SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION IN NIGERIA: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Abstract

With increasing awareness of the role of entrepreneurship as a key in a comprehensive economic development framework, researchers in recent years have focused attention on it with a view to discovering the factors that promote its development. Previous studies have discovered that the first major step in the promotion of entrepreneurship is the formation of the intention to be an entrepreneur. It has also been shown that entrepreneurial intention is influenced by environmental factors. Since most of the attention in previous studies had been given to environmental factors such as economic, political and psychological factors with little attention given to social environment, this study, therefore, examines the effects of social environment on entrepreneurial intention in Nigeria. The study is guided by three objectives which centered around the major components of social environment- education, family background and social network, and the effects that these components have on entrepreneurial intention. Adopting a critical review of literature methodology, the study hypothesized that, education, family background and social network of an individual, all play significant roles in the formation of entrepreneurial intention and should therefore be given adequate attentions in order to promote the formation of entrepreneurial behaviour needed for the economic growth in Nigeria. It is however, recommended that an empirical study be conducted to confirm the hypotheses stated in this study.