Entrepreneurship competencies of university students by assessing item performance and demographic differences (gender, race, and age) using the entrepreneurial inventory instrument

The item performance of the newly developed Entrepreneurship Inventory instrument was explored amongst university students. Overall, the results indicated a positive attitude towards items in this instrument, especially reviewing items from the competencies growth mind-set, opportunity assessment, and self-efficacy. However, demographic analysis revealed several striking differences in gender, race, and age. While with gender, less competencies demonstrated significant differences, it was found that males exhibiting higher entrepreneurial competencies than females. With race, it was found that White and Indian/Asian students tend to score higher on all competencies compared to the Black and Coloured students. When reviewing age, the junior group of students (18 to 21 years old) showed lower entrepreneurial competencies than older students, which points to the experience and confidence gap.