AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT CONCERNS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

The current global economic climate demonstrates critically low growth and development in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and unemployment rates. While parts of the world (developing and established nations) display strong increases in GDP per capita and reducing unemployment rates, many major economies worldwide continue to struggle following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007-8. To remedy this, researchers have carefully examined the benefits that a booming start up scene can have on a local economy. From relevant literature, it is evident that the relationship between unemployment and entrepreneurship is two-fold; rising unemployment leads to increased self-employment, and start ups contribute to the fight against unemployment through employment creation. In saying this, a gap in the research (and thus, the aim of the current study) exists when determining whether a relationship exists between entrepreneurial intentions that are stimulated by unemployment and the intention to join an entrepreneurial program, and the effect of unemployment concerns and knowledge of entrepreneurship programs on the intention to start a business. Through a confirmatory and relational research design, it was found that unemployment concerns can significantly predict the individuals’ intention to join an entrepreneurship education program. The practical implications of this study involve entrepreneurship education programs capitalising on weakening economies and growing unemployment concerns to recruit entrepreneurs and strengthen a start up community that is flexible and resourceful enough to handle the challenges that come with a dynamic political, legislative, cultural and environmental atmosphere.