Estimating the effect of entrepreneurship education, intention and communication apprehension on the career choice or graduates as entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a catalyst for the economic growth of a nation and is becoming an important field in Malaysia. Graduates’ involvement in entrepreneurial activities is encouraged and the Malaysian government has invested millions of Ringgit in support of this agenda. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, students’ entrepreneurial intention, before and after they graduated, could be predicted. However, the statistics showed that, as of 2013, only 1.7 percent of graduates were self-employed, compared to the 5 percent aspired by the government. It is therefore imperative to study the factors influencing graduates’ choice to become entrepreneur. This study attempted to fill the research gaps by differentiating between the intentions and the actual choice to become an entrepreneur. The analysis included the effects of the types of entrepreneurship education and communication skill. Data analysis using logistics and multinomial logistics models were carried out with a sample of 2,300 graduates (including those pursuing entrepreneur degrees). The findings showed that most of the respondents agreed that entrepreneurship education (formal and informal) was an important factor to produce graduate entrepreneurs with different effects. The findings also showed that a communication skill among graduates is not a necessary condition to become an entrepreneur. Moreover, the relationship between graduates’ academic achievements and the tendency to become an entrepreneur is negative. This study provides theoretical contributions to studies of entrepreneurial intention and actual choice of becoming entrepreneurs among graduates. Therefore, it is essential for graduates to understand that their actual behaviour is triggered by intention. In addition, measures should be taken by the universities in Malaysia to facilitate the government in promoting education of entrepreneurship so that the level of entrepreneurship education among Malaysian could produce future entrepreneurs who are successfully educated