Role of Self-Directed Learning Readiness in Developing Entrepreneurial Behaviors

Aims: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of self-directed learning readiness on developing entrepreneurial behaviors through social learning in the context of entrepreneurship education programs offered by state sector universities of Sri Lanka.

Study Design: Correlational research design.

Place and Duration of the Study: University of Colombo, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and University of Moratuwa during August 2018 to March 2019.

Methodology: Collected primary data from the participants of entrepreneurship education programs conducted by three major state sector universities in Sri Lanka to reveal their level of self-directed learning readiness, availability of social learning opportunities in the programs and consequent development in their entrepreneurial behaviors after enrolling the programs. Stratified random sampling is used in selecting respondents for the sample of this quantitative study and self-administered questionnaires are used as the method of data collection. SPSS is used to carry out different kinds of statistical analysis such as Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation and hierarchical regression analysis.

Results: The results show that self-directed learning readiness moderates the positive association of the development in entrepreneurial behaviors and social learning in the context of entrepreneurship education. Further, the paper provides an important analysis of the state of entrepreneurship education in Sri Lanka to enable further research to be taken in the area of entrepreneurship education. The findings provide valuable insight on sustaining the unique pedagogy of entrepreneurship education by restructuring the selection process to assess the level of self-directed learning readiness of applicants.

Conclusion: The paper affirms the framework of Bandura to provide a basis to improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in Sri Lanka. However, the paper only concerns students’ perceptions towards the tripartite relationship between self-directed learning readiness, social learning and development of entrepreneurial behaviors