as entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial skills and effectuation logic were associated with venture creation, while opportunity recognition, risk propensity and entrepreneurial education were not. The moderating effect of effectuation was insignificant. The paper concluded that some of the assumed traits in extant literature have been insignificant in this study. Hence, the paper, therefore, recommended that more research needs to be carried out to unveil other important underlying behavioural traits affecting entrepreneurs in Kwara State, Nigeria.