South African university students' entrepreneurial intention as a correlate of entrepreneurship risk perceptions and aversion

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship risk perceptions and entrepreneurship risk aversion with a sample of 366 male and female university students in South Africa, using survey research design, and a structured validated questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation analysis. The results revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurship risk aversion. There is a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurship risk perceptions and aversion. However, there is no significant relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurship risk perceptions. The findings are valuable to policy makers and professionals in promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth.