Determinants of graduates entrepreneurial intent: the contingent role of entrepreneurship education among technology students in Hawassa University

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the determinant factors of entrepreneurial intentions of graduating students at Hawassa University and the mediating role of entrepreneurship education. The population for the study was 905 Technology undergraduate students of Hawassa University. The study proposes a research framework of the theory of planned behavior by Ajzen's (1991) to analyze factors influencing entrepreneurial intent among university students. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. The sample consists of 272 Institute of Technology students who have taken the entrepreneurship course. The students were surveyed by direct contact using questionnaire and a valid questionnaire of 223 students were collected. They were asked to indicate the entrepreneurship learning experiences activities they were participating in/would participate in as part of their curriculum. Data collected were analyzed using PLS-SEM analysis was employed with the help of Smart PLS3.0 software. Results of PLS-SEM showed that all the hypothesized direct and indirect relationships were supported except that entrepreneurial education fails to mediate the relationship between PBC and EI thereby rejecting H7. The findings show that the more entrepreneurial activities students are engaged in, the less the influence of entrepreneurial factors on their entrepreneurial intentions and this significantly increased entrepreneurial intentions of students who prefer career choice as an entrepreneur. It was recommended that Technology undergraduate students should see career options with a balanced view in order to understand their abilities before deciding to venture in any type of business enterprise.