Generation Y female students’ inclination towards entrepreneurship: a comparative study between South Africa and the Netherlands
Abstract
Entrepreneurship is considered a vital driving force for stimulating economic growth, economic competitiveness and for creating employment opportunities. Consequently, the creation of new ventures and the growth of existing entrepreneurial businesses are vital contributing factors to a robust economy. Female entrepreneurship, in particular, is a phenomenon that is viewed as a driving force in the economy because it has a significant effect on employment growth and the global business environment. More specifically, female entrepreneurs are perceived as important agents of social and economic change, significantly contributing to the world economic development in terms of employment generation, innovation and wealth. Understanding female Generation Y students‟ inclination towards entrepreneurship from an emerging and developed economy makes an important contribution in that it will help better tailor marketing strategies designed to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship amongst female students.
As such, the primary objective of this study was to determine and compare undergraduate university female Generation Y students‟ inclination towards entrepreneurship in the South African and the Netherland’s context in order to facilitate the creation of a strong entrepreneurial climate amongst South African female Generation Y students.
For the purpose of this study, two samples were conveniently selected, namely Sample South Africa (SA) and Sample Netherlands (NL). A non-probability, convenience sample of 400 South African Generation Y female students (Sample SA) and 400 Generation Y female students from the Netherlands (Sample NL) were drawn in order to conduct this study. In both the South African and Netherland’s samples, the questionnaires were divided equally between the two HEIs sampled per country. A structured self-administered questionnaire was utilised to gather the required data for this study. This questionnaire comprised scales measuring Generation Y students‟ motivations, perceived barriers and attitudes towards entrepreneurship.
The collected data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, reliability and validity analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, correlation analysis, logistic regression analysis and a two independent-samples t-test. The findings of this study suggest that independence motives, intrinsic motives and personal motivational barriers have a significant influence on female Generation Y cohort members‟ entrepreneurial interest. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that economic and financial barriers, positive attitudes, extrinsic motives, personal competence barriers, organisational barriers, entry barriers and negative attitudes do not have a significant influence on female Generation Y cohort members‟ entrepreneurial interest. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate no statistically significant difference between South African and Dutch female students concerning perceived economic and financial barriers as a determinant of entrepreneurial inclination. However, in comparison to Sample NL, South African female Generation Y students (Sample SA) scored a statistically significant higher means for independence motives, extrinsic motives, intrinsic motives, personal motivational barriers, personal competence barriers, organisational barriers, entry barriers, positive attitudes and negative attitudes.
This model developed in this study represents an important tool for predicting the Generation Y female student cohort’s entrepreneurial inclination in both the South African and the Netherlands context. In addition, the recommendations emanating from the study will enable HEIs and industry professionals, such as business incubator managers, academics and incubator managers to tailor marketing strategies designed to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship as well as tailor entrepreneurship programmes towards the female generation cohort in South Africa and the Netherlands.