RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES, ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AND ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT OF METALWORK TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between demographic variables, academic engagement and entrepreneurial intentions of metalwork students in Nigerian universities. Two research questions were answered, while two hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design and was carried out in South Western States of Nigeria. The population for the study was 101 students of metalwork technology. The total enumeration was used because of manageable size of the population. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire titled ‘Demographic Variables, Entrepreneurial Intention and Academic Engagement Questionnaire’ (DVEIAEQ). Three experts face- validated the instrument. The internal consistency of the questionnaire items was determined using Cronbach alpha reliability method and the reliability coefficients of 0.84 was obtained for items on academic engagement, 0.82 for items on entrepreneurial intentions while the overall reliability coefficient of the items in the questionnaire was 0.88. Out of 101 copies of questionnaire administered, 100 copies were completed representing 99.00 percent return rate. Hypotheses were tested using the correlation matrix of the multiple regression analysis. The findings on hypotheses revealed that (i) there was no significant relationship between the socio-demographic variables and entrepreneurial intentions of metalwork students (ii) there was a significant relationship among demographic variables, academic engagement of metalwork students. Recommendations include that metalwork lecturers should be trained through workshops and seminars on how academic engagement of students can be improved to enhance their academic performance.