The Performance of Businesses Owned by the Youth. Does Motivation Matter?

Abstract

Despite the increasing rate of entrepreneurial activities among Ghanaian youth, most of these businesses are ranked small and undifferentiated, incapable of promoting economic growth. Extant literature in entrepreneurial performance has identified motivation as one of the main factors accounting for the differences in performance among entrepreneurs worldwide. The study therefore sought to find out the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and firm performances among youth entrepreneurs in Ghana. A probit regression model was employed to establish the relationship between motivation and performance. Findings revealed that a majority of Ghanaian youth had a mix of opportunity and necessity types of motivation. This indicates that the average Ghanaian youth entrepreneur becomes self-employed based on both opportunity and necessity reasons. The results further revealed that both mix and necessity entrepreneurs were more likely to perform better than opportunity entrepreneurs. These relationships were significant a p values less than 0.05. It is therefore recommended that, mixed motives for business start-ups should be encouraged among young nascent entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship education and orientation to promote positive firm performance among youth entrepreneurs in Ghana.