Socio-Cultural Factors In Entrepreneurial Event Formation: A Study Of Nigerian Entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship has been found to be a factor in socio-economic and human development. Its study has, however, been largely viewed from economic perspective in Nigeria. This work was an attempt to approach the issue of entrepreneurial event among Nigerian entrepreneurs from socio-cultural perspective.This studywas conducted in three selected organized associations of entrepreneurs in Lagos, Nigeria. The study covered the interactions between some socio-cultural factors such as, social capital, dissatisfaction/displacement experience, social status, and perceived instrumentality of wealth, on the one hand, and predictor variables (ethnic group, gender, age and level of education), on the other. The main objective of the study was to understand how considerations of social capital, dissatisfaction/displacement experience, social status and perceived instrumentality of wealth for engaging in entrepreneurial event were functions of some socio-demographic and background factors among Nigerian entrepreneurs. It also attempted to determine the abilities of the independent variables in predicting the degree to which individuals are motivated by the identified socio-cultural constructs to embark on entrepreneurial event. Cross-sectional survey design was used with questionnaire as the major tool of data collection. Questionnaire was administered to 717 randomly selected respondents. A number of statistical techniques were employed. They include frequency count, mean comparison, simple regression analysis, multiple regression analysis, independent samples tests and path analysis.  

The result shows that ethnic group of origin has the capacity in predicting variation in how individuals consider social capital for entrepreneurial event formation. It is clear that all the ethnic categories show significant determining explanation for consideration of social capital for engaging in entrepreneurial event. In other words, ethnic group of origin has predictive capacity in explaining variations in consideration of social capital forces for engaging in entrepreneurial event. However, while North 1 (Hausa) and South 2 (Igbo) show significant determining force, North 2 (mini groups) and South 3 (mini groups) show significant negative determinants. All the ethnic variables that were regressed against social capital forces show significant determining power. The result of multiple regression analysis also supports this position. Three of the four ethnic variables in the analysis show strong significant coefficients. In a similar vein, the result of path analysis for model 1 (5a) as supported by the data confirms that the paths were valid for explaining the relationship under study. Independent Samples t-test of gender against the dependent variable (social capital influence), with the result showing value of t at -2.736 and the degree of freedom at 715 and significant at p