Browsing by Author "Egbetokun, Abiodun"
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Item Open Access Apprenticeship schemes to support post-COVID employment recovery in Africa’s manufacturing sector(United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 2022-01-06) Egbetokun, AbiodunIt is now abundantly clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on nearly all aspects of our lives and has caused us to rethink “business as usual”. As we adapt to the "new normal", appropriately channeled opportunities can help us improve the way we do business and the way we live. Apprenticeship is one of such opportunities.Item Restricted Built to last? The long-term impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial attitude(Springer, 2024-04-06) Egbetokun, Abiodun; Olofinyehun, Adedayo; Adelowo, CalebA high rate of youth unemployment is one of the toughest problems facing African countries and which threatens the attainment of the sustainable development goals. Entrepreneurship education interventions are thought to be helpful in creating entrepreneurs whose activity will ultimately help to reduce the burden of youth unemployment. However, do such interventions work consistently in the long term? Drawing upon the theory of planned behaviour and a new typology of impacts, we tackle this question in the context of a long-standing entrepreneurship education intervention in Nigeria. We use pooled cross-sectional data from a sample of over 12,000 Nigerian undergraduates and apply an instrumental variable approach in a difference-in-differences (DiD) regression framework to obtain intention-to-treat estimates, thereby avoiding overoptimistic estimates of impact. The results show that despite a strong positive instantaneous impact, the longer the policy has been in place, the weaker its effect. In real life, it means that the policy is unable to continue to generate the desired impact of increased interest in entrepreneurship among repeated student cohorts, all else being equal. We suggest ways to overcome the inconsistency of impact and drive long-term social change; these include differentiating entrepreneurship curriculum to match students’ pre-course profiles. Overall, our study provides the first long-term impact evaluation of an entrepreneurship education intervention in a developing country context. Thus, we advance the policy debate on how to design and implement effective entrepreneurship education interventions that can foster youth entrepreneurship and employment.Item Open Access Business incubators and entrepreneurship development in Africa’s innovation systems: a bibliometric review(Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Programme, 2023-03) Egbetokun, AbiodunBusiness incubators are a useful policy tool for spurring and supporting entrepreneurial businesses, but we know too little about their impact in Africa.Item Open Access Business incubators and entrepreneurship development in Africa’s innovation systems: a bibliometric review(Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL), 2023-03-15) Egbetokun, AbiodunBusiness incubators are a policy tool for spurring and supporting entrepreneurial businesses. In recent years, many African countries have established many of them. Business incubators in Africa have received some attention in the academic literature but there are no systematic analyses of the body of evidence to help researchers make sense of what we already know and what remains to be known. Herein lays the purpose of this paper. Using standard bibliometric methods, this paper reviews the state of the art of the research in this area and identifies the gaps for future research. The analyses highlight the five major themes in the research literature on incubators in Africa: incubator types and support for different business types; incubator performance in fostering innovation and capability building; impact of incubators on businesses and the economy; role of incubators in supporting emergence and growth of start-ups; and incubators as enablers of firm-level learning. Some remaining gaps in the literature are identified. First, limited evidence exists on how to improve incubator support to businesses across sectors and countries. Second, barely any evidence exists on how to design and implement adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubation systems. Third, rigorous impact evaluations are conspicuously missing from the reviewed body of research. These gaps represent opportunities for future studies.Item Open Access Business incubators in Africa: a review of the literature(Taylor and Francis, 2023-12-19) Egbetokun, AbiodunThis paper reviews research on business incubators in Africa, as a policy tool for supporting entrepreneurial businesses. Combining bibliometric and narrative approaches, it identifies five themes in the literature: incubator types and support; incubator performance and innovation; incubator impact on businesses and economy; incubator role in start-ups; and incubator as enabler of learning. It also highlights gaps for future research, including the lack of studies on climate change and industrialization; the limited evidence on how to improve incubator support; the absence of studies on adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubators; and the scarcity of rigorous impact evaluations. The paper concludes that incubators are useful for enterprise development in Africa but need collective research and policy efforts to strengthen their contribution.Item Embargo Conducting Surveys in Africa: Reflections from National Surveys in Nigeria(Palgrave Macmillan, 2021-12-01) Egbetokun, AbiodunEntrepreneurship, innovation and development research often rely on survey data. High-quality national survey data enable researchers to answer a wide array of policy-relevant questions but are sparse in developing countries. Small surveys help to fill the gap but are generally difficult to implement. This chapter highlights four major challenges that researchers face in implementing surveys in Africa, provides seven tips to overcome these challenges, and provides a list of seven high-quality data sources for entrepreneurship, innovation and development research. Researchers with an interest in developing countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, will find this chapter relevant.Item Open Access Dataset on the production, dissemination and uptake of social science research in Nigeria(Elsevier, 2021-03-03) Egbetokun, Abiodun; Olofinyehun, AdedayoThis dataset presents data collected from three surveys, each among researchers, research administrators and policymakers across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The data were collected from 513 researchers, 118 research administrators and 60 policymakers drawn from randomly selected organizations that are implicated in Social Science Research (SSR) in Nigeria, which include: 53 universities; 5 research institutes; 17 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and donors; 9 private consultancies; 26 civil society organisations, private consultancies; and 7 Houses of Assembly. The surveys assessed several factors that impart the production, dissemination and uptake of social science research (SSR) in Nigeria, including research personnel, funding, infrastructure, mentoring, communication practices and products, policy-friendliness, among many others. The data are important in understanding the status of SSR and its potential to influence sustainable development in a typical developing country like Nigeria. The usefulness of the data is many folds as every stakeholder in the research-policy-development nexus is implicated. Ultimately, the data is useful in characterizing SSR system and formulating policies to boost its status and potential.Item Open Access The determinants and complementarity of organizational innovation practices among Nigerian manufacturing and service firms(Taylor and Francis, 2019-02-12) Adeyeye, David; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Oluwatope, Omolayo; Sanni, MarufThis paper gives an overview of organizational innovation practices within the context of a developing country, Nigeria. Using innovation survey data from 2008 and 2011, the paper provides an analysis of the complementarity or otherwise of organizational innovation practices used by manufacturing and service firms in the country. The consistent co-occurrence of different organizational innovation practices suggests that they are complements rather than substitutes. Results of our multivariate probit analysis show a clear pattern in the manufacturing sector, with complementarity between all the organizational innovation practices. There are however marked differences between the manufacturing and service sectors, suggesting that innovation policies should be sector-specific.Item Open Access Diffusion of social science research in Nigeria(Wiley, 2022-02-12) Olofinyehun, Adedayo; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Ayo-Lawal, Rachael Aderonke; Sanni, Maruf; Oluwatope, Omolayo; Utieyineshola Adeleke, YusuffUnderstanding the research–policy nexus in developing economies requires knowing who disseminates and how social science research (SSR) is diffused. Based on survey and secondary data on a diverse set of critical stakeholders, this paper characterises the SSR diffusion landscape in Nigeria. We find that university researchers are the most active disseminators of SSR though other actors also engage in dissemination activities. Collaboration among different categories of actors, both locally and internationally, is pervasive in the system. However, online visibility of research is poor in the Nigerian SSR system. Most of the local scientific journals do not operate online, and a large share of the published SSR output is missing from widely used bibliographic databases. For a better research–policy nexus, research producers need to become skilled research advocates and policymakers need to be accessible to other actors.Item Embargo Entrepreneurial resilience in turbulent environments: the role of spiritual capital(Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Rae, David; Hussain, JavedIncreasingly, businesses in the 21st century have to grapple with the challenges of operating in turbulent environments characterised by market volatility, political instability, and terrorism. These challenges are relevant to developing countries, where institutional weaknesses exacerbate environmental turbulence; and developed countries, where, for example in the UK, businesses are grappling with the uncertainties of BREXIT. In order to survive and compete, firms mobilise external resources and develop new strategies. For instance, scholars have observed that social capital in the form of cooperative alliances enables rival firms to combine resources, share costs, achieve economies of scale, and mitigate risk and uncertainty in innovation. Recently, a new interest has emerged in the role of spiritual capital—that is, the set of personal, intangible, and transcendent resources that emanate from an individual's spiritual or religious beliefs and experiences and may be used in economic activity. Spiritual capital is especially relevant in developing countries including those in sub-Saharan Africa where there are greater institutional voids, and religion and spirituality play a dominant role in society. While recent studies have drawn attention to the impact of spiritual capital on firm level innovation and performance as well as corporate governance practices, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that interrogates and integrates the relationships between spiritual capital, environmental turbulence, entrepreneurial resilience and firm survival. Finally, we test this theoretical model in an empirical study of 306 randomly selected SMEs in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies and an archetypical context for addressing key questions of resilience and environmental turbulence. The results of the hierarchical regression model indicate that faith beliefs have significant impact on entrepreneurial resilience, but prayer and worship do not.Item Open Access “Frenemies” of innovation: understanding the role of coopetition in service innovation in emerging markets(Open Research Europe, 2022-02-24) Hassan, Sohaib; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Bzhalava, LevanCoopetition is considered an important strategy for innovation. However, the literature provides limited evidence on how coopetition relates to innovation in service sector, particularly in emerging markets. Moreover, little is known about the effects of the formal and informal aspects of coopetition on innovation and how absorptive capacity of firm may influence this relationship. Against this background, using the official national innovation surveys of Nigeria (2008 and 2011), this study contributes to the ongoing debate by empirically examining the innovation endeavors of 421 Nigerian SMEs. The study employs logistic regression methods to model and explore the relationships between coopetition and innovation in the sample. The results show that that formal coopetition hinders innovation while informal coopetition supports it and absorptive capacity moderates these relationships. The study provides important insights about the concept of coopetition in emerging markets, especially vis-à-vis their institutional idiosyncrasies. Finally, the study highlights its implications and suggests some avenues for future research.Item Embargo ‘Frenemy’ of progress? Investigation of the disruptive impacts of generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) on learning and assessment in higher education(2023-08) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Owoseni, Adebowale; Egbetokun, AbiodunChatGPT, a state-of-the-art chatbot built upon Open AI’s generative pre-trained transformer (GPT-3), has generated a major public interest and caused quite a stir in the higher education sector, where reactions have ranged from excitement to consternation. With approximately 175 billion parameters at its command, GPT-3 is one of the largest and most powerful natural language processing AI models available, with vast and versatile capabilities surpassing previous chatbot models. We conducted a quasi-experiment in which we deployed ChatGPT to generate academic essays in response to a typical assessment brief, and then subjected the essays to plagiarism checks. In addition, Chat GPT was instructed to generate contents in various formats, including editorial and poetry, and the output was subjected to summary thematic analysis. The results of the quasi-experiment show that ChatGPT is able to generate highly original, and high quality, contents from distinct individual accounts in response to the same assessment brief. However, it is unable to generate multiple original contents from the same account, and it struggled with referencing. The discussion highlights the need for higher education providers to rethink their approach to assessment, in response to disruption precipitated by artificial intelligence. Thus, following the discussion of empirical data, we propose a new conceptual framework for AI-assisted assessment for lifelong learning, in which the parameters of assessment extend beyond knowledge (know what) testing, to competence (know how) assessment and performance (show how) evaluation.Item Metadata only Generative AI in Higher Education: Innovation Strategies for Teaching and Learning(Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) Owoseni, Adebowale; Kolade, Oluwaseun; Egbetokun, AbiodunWith the integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI), teachers and learners now have access to powerful tools to enhance their productivity and effectiveness in their work. To meet the demands of this dynamic educational landscape, teachers must embrace AI to handle repetitive tasks, freeing them to focus on more intelligent and humanistic responsibilities. For learners, responsible use of AI could make learning more fun, personalized, flexible, and enriching. This insightful new book explores the evolving role of educators in higher education in a world of rapid technological advancements and provides a practical outline of the available technologies. By integrating Generative AI into teaching and learning, Higher Education Institutions can contribute to achieving inclusive and equitable quality education, a target of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Generative AI can be used to enhance teaching and learning experiences, foster creativity, and develop new learning experiences in higher education. This book is a valuable resource for educators navigating the ever-changing landscape of education technology. With scientific background, practical insights and actionable tips, this book will be of interest to scholars of emerging technologies and innovation in education. It will also be of practical use to instructors seeking to harness the power of generative AI, enhancing productivity and transforming their approach to personalized learning.Item Open Access Guts, Grit and God? Spiritual Capital and Entrepreneurial Resilience in a Turbulent Environment(Elsevier, 2023-06-06) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Adegbite, EmmanuelThis paper investigates the role of spiritual capital in a turbulent sub-Saharan African context, where religion plays a dominant role in society and firms are grappling with macroeconomic shocks and institutional instability recently exacerbated by covid-19 pandemic. The study draws from a survey of 622 firms in one of Africa’s biggest business hubs – Lagos, Nigeria. The results show that spiritual capital significantly mediates the impact of social capital on entrepreneurial resilience, helping entrepreneurs to cope in unstable and difficult terrain. The study highlights the significance of spiritual capital as a distinct resource complimenting other intangible resources such as social capital.Item Open Access INTRODUCTION: Importance of methodological diversity for innovation system studies(Taylor and Francis, 2019-07-09) Raunio, Mika; Pugh, Rhiannon; SHEIKH, FAYAZ; Egbetokun, AbiodunItem Open Access Is AI changing learning and assessment as we know it? Evidence from a ChatGPT experiment and a conceptual framework(Elsevier, 2024-02-10) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Owoseni, Adebowale; Egbetokun, AbiodunChatGPT, a state-of-the-art chatbot built upon Open AI's generative pre-trained transformer, has generated a major public interest and caused quite a stir in the higher education sector, where reactions have ranged from excitement to consternation. This paper therefore examines the potential impact of ChatGPT on learning and assessment, using the example of academic essays, being a major form of assessment with widespread applications of ChatGPT. This provides an opportunity to unpack broader insights on the challenge of generative AI's to the relevance, quality and credibility of higher education learning in a rapidly changing 21st century knowledge economy. We conducted a quasi-experiment in which we deployed ChatGPT to generate academic essays in response to a typical assessment brief, and then subjected the essays to plagiarism checks and independent grading. The results indicate that ChatGPT is able to generate highly original, and high quality, contents from distinct individual accounts in response to the same assessment brief. However, it is unable to generate multiple original contents from the same account, and it struggled with referencing. The discussion highlights the need for higher education providers to rethink their approach to assessment, in response to disruption precipitated by artificial intelligence. Thus, following the discussion of empirical data, we propose a new conceptual framework for AI-assisted assessment for lifelong learning, in which the parameters of assessment extend beyond knowledge (know what) testing, to competence (know how) assessment and performance (show how) evaluation.Item Open Access Pooled dataset on entrepreneurial characteristics of undergraduates in selected universities in Nigeria(Elsevier, 2021-12-16) Olofinyehun, Adedayo; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Adelowo, Caleb M.This pooled dataset presents data collected through four (4) sequential cross-sectional surveys of undergraduates in six (6) selected Nigerian universities. The data were collected from a total of 12,615 undergraduates studying courses in the social sciences, sciences and engineering disciplines. The surveys assessed entrepreneurship interest, background and experience of the respondents. The dataset is useful for research, policy and practice in several ways. Coming from surveys repeated at intervals of between four and five years, the dataset allows for an assessment of the impacts of the compulsory entrepreneurship training that was introduced in the Nigerian university system at about the time of the first survey. It can also be used to quantify the potential pool of future entrepreneurs among the highly educated Nigerian youth. Additionally, the dataset presents a full entrepreneurship profile of a very large pooled cross-sectional sample of educated young people in the largest and most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, researchers, policymakers, donors and other development practitioners seeking to characterize and design appropriate interventions for youths in the developing world will find this dataset valuable.Item Open Access Pooled Longitudinal Dataset on the Assessment of an Apprenticeship-Based Entrepreneurship Intervention in Nigeria(Brill, 2023-09-18) Olofinyehun, Adedayo; Adeyeye, Jumoke; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Olomu, Michael; Oluwadare, Jessica; Sanni, Maruf; Orisadare, MonicaThis dataset presents longitudinal data collected through four surveys (in six-monthly intervals) of fresh university and polytechnic graduates in Nigeria. The data were collected from 21,940 unique young men and women who underwent National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme across ten states in Nigeria. The NYSC programme is a compulsory one-year national service that all Nigerians under the age of 30 years must undergo after graduation. A key component of the one-year service is the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme of the NYSC. The dataset is useful for many purposes. It contains enough information to fully profile the entrepreneurship and apprenticeship characteristics of the fresh graduates. Moreover, it can be used to quantify the potential pool of future entrepreneurs among highly educated Nigerian youth. The dataset was originally used to assess the impact of NYSC, being an apprenticeship-based entrepreneurship intervention, on entrepreneurial outcomes among young persons. However, its use may also extend to an assessment of the impact of compulsory entrepreneurship training in the Nigerian university system that produced most of the respondents.Item Open Access The production of social science research in Nigeria: status and systemic determinants(Nature, 2022-01-06) Egbetokun, Abiodun; Olofinyehun, Adedayo; Sanni, Maruf; Ayo-Lawal, Rachael Aderonke; Oluwatope, Omolayo; Utieyineshola Adeleke, YusuffNigeria has a very large research system, with nearly 200 universities that employed more than 60,000 academic staff at the end of 2019. The country is also one of Africa’s largest producers of scientific research across all disciplines, surpassed only by South Africa and Egypt. In the social sciences, in particular, Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest producer of published research, after South Africa. However, the country’s social science research (SSR) production does not match the size of its SSR system. Using mixed methods, we come up with two important reasons for this: (i) research inputs are low, mainly because research is poorly funded and researchers devote too little time to research as a result of poor organisational climate, and (ii) the research support system is weak. No single institution currently has a clear mandate to centrally coordinate SSR in Nigeria. Consequently, research efforts are often duplicated and the limited research resources are spread too thin. Moreover, logistical support for research is missing or inefficient in most organisations. Therefore, improving research productivity in the country would require much stronger research coordination and wide-ranging improvements in the research climate.Item Open Access Response to Health Crises in Africa: Insight From Executing a 2-Year Project in Nigeria(Sage, 2024-08-20) Muhammad, Aliyu; Egbetokun, Abiodun; Ibrahim, Mohammed Auwal; Okoli, Peter Chukwunonso; Sogbanmu, Temitope Olawunmi; Ehilen, Oseghale Emmanuel; Isah, Murtala Bindawa; Mohammed, Isah Yakub; Animasaun, Isaac Lare; Anjorin, AbdulAzeez Adeyemi; Kenechukwu, Franklin Chimaobi; Ibrahim, Mutiat Bolanle; Ibor, Oju Richard; Adesiyan, Ibukun Modupe; Umeyor, Chukwuebuka Emmanuel; Garba, Zaharaddeen Nasiru; Anyanwu, Gabriel Oluwabunmi; Ifeanyi-Obi, Clara ChionwokeScience advice aids in integrating scientific evidence into policymaking. In Africa, a significant gap exists between science and policy, necessitating high-quality advisory services. The Multifaceted Response Development from Research on COVID-19 in Africa (MURDER COVID-19) project by the Nigerian Young Academy (May 2021–April 2023) aimed to bridge this gap. Project outputs included eight policy briefs, 10 webinars, a hybrid international conference, and a searchable research equipment database. The project effectively dispelled COVID-19 myths, promoted vaccine confidence, and highlighted the need to strengthen health systems and research capacity. The project provides valuable lessons/recommendations and serves as a model for collaborative initiatives addressing health crises and enhancing research capacity.