Linking Entrepreneurship Education to Entrepreneurial Career Choice: The Roles of Opportunity Recognition and Individual Agency

Entrepreneurship education has long been advocated to promote entrepreneurial career choice among young adults in developing countries such as Ghana. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we developed a moderated-mediation model in which entrepreneurship education related to entrepreneurial career choice through opportunity recognition. We proposed that this association is conditional on individual agency. A total of 446 undergraduate students who have completed entrepreneurship courses in Ghana were recruited to test the research hypotheses. The results showed a positive relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career choice. We also found a partial support for the moderated-mediation, in which the positive effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial career choice via opportunity recognition was moderated by individual agency. By extending empirical evidence beyond developed economies, this study enhances the contextual understanding of entrepreneurship and career decisions among young adults in sub-Saharan Africa. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.