Despite growing literature on sustainable entrepreneurship, little is known currently about students’ intentions to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study investigates Business and Science students’ intentions to engage in sustainability-oriented micro entrepreneurship. It also explores the mediating role of education for sustainable entrepreneurship (ESE) in the relationship between the TPB constructs and sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Data were gathered from 435 university students who graduated from entrepreneurship training of a university. Results of SmartPLS structural equation modelling indicate that attitude and subjective norms are significant and positive drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial intention, while perceived behavioural control is negative and non-significant. ESE has significant influence on intention, and also mediates the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, and sustainable entrepreneurial intention. The results will aid policymakers in the formulation and implementation of policies on sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial programmes in higher education institutions.

This study extends the literature on the relevance of the Igbo Traditional Business School (ITBS) in building entrepreneurial potential and intention in an emerging African economy – Nigeria. Two key questions motivated the study: does the ITBS influence entrepreneurial potential and intention, and does entrepreneurial potential influence intention? Data were gathered from a purposive sample of 122 actual micro-entrepreneurs (welders) who passed through the ITBS. The results, based on Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) in SPSS 23.0, suggest that the ITBS positively and significantly influences entrepreneurial potential and intention, and that perceived desirability, perceived feasibility and propensity to act are significant predictors of entrepreneurial intention. We recommend the formulation of policies to regulate and support the operations of ITBS and, that mentors under the ITBS should aim at inculcating skills that drive desirability, feasibility, propensity to act and entrepreneurial intention in the mentees, with emphasis on the advantages of owning an enterprise.

Scholars have increasingly examined how education influences consciousness for sustainable behaviour, but studies focusing on developing economies are very few, and the role of sustainability-oriented marketing education is currently underexplored. By applying the theory of planned behaviour, this study explores the influence of sustainability-oriented marketing education on students’ consciousness for sustainable consumption. The study is a quantitative research study based on an online survey of marketing students who participated in a training/seminar programme of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria. The participants were drawn from three universities across the South-East and South-South zones of the country. SmartPLS structural equation modelling was applied to test the generated data. We find that sustainability-oriented marketing education influences students’ consciousness for sustainable consumption, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. The findings will strengthen marketing education for sustainable development, and they have implications for students’ environmental consciousness in making purchase decisions. The study also brings more insight into marketing education’s role in actualizing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria.

The interaction of higher education with other stakeholder groups (industry, communities and regulatory bodies) in scaling up the activities of informal enterprises has been largely ignored in certain sub-sectors. Considering the proximity and proclivity among students who engage in part-time work in the underexplored sectors of hairstylists (barbers and women’s hairdressers) and carwash businesses, this study interrogates why, despite their concentration around most Nigerian university communities, they remain disconnected and unable to scale up. Through consideration of the Triple Helix model and the entrepreneurial venture development process the study highlights avenues for universities to scale up such operations as part of their third mission. The authors provide theoretical and practical implications for community and enterprise development in emerging African economies, especially that of Nigeria.

Purpose: This study investigates and contextualises the Igbo Traditional Business School (ITBS) and planned entrepreneurial behaviour across Nigerian higher education sector in a period of crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a quantitative survey of undergraduate students on ITBS, and the data were analysed using the SmartPLS structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings: The study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has had negative influence on attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) of students, but these negative influences are mediated/moderated by the ITBS.Practical implications: The study presents some practical and managerial implications that will be of interest to ITBS administrators, the government and other stakeholder groups.Originality/value: While research has increasingly explored the role of the ITBS in promoting entrepreneurial activities, not much has been linked to coping mechanisms for students in crisis times. The study unearths the “positive” influence of the pandemic on entrepreneurship and how the ITBS mediates the “negative” aspects of COVID-19 on entrepreneurial vocation.