The impact of materialism on the entrepreneurial intention of university students in South Africa

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between materialism and the entrepreneurial intention of students at a South African university. In addition, the study examined if there is a significant gender difference in the materialistic values of university students. The quantitative research technique was adopted for the study. The survey method and the self-administered approach were used for data collection. The research participants comprised of 169 conveniently sampled business students. The Cronbach’s alpha was used to ensure reliability. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, T-test, Pearson correlation and regression. The results indicated that there is a positive but insignificant relationship between materialism and the entrepreneurial intention of university students. There is no significant gender difference in the materialistic values of university students. Recommendations were suggested in order to manage the materialistic values of university students.