Entrepreneurial Orientation and Absorptive Capacity for Employability Skills Development through Extra-Curricular Activities

Abstract

The unemployment challenges graduates face are alarming. Entrepreneurship education and training programmes have been proffered as a key solution to addressing this problem. This study investigates the relationship between students’ entrepreneurial orientation and their absorptive capacity to enhance their ability to assimilate and apply new knowledge from extra-curricular activities, eventually leading to improved employability skills and competitive advantage. Using a cross-sectional descriptive survey design and a sample size of 283 respondents, the study revealed a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge acquisition. Additionally, the study revealed a direct and indirect relationship, mediated by knowledge acquisition, between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge assimilation, transformation and exploitation. The study concludes that entrepreneurial orientation is crucial to students’ ability to spot opportunities for employability skill development through extra-curricular activities. The study recommends that higher education institutions should incentivise knowledge acquisition beyond the classroom to get the desired outcomes from knowledge assimilation, transformation and exploitation.