Assessment of Relationship Between Subjective Norms and Entrepreneurship Intention Among Students in Federal Polytechnic in Northern Nigeria

Entrepreneurship leads to massive economic benefits, such as economic growth, reduction in unemployment, and development of economies. This study was guided by a hypothesis. The study adopted causal-comparative (Ex-Post-factor) design. The population of the study was made up of all the students in federal polytechnics in Northern Nigeria. Simple random sampling method named Dip-hand sampling method was used to select the sampled states for the study while proportional sampling method was used in selecting respondents from each school in the selected federal polytechnics, while the sample size was 1,135. The instrument for the study was researcher's developed Likert-type questionnaire named influence of entrepreneur courses in the development of students' career opportunities in Universities Nigeria. Split-half reliability was used to test the reliability of the instrument with reliability index of 0.79. PPMC was used to test hypothesis six at 0.05 alpha level of significance. It was concluded that students in Federal Polytechnic in Northern Nigeria good subjective norms towards entrepreneurship intetion. It was recommended that Government should provide loans to encourage small and medium scale enterprises.


Introduction
Entrepreneurship emerged as an important concept in global economic transformation. Studies have shown that the entrepreneurship process is a vital source of developing human capital as well as plays a vital role in providing learning opportunities for individuals to improve their skills, attitudes, and abilities (Shane 2003). Various scholars have given different definitions to entrepreneurs. Nieman and Nieuwehuizen (2009) defined an entrepreneur as one who sees an opportunity in the market, creates, gathers resources and grows a business venture to meet needs.
The entrepreneur is an innovator, one who carries a combination of the following: the introduction of a new product; the opening of a new market; the conquest of new sources of materials; and the organization of new industry. Morrison's (1999) study, the profile of an entrepreneur is one who: (1) is intelligent and analytical, (2) is an effective risk manager and a networker, (3) possesses a strong set of moral, social and business ethics, (4) exhibits a basic trader's instinct, and (5) is dedicated to life-long learning in many forms. The talents included in Morrison's definition are important requirements for becoming successful entrepreneurs in the knowledge era. Furthermore, Anayakoha (2006) described an entrepreneur as one who chooses or assumes risks, identifies a business opportunity, gathers resources, initiates actions and establishes an organization or enterprise to meet such demand or market opportunity. Watson, Hogarth-Scott and Wilson's (1998) and Morrison's (1999) studies also contend that entrepreneurial spirit needs appropriate social and cultural background to initiate motives for venture creation and aspiration for excellence in various academic areas in order to create successful venture. Lee and Peterson (2000) state that even those individuals who are motivated by such factors as financial rewards, achievement, social, career, and individual fulfillment need a national culture that supports and encourages entrepreneurial activity. Watson et al. (1998), Morrison (1999), and Lee and Peterson (2000) agree that great entrepreneurs do not grow by themselves, but that they are products of entrepreneurship-oriented societies and cultures.

Hypotheses
There is no relationship between subjective norms and entrepreneurship intention among students in Federal Polytechnic in Northern Nigeria.

Methodology
In this study, the researcher adopted causal comparative (Ex-Post-factor) design, since the study was an existing identified phenomenon. According to Kerlinger (2000), the Ex-Post-Factor design is a design in which the investigation of the variable is done retrospectively whether they have occurred in natural cause of event. Because no variables are manipulated, an independent variable is the one in which the cause and effect are wanted. Ofo (1994), also supported that the causal-comparative or Ex-Post-Facto research attempts to determine the cause-and-effect relationships by examining conditions and tracing back the information and available data for probable causal factors. She furthered that Causal-comparative studies start with an identified effect and proceeds to find possible causes.
The population of this study is made up of all the students in federal polytechnics in Northern Nigeria. A simple random sampling method named Dip-hand sampling method by Adegboye (2001) was used to select the sampled states for the study while the proportional sampling method was used in selecting respondents from each school in the selected federal polytechnics. The procedure was used as follow:i. The Northern Nigeria is made up of 19 states that are divided into 3 geo-political zones, namely:-North Central (6 states), North East (6 states) and North West (7 states). Three students were assigned to select sampled states. Each student represented each zone and the name of each state was written on pieces of paper, put in a container for the student assigned to the zone to pick. Proportional sampling method was used in selecting respondents from the seven states and respondents were selected from the four faculties. This summed of 1,135 questionnaires will be distributed to the seven sampled federal universities. iii.
Systematic sampling procedure will be used to assign questionnaires to respondents.
The instrument for the study was the researcher's developed Likert-type questionnaire named the influence of entrepreneur courses in the development of students' career opportunities in Universities Nigeria. This was divided into two (2) sections. Section "A" demanded data on the demographic characteristic of the respondents while section "B" requested information on the influence of entrepreneur courses in the development of students' career opportunities in polytechnics Nigeria. Responses to the statements are Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (U), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD).
The responses for items in section B were rated as follows: The instrument was validated by researcher's supervisors, experts entrepreneurship and business and also specialists in test and measurement to ensure face and content validity of the instrument. Corrections, suggestions and observations were incorporated in the final draft of the questionnaire, and subsequently approved by the supervisors before it was administered. To ascertain the reliability of the research instrument, the validated questionnaire will be subjected to pilot study using sixty (60) students of polytechnics which are not part of the study, these participants were not part of the study and twenty-four statements formulated from the variables were tested. The split-half method was used to examine the reliability of the instrument. Ofo (1994) stated that the split-half reliability is a type of internal consistency reliability. In its case only one test is administered and it eliminates measurement errors such as differences in testing conditions which could easily affect the test-retst reliability. The reliability coefficient was 0.79, which make the instrument reliable for the study.
To conduct the administration of the research instrument, an introductory letter will be collected from The Coordinator, Research, Innovation and Technology Transfer Office, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna. The Researcher also requested the permission of the sampled federal polytechnics before questionnaires will be administered to the respondents. The researcher will go round the sampled states to administer the instrument with the help of five (5) trained research assistants in each Polytechnic, who interpreted the questions to the respondents in simple language that do not influence their responses. Person's Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test hypothesis six at 0.05 alpha level of significance.

Hypothesis 2
There is no relationship between subjective norms and entrepreneurship intention The table presents that mean (x) score of entrepreneurship intention is 12.44, while that of the subjective norms is 12.83, the standard deviation (SD) for entrepreneurship intention is 1.71 and the subjective norms is 1.46, the statistical computation shows that a very strong relationship exists with df 156 r = .93 (P<0.05). The null hypothesis stated was rejected on the account that a significant relationship exists. There is a relationship between subjective norms and entrepreneurship intention.

Discussion
Relationship exists between subjective norms and entrepreneurship intention. This is also in line with the study of Christina, (2017), Based on hypothesis she tested using t test values obtained the result showed that subjective norm, control individual behavior and education has significant impact on student entrepreneurship intention variables. The result of this study disagreed with the study of Dinc and Budic (2016) who studied Impact of Personal Attitude, Subjective Norm, and Perceived Behavioural Control on Entrepreneurial Intentions of Women. The result of their study revealed that subjective norms did not significantly affect Entrepreneurial Intentions, but it did have a significant and positive effect on personal attitude and perceived behavioural control. This means that the environment in which an individual acts and lives, as well as family, friends, and colleagues significantly impact the way an individual thinks about his/her own abilities to perform actions of entrepreneurship. This agreed with the study of Abina, Oyeniran, and Onikosi-Alliyu (2015) who studied determinants of eco entrepreneurial intention among students: A case study of University students in Ilorin and Malete. The result of their findings showed that attributes such as self-efficacy, environmental concern and perceived support have significant positive effect on entrepreneurial intention among students, while experience and entrepreneurial education do not have significant impact on entrepreneurship intention. Perceived barrier, on the other hand, significantly deter entrepreneurial intention among student. This is in line with the study of Kevin, Marina and Dragan (2013) who studied the Role of Perceived Abilities, Subjective Norm and Intentions in Entrepreneurial Activity. The results of their findings confirm that antecedents to entrepreneurial intentions, as defined by the theory of planned behaviour, have a significant impact on entrepreneurial intentions which, in turn, significantly influence entrepreneurial activity. The results for Croatia were mixed. Subjective norm had a limited relationship with intentions while perceived behavioural control did. This is in line with the study of Ummi, Ain, Suhana, Tunku Salha and Mohd (2018) who examining the relationships between attitude towards behaviour, subjective norms and entrepreneurial intention among engineering students. Results of the findings showed that entrepreneurial intention is positively associated with the attitude towards behaviour (β=.62, p<.01) and subjective norm (β=.25, p<.01). Thus, it is confirmed that both factors of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), namely attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm are significantly related to entrepreneurial intention among the engineering students in this institution. Elevating the degree of attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm are the best strategies to enhance the level of entrepreneurial intention among the engineering students in this institution. This is supported the study of Sizong and Lingfei (2015) who studied the impact of higher education on entrepreneurial intentions of University Students in China The main results of their empirical research suggest that diversity of educational background offers plausible explanations on the difference of entrepreneurial intentions of Chinese university students. Higher educational institutions should develop more flexible approaches with focus on different groups of students in accordance with their various educational backgrounds.

Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: Polytechnic are recommended to invite famous entrepreneurs and hold free entrepreneurship workshops for students.