ELECTROPRENUERSHIP: A PRECURSOR FOR DEVELOPING BUSINESS ACUMEN IN ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING EDUCATION STUDENT IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This study empirically examined how electropreneurship can serve as a precursor for developing business acumen in electrical and electronics engineering education students in Nigerian universities. The study was guided by four specific objectives, four research questions, and four null hypotheses. A descriptive survey research design was adopted to achieve the specific aims, address the research questions raised, and test the null hypotheses formulated for the study. The sample size of the participants were 360 lecturers, practicing electrical engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering education students across selected Nigerian universities, which was drawn using stratified and purposive sampling techniques to ensure adequate representation. A structured questionnaire, titled: Electropreneurship and Business Acumen Questionnaire, was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic of analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that the current level of entrepreneurial awareness among students was moderate, with foundational knowledge being higher than practical application. The findings also revealed that students possessed limited business acumen in areas such as financial literacy, market analysis, and business modeling. Electropreneurship education had a low moderate impact on students’ preparedness for self-employment. It also had a high impact on their ability to become self-reliant. The ANOVA showed statistically significant difference in the mean responses of the three groups on all variables measured. Based on the findings on the study, the authors recommended, among others, that electropreneurship should be integrated into the electrical and electronics engineering education curriculum as this would guide students toward business-oriented thinking and self-reliant in future.