DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS ACQUISITION AMONG BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA: A PREDICTIVE STUDY

Abstract

This study examined digital entrepreneurship training and entrepreneurial skills acquisition among Business Education students in Colleges of Education in South-East Nigeria. The study adopted a correlational predictive research design. The population comprised 1,383 Business Education students in NCE I–III from five selected Colleges of Education, one each from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. A sample of 310 students was selected using a multistage sampling procedure involving stratification by NCE level, proportionate allocation and simple random sampling. Data were collected using a 42-item Digital Entrepreneurship Training and Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition Questionnaire (DETAQ), comprising 21 items on digital entrepreneurship training and 21 items on entrepreneurial skills acquisition. The instrument was validated by experts in Business Education, Entrepreneurship Education and Educational Measurement, while a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.82 established its internal consistency. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the first research question, while simple linear regression was used to answer the second research question and test the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that students received digital entrepreneurship training to a very high extent, with a grand mean of 3.60. Digital business planning, e-commerce and social-media entrepreneurship recorded very high levels, while digital marketing and digital financial management recorded high levels. The regression analysis showed that digital entrepreneurship training significantly predicted entrepreneurial skills acquisition, R = .461, R2 = .2129, B = .3334, t = 8.8402, p < .0001. The study concluded that digital entrepreneurship training was a significant positive predictor of entrepreneurial skills acquisition. It recommended sustained practical digital entrepreneurship training, improved access to digital business resources and stronger integration of digital entrepreneurial activities into Business Education programmes.