Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is a vital driving force for stimulating economic growth and for creating employment opportunities. Consequently, the creation of new ventures and the growth of existing entrepreneurial businesses are vital contributing factors to a robust economy. The critical shortage of employment opportunities in South Africa is a reality for students or graduates. Ultimately, economic development may be facilitated through more individuals considering self-employment as a career choice as opposed to seeking employment. Female entrepreneurship, is viewed as a driving force in the economy because it has a significant effect on employment growth, hence the business environment. More specifically, female entrepreneurs are perceived as important agents of social and economic change, significantly contributing to economic development in terms of employment generation, innovation and wealth. Understanding female Generation Y students’ motivation towards entrepreneurship makes an important contribution towards motivation of future generations in becoming active participants in economic development. As such, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study undertaken to determine undergraduate female Generation Y students’ motivation towards entrepreneurship in order to facilitate the creation of a strong entrepreneurial climate amongst South African female Generation Y students. A descriptive research design approach was followed. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data from a convenience sample of 400 female students across two South African public higher education institutions situated in the Gauteng Province. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and a onesample t-test. The highest mean was recorded on independence motives. In such, the findings of this study suggest that independence motives, extrinsic motives and intrinsic motives have a significant influence on South African female Generation Y students’ entrepreneurial motivation and are positive drivers of entrepreneurship. The findings of this study provide important insights for academics, industry professionals and government seeking to promote or market the concept of entrepreneurship to female students.

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