Influence of career decision making self efficacy locus of control and social competence on entrepreneurial attitude of higher secondary school students

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education, an aspect of vocational education, is crucial for economic and social development of a nation as it helps in the mitigation of poverty through increased job opportunities. Considering the importance of entrepreneurship, developing countries have taken necessary steps to promote entrepreneurship and to attract youth towards entrepreneurship all over the world. Unemployment among the educated youth is today's greatest challenge confronting the youth of our country. To curb the issue of unemployment, our country needs not just graduates that are conditioned by training for white collar jobs but those who are independent, creative, and resourceful and able to use their talents to survive on their own. Since entrepreneurship helps a country to grow economically and socially, it is pivotal to understand entrepreneurial attitudes of young generation, particularly in developing nations like India. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the attitude towards entrepreneurship as well as the factors influencing the entrepreneurial attitude of higher secondary school students, who are the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Previous research indicated that no one element alone can strengthen entrepreneurship attitude, rather it may be influenced by a wide range of social, economic, and psychological factors. Hence, the study is intended to find out the influence of Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, and Social Competence on Entrepreneurial Attitude of higher secondary school students. Sample selected for the study consisted of 1022 higher secondary school students in Kerala. The findings of the study revealed that higher secondary school students are having moderate level of Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy, Social Competence, Entrepreneurial Attitude, and majority students possess Internal Locus of Control. Mean difference analysis indicated that difference exists in Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, Social Competence, and Entrepreneurial Attitude of students for the subgroups based on gender, type of management of schools, and stream of courses. Difference also exists in Locus of Control and Social Competence, but no significant difference in Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Attitude of students for the subgroups based locale of schools. However, no difference exists in Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, Social Competence, and Entrepreneurial Attitude of students for the subgroups based on occupation of parents. Analysis of variance indicated that there exists significant main effect of Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, and Social Competence on Entrepreneurial Attitude of higher secondary school students, but the interaction effect is not significant. Multiple regression analysis revealed that Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy (12.05 percent), Locus of Control (8.18 percent), and Social Competence (25.79 percent), contribute individually and jointly (46.00 percent) in predicting Entrepreneurial Attitude and are significant predictors of Entrepreneurial Attitude of higher secondary school students. The results are beneficial in contributing to policy documents, curricula, and theories that foster entrepreneurial mindsets and transforming youth job seekers into job providers. The investigator suggests some measures to be taken to foster entrepreneurship attitude among the higher secondary school students by enhancing their career decision making self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and social competence.