The effect of knowledge of entrepreneurial support on entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

The importance of entrepreneurship in job creation and economic development is acknowledged all over the world. Like other countries, the South African government has introduced various support measures to assist individuals who want to start new ventures and existing entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses. However, it is not known to what extent the knowledge of these support measures influences the intention to start a business. The purpose of this research was to investigate, based on the theory of planned behaviour, whether the knowledge of entrepreneurial support influences entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents, namely the attitude towards becoming an entrepreneur and perceived behavioural control. The study was carried out by means of a survey. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The sample consisted of 329 finalyear commerce students registered at one of the rural universities in South Africa. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. The results revealed that the knowledge of entrepreneurial support is statistically significantly related to the intention of starting a business. A statistically significant relationship was also found between the knowledge of entrepreneurial support and the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention.