Entrepreneurship Education and Student Venture Creation: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy among University Students in Ghana

Abstract

Ghanaian universities increasingly use entrepreneurship education to prepare students for self-employment and venture creation, yet most existing evidence evaluates entrepreneurial intention rather than actual entrepreneurial behaviour. This study examines whether entrepreneurship education is associated with student venture creation and whether entrepreneurial self-efficacy explains this relationship. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, the study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional design and draws on survey responses from university students in Ghana who had prior exposure to entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial self-efficacy were assessed with multi-item measures, while venture creation was captured through behavioural indicators reflecting business start-up, revenue generation, and active time invested in a venture. The measurement model was assessed for reliability and construct validity, and the hypothesised relationships were examined using structural equation modelling with bootstrap mediation analysis. The findings show that entrepreneurship education is strongly associated with entrepreneurial self-efficacy, whereas its direct relationship with venture creation is weak. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is positively associated with venture creation and carries the effect of entrepreneurship education to behaviour, indicating that education operates primarily through a psychological capability pathway. However, the modest translation of self-efficacy into venture activity highlights the continuing importance of structural conditions, including access to entrepreneurial networks, family business exposure, capital, and post-course support. The study contributes by shifting Ghanaian entrepreneurship education research from intention to behaviour, clarifying self-efficacy as a mediating mechanism, and identifying practical limits to education-only approaches to student entrepreneurship. The findings support stronger integration of experiential learning, incubation, mentorship, and resource access within university entrepreneurship programmes.