Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among technological
creativity, self-efficacy and entrepreneurship intentions of university students in an emerging
economy context.
Research purpose: This study explores how technological creativity is linked to self-efficacy
and entrepreneurial intentions.
Motivation of the study: African countries are pervaded by subdued imagination that breeds
survivalist entrepreneurship, which is bereft of innovation. This reality calls for the input of
technological creativity to innovative entrepreneurship. Although results from contemporary
research acknowledge the explanatory effect of technological creativity on entrepreneurial
intentions, they under-explore the mechanism of the relationship, particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa, hence this study.
Research design, approach and method: Using a quantitative approach and cross-sectional
survey design, a self-completion questionnaire was administered to 130 students who
had undergone a compulsory entrepreneurship course at a South African university of
technology. The study employed Pearson’s correlation test, regression analysis and the
bootstrapping procedure to assess the mediation effects and test the different hypothesised
relationships.
Main findings: The findings revealed that self-efficacy fully mediated the influence of
technological creativity on entrepreneurship intentions.
Practical and managerial implications: The results of the study stress the importance of
considering psychological aspects, such as technological creativity and self-efficacy, in the
evaluation of ways that can be used to effectively foster the entrepreneurial intentions of
students undergoing entrepreneurship education.
Contribution or value-add: The results authenticated psychological frameworks as
guiding tools to understanding the intentional component of planned entrepreneurship
activity. The study added further knowledge by exploring a previously untested
relation between technological creativity and self-efficacy to unravel the complexity of
entrepreneurial intentions among tertiary students.
