Socio-Cultural Differences and Formation of Entrepreneurial Mindsets Amongst Students in Universities

The study investigated the socio-cultural differences and its relevance in the formation of entrepreneurial mindsets amongst students in three public universities in Rivers State. A multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural sample of 400 undergraduate students was selected in four ethnic groups and the measuring instrument was pretest in Rivers State College of Arts and Science (RIVCAS) to determine the reliability content and Cronbatch coefficient Alpha of .78 percent was obtained. The 5-point scale christened Socio-cultural indices and Students Entrepreneurial Mindsets Questionnaire (SOCUISEMQ) was developed to measure the extent independent variable affects formation of entrepreneurial mindsets amongst students. Quantitative data generated were analyzed with mean while hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance using chi-square. Final analyses of quantitative data and testing of hypotheses were based on 260 student-respondents who successfully returned the instrument. The proposed hypotheses tested with chi-square revealed no visible significant differences between socio-cultural orientations, sociological indicators in the formation of entrepreneurial mindsets in public universities. This implies therefore that socio-cultural background and orientation of diverse ethnic nationalities of students is not totally responsible for the formation of entrepreneurial mindsets but its strength of influence is determined by certain sociological indicators in Rivers State. Some sociological indicators that have strong impacts in the formation of entrepreneurial mindsets amongst students in Rivers State were social blockages, ethnic subordination, dissatisfaction with life, self-determination, material accomplishment, and personal achievement orientation as the nexus for national entrepreneurship development.