Introduction

The devastation of the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 has resulted in severe restrictions on sustainable economic growth and development in virtually every part of the world. Global Finance (2020) reports that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries have witnessed severe restrictions on the economies and social activities that affected the labour market negatively. According to the report, the unemployment rate among the OECD countries has increased to 8.5%, while the United States has the highest rate of unemployment among the OECD countries (Global Finance, 2020). In the same perception, United Nations (2020) laments that the outbreak of deadly virus (COVID-19) injured most industries and sectors in African countries which subsequently increase the rate of unemployment to 50% in the region.

In Nigeria's context, NBS (2020) reveals that the consequences of COVID-19 have increased the unemployment rate to 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020. This indicates that about 21.7 million Nigerians are jobless which more than the population of several African countries is. According to the World Economic Forum (2020), Africa, especially Nigeria, is demographically the world's youngest continent and by 2030, one-third of the global workforce will emanate from the region. This scenario implies that the largest unemployed youth associated with socio-economic disequilibrium and corruption are a driving force of instability, social unrest, and national insecurity. A growing number of studies argue that entrepreneurship is the only tool that can re-fertilize the economy of the African continent by moving from wage-earning countries to entrepreneurial countries (Seth, 2020; Amina & Abdelaziz, 2019; Olokundun, 2017; Mwiya, 2014). According to Yereka (2019), entrepreneurship is a strategic option that assists developing nations from deep waters of socio-economic challenges to become industrialized nations via the discovery of new ideas, business opportunities, new strategies, new products and services, and new markets for inputs that have not been in existence.

Researchers and scholars argue that entrepreneurial culture plays a vital role in the entrepreneurial activities of a nation in influencing the mindset and behaviour of citizens especially in the area of the creation of new business ideas and risk-taking (Castillo-Palacio, Batista-Canino, & Zuñiga-Collazos, 2017; Mueller & Thomas, 2001). Olugbola (2017) also argues that an effective entrepreneurial culture influences the career readiness of youth towards new business start-ups via entrepreneurship education. OECD (2015) avers that entrepreneurship education fosters an entrepreneurial culture in university students who wish to start their ventures and constantly are on the lookout for entrepreneurial opportunities to exploit. The study will further contribute to the previous studies by expanding the scope of the ways entrepreneurship education moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and career readiness of youth towards new business start-ups.

The study is warranted for details especially that African countries are driving at achieving vision 2030 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This present study serves as an antidote to the present high rate of unemployment among Nigerian youth that made the country a lion’s den for the government, citizens, and foreigners.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of this study emanated from different studies relating to the human capital theory of entrepreneurship. The human capital theory of entrepreneurship is the most used with an entrepreneurial culture and career readiness (Olugbola, 2017). The theory postulates that people that are vast in entrepreneurial education are more prone to entrepreneurial career readiness (Dilani, Oswald & Allan, 2014).

Human capital theory in entrepreneurship is based on the value of education and indicates that people have a spectrum of entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and behaviour that gear towards career readiness (Mulongo, 2012). According to Becker (1993), an individual who possessed the right set of skills or capabilities that can be improved through training and education. As students (potential entrepreneurs) accumulate human capital (entrepreneurship education), their entrepreneurial culture should enhance as they are ready to take risks and come up with new business ideas and innovativeness. If human capital increases with additional entrepreneurship education, a student’s entrepreneurial career readiness should theoretically increase in proportion to the amount of entrepreneurship educational skills he or she acquires (Olugbola, 2017; Dilani, Oswald & Allan, 2014).

Although the theory was under heavy criticism on the ground that many students often seek entrepreneurship education to signal their educational quality to employers rather than aiming to become entrepreneurs (Spence, 1973). Despite the criticism, Oosterlinck (2016) establishes that human capital theory is relevant in articulating the entrepreneurial career readiness of students who would have been exposed to entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurship education at their tender age. In the same perception, Popescu, Bostan, Robu, Maxim & Diaconu (2016) argue that entrepreneurship initiatives result from stimulating students’ entrepreneurial intentions through fostering an entrepreneurial culture. To support the argument, Qiao (2017) proves that the United States of America became the birthplace of entrepreneurship on the ground that their educational setup is vibrant due to a string of pioneering entrepreneurial attitude which is prevalent in their educational system. CIPE (2014) reports that the United States of America has over 1600 universities and colleges that offered more than 2200 entrepreneurship courses as well as set up over 100 entrepreneurship research hubs and at the end resulting in the prevailing entrepreneurial culture which encourages entrepreneurial career readiness of youth towards new business start-up. In agreement with the human capital theory, Oviawe & Anavberokha (2008) opine that if African students are well equipped with a spectrum of entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and culture, African Nations will be transformed economically, technologically, and industrially. Therefore, the theory argues that if Africa countries, especially Nigeria, intend to move out of the perturbing high level of unemployment and stand out in the comity of nations, entrepreneurship education should be given priority.

Entrepreneurial Culture

Culture has been viewed from different perspectives by different scholars. For instance, Skinner (1981) views culture as an integral of how individuals live and behave. The study of Otite & Oginwo (2016) see culture as the total man’s acquisition of skills, beliefs, morals, and customs that can be shared and transmitted from one generation to another generation. According to Kluchohn & Kelly (1988), culture is a historical design for living and explicit instruction that guides the behaviours of men. Sibani (2014) also explains that culture is the totality of men and the people's way of life that transmitted from generation to generation. Additionally, Hofstede (2001) describes culture as the joint programming of a mindset that scorns a group of people from another. Therefore, entrepreneurial culture can be defined as the skills, morals, attitude, and power of individuals working in an organization to maximize profit (Danish, Asghar & Ahmad, 2019). According to Ireland, Hitt & Sirmon (2003), entrepreneurial culture is a culture that involves creativeness, risk-taking, and the challenges of the status quo.

Career Readiness

Career readiness is a relatively new construct entrepreneurial career development. There is no consensus definition of career readiness among scholars. For instance, Cabelloro & Walker (2010) define career readiness as the level to which individuals are perceived as possessing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and attributes that will enable them to start-up venture. According to Coduras, Saiz-Alvarez & Ruiz (2016), career readiness is the entrepreneurial skills individuals needed to be minimally qualified for entrepreneurship readiness as especially competent to scan their environment to explore their potentials. Olugbola (2017) views career readiness as the development of entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and behaviour through entrepreneurship education that will assist students to make informed choices about entrepreneurial activities. In another study, Ruiz, Soriano & Coduras (2016) also define career readiness as the personal entrepreneurial attributes, entrepreneurial traits, and coping mechanisms needed not only to start a venture but to keep that venture. From the above definitions, this study perceives the career readiness of young graduates to depend on the entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and entrepreneurial culture acquired through entrepreneurship education.

Empirical and Theoretical Evidence on the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Culture and Career Readiness

Both the empirical and theoretical studies have attested that an entrepreneurial culture is a form of a mindset, an attitude, a practice, a set of skills, and self-discipline that fostering career readiness (Olugbola, 2017; Barringer & Ireland, 2015; Hempel & Fiala, 2012). Empirical evidence shows that prospective entrepreneurs venture into a new business due to entrepreneurial culture attributes such as celebrity endorsement, religion perception, moral value, and lifestyle (Macke & Markley 2003). The study of Peterman & Kennedy (2003) evident that involvement in entrepreneurship education, training programmes, and workshops has a positive relationship with career readiness to start a new business. Kang, Matusik, Kim & Phillips (2016) advocate that entrepreneurial culture is a powerful force that enhances the innovative abilities of individuals to start a new business. In the same vein, the studies of Flamholtz (2001); Flamholtz & Kannan-Narasimhan (2005) have established a positive link between entrepreneurial culture attributes and career readiness. Carsrud & Brannback (2009) concur with the previous studies that career readiness depends on the entrepreneurial attributes and entrepreneurial traits of individuals towards entrepreneurial activities. Ak-podono (2016) also affirms that cultural values have a positive significant influence on the individual’s value system, which assists him to develop an entrepreneurial culture for economic vitality. Botha, Nieman & Van (2008) aver that venture creation behaviour is created by the influence of one’s culture. Sajuyigbe & Fadeyibi (2017) further explain that entrepreneurial culture is responsible for changing the individual’s mindset to take charge of oneself via job creation.

Arch, Pedro & Alicia (2015); Ogunade (2019); Takyi-Asiedu (1993) use Hofstede’s dimensions (Masculinity vs. Femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and Individualism vs. Collectivism) of culture to examine the theoretical analysis of the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurship development. The current study, therefore, measures entrepreneurial culture from the Nigerian cultural values perceptive (perceived gender norms, celebrity endorsement, and perceived social expectation), which relate to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.

Perceived Gender norms (Masculinity vs. Femininity)

According to Hofstede (1983), masculinity vs. femininity is related to the degree to which a society accepts the value of male and female roles. Traditionally, the male is depicted as having entrepreneurial traits such as ruggedness, huskiness, and ambitiousness, to strive for achievement. In Nigeria, women are restricted to a particular job and also in some parts of the country, women are not encouraged to fully participate in politics. Sajuyigbe & Fadeyibi (2017) argue that women like to run businesses to be self-reliant but invidious gender norms and social perceptions of entrepreneurship preventing them to start a business. In the same perception, ILO (2016) establishes that related perception, gender, and social norms are the major social-cultural factors that disempower women as entrepreneurs. Hence, it is hypothesized that:

H1: Perceived gender norm is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures

Celebrity Endorsement (Uncertainty Avoidance)

According to Hofstede (2015), uncertainty avoidance is one of the cultural dimensions with the way society perceives the future to be unknown. The unknown future brings with it anxiety and people with different cultures have learned how to overcome this anxiety in different ways. Schumpeter (1934) also argues that uncertainty avoidance is a cultural dimension that connected to the entrepreneurial way of life and that entrepreneurs are instrumental in introducing groundbreaking adjustments in the economy. According to Olugbola (2017), uncertainty avoidance involves high levels of chance that linked to an entrepreneurial tradition that promotes the manner and commercializing innovation. Thurik & Dejardin (2012) argue that uncertainty avoidance societies have a phobia for risk-taking, ambiguity, uncertainty, in addition to being change resistors. Entrepreneurial ventures are associated with risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty, which involve innovation and flexibility. In Nigeria, young graduates prefer white-collar jobs, which are less risky than entrepreneurial ventures that are associated with risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty. Additionally, society celebrates highly well-paid workers in establishing professions than entrepreneurial ventures due to the prevailing factors that make the business environment difficult. Therefore, it hypothesized that:

H2: Celebrity endorsement is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

Perceived Social Expectation (Individualism vs. Collectivism)

According to Hofstede (1983), individualistic cultures focus on the needs of individual objectives and rights. In an individualistic culture, independence is highly valued and appreciated, because individuals tend to be self-reliant. Pinillos & Reyes (2011) argue that individualistic culture encourages entrepreneurial spirit and competition on the ground that an individual is motivated to break new ground in anticipated for personal rewards and benefits. Collectivism, therefore, is the culture that concern about the needs and goals of other members of the society over the self (Hofstede, 2015). According to Thurik & Dejardin (2012), collectivism centred on working as a group and supporting families and communities for a better life. Cultures in Africa countries tend to be more collectivistic when a family depends on one another for a living. Pinillos & Reyes (2011) are of opinion that in collectivistic cultures, entrepreneurial ventures are very difficult to triumph due to social expectation of supporting the immediate and extended family as well as society at large. Based on this scenario, the following hypothesis emerged:

H3: The perceived social expectation is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures

Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education refers to basic required skills to an individual’s ability to turn new business ideas into action for employment generation. According to Uzoma & Onele (2013), entrepreneurship education is the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills and ideas for the sake of starting up a venture. Ooi, Selvarajah & Meyer (2011) define entrepreneurship education as the transfer of entrepreneurial skills, culture, and competencies about how to pursue a career in entrepreneurship. Ejere & Tende (2012) assert that the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, and expertise, through entrepreneurship education is potent for a successful business start-up. According to Alberti, Sciascia & Poli (2004), entrepreneurship education is a formal-structured communication of entrepreneurial competencies that comprises entrepreneurial skills employed by individuals towards the expression of entrepreneurial culture and career readiness. Previous studies have established the relationship between entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial culture, and entrepreneurial career readiness. For instance, a study conducted by Olokundun (2017) links entrepreneurial culture to business opportunity identification through entrepreneurship pedagogical approaches. In a similar study, Amina & Zohri (2019) establish that entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial career readiness leverage on entrepreneurship education. Fortin (2002) also argues that entrepreneurship education plays a significant role in enhancing the entrepreneurial culture and career readiness among youth globally. Thus, it is hypothesized that:

H4: Entrepreneurship education mediates the relationship between perceived gender norms and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

H5: Entrepreneurship education mediates the relationship between perceived celebrity endorsement and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

H6: Entrepreneurship education mediates the relationship between perceived social expectation and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

Research Framework

Observe Figure 1:

Data Collection Procedure

The data for this study were obtained from young graduates from both universities and polytechnics that are on national clarion call in Kwara State, Nigeria by using a questionnaire survey between the 3rd of August and 30th of October 2020. The assumption is that every Nigerian graduate must have passed through entrepreneurship education in a tertiary institution of learning since the Ministry of Education has introduced entrepreneurship education into the curricula of Nigerian institutions of higher learning. A total of 583 copies of the questionnaire was sent to all 583 Batch 'B' of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) sent to all sixteen Local Governments in Kwara State, Nigeria. 503 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved, which was an 86% response rate. This high response rate is amazing may be due to the meeting we held with the State NYSC Coordinator and corps members to introduce the goal of the study and to secure their acceptance before administering the questionnaire. The composition responses were 285 females (56%) and 218 males (44%). The average of the respondents was 23.5 years with all ranging from 20 to 26 above.

Measurements and Data Analysis

The questionnaire included the age of the respondents, and scales measuring entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial culture dimensions (perceived gender norms, perceived celebrity endorsement, and perceived social expectation), and career readiness. The scales were designed with a 5-item Likert scale from 1=strongly disagree, to 5=strongly agree. The entrepreneurship education scale was driven from the works of Amina & Zohri (2019); Uzoma & Onele (2013); Ejere & Tende (2012). Perceived gender norms, perceived celebrity endorsement, and perceived social expectation was adopted from the works of Hofstede (1983), Arch, Pedro & Alicia (2015); Thurik & Dejardin (2012) respectively. While career readiness was driven from the works of Ruiz, Soriano & Coduras (2016); Olugbola (2017); Cabelloro & Walker (2010). A reliability test was employed to verify the internal consistency of the data (see Table 1). Pearson Moment correlation and various regression models were used to analyse the data.

Table 1 Reliability of Variables
Variables	Items	Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient
Entrepreneurship Education	7	0.81
Perceived gender norms	5	0.83
Perceived celebrity endorsement	5	0.91
Perceived social expectation	5	0.88
Career readiness	8	0.84

Results and Discussion

The Pearson’s r varies between +1 and -1, where +1 is a perfect positive correlation, and -1 is a perfect negative correlation and 0 means there is no linear correlation at all. The figure in Table 2 shows a very moderate and strong positive correlation. The more entrepreneurial culture among the youths, the better they are likely to get ready for a career, and the effect is very strong. It means that our study has enough statistical power to have strong effects. The Pearson Correlation indicates that there are moderate and strong correlations among the variables. Likewise, the 2-tailed significance value is <0.000. The standard alpha value is 0.05, which means that our correlation is highly significant, not just a function of random sampling error.

Table 2  Pearson Moment Correlations Coefficient Result
		GenNorm	CelEnd	SocExp	CrRead	EntreEdu
GenNorm	Pearson Correlation	1	0.504**	0.444**	0.407**	0.312**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		0	0	0	0
	Sum of Squares and Cross-products	322.584	185.683	170.528	188.879	93.498
	Covariance	0.644	0.371	0.34	0.377	0.187
	N	502	502	502	502	502
CelEnd	Pearson Correlation	0.504**	1	0.561**	0.564**	0.461**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0		0	0	0
	Sum of Squares and Cross-products	185.683	420.663	245.894	298.724	157.9
	Covariance	0.371	0.84	0.491	0.596	0.315
	N	502	502	502	502	502
SocExp	Pearson Correlation	0.444**	0.561**	1	0.588**	0.521**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0	0		0	0
	Sum of Squares and Cross-products	170.528	245.894	457.343	324.376	185.833
	Covariance	0.34	0.491	0.913	0.647	0.371
	N	502	502	502	502	502
CrRead	Pearson Correlation	0.407**	0.564**	0.588**	1	0.408**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0	0	0		0
	Sum of Squares and Cross-products	188.879	298.724	324.376	666.373	175.723
	Covariance	0.377	0.596	0.647	1.33	0.351
	N	502	502	502	502	502
EntreEdu	Pearson Correlation	0.312**	0.461**	0.521**	0.408**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0	0	0	0
	Sum of Squares and Cross-products	93.498	157.9	185.833	175.723	278.512
	Covariance	0.187	0.315	0.371	0.351	0.556
	N	502	502	502	502	502

Regression of First Model without Mediating Variables

a) Predictors: (Constant), Social Expectation, Gender Norms, Celebrity Endorsement

b) Dependent Variable: Career Readiness

In Table 3, the model summary shows the predictive ability of the study model. In the study, the R-value of 0.656 has been established indicating that there is a strong and an acceptable correlation between the predictor variables, all lumped together into one model. From the model, it can be concluded that 43.1% of the changes in the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures can be attributed to the adoption of the entrepreneurial culture.

Table 3 Model Summary
Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate	R Square Change	F Change	df1	df2	Sig. F Change	Durbin-Watson
1	0.656a	0.431	0.427	0.873	0.431	125.535	3	498	0	1.664

The output obtained from the SPSS analysis in Table 4 also gave an F-ratio of 125.535 which is significantly greater than 1 thus showing that the model is appropriate in explaining their relationship between the predictor variables and outcome variables. This was also supported by the p-values of zero that show that the model is significant and therefore the model is suitable for explaining the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

Table 4 Anova
Model	Sum of Squares	Df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Regression	286.941	3	95.647	125.535	0.000b
Residual	379.432	498	0.762
Total	666.373	501

a) Dependent Variable: Career Readiness

b) Predictors: (Constant), Social Expectation, Gender Norms, Celebrity Endorsement

From Table 5, social expectation with (β=0.454, p<0.00) has the strongest relationship with the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures in Nigeria, then followed by celebrity endorsement (β=0.392, p<0.00), gender norms (β=0.120, p<0.04) respectively. From the analysis, all three independent variables for entrepreneurial culture were statistically significant in predicting the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

Table 5 Coefficients
Model	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	T	Sig.
	B	Std. Error	Beta
(Constant)	-0.064	0.224		-0.287	0.774
GenderNorms	0.12	0.058	0.084	2.079	0.038
Celebrity Endorsement	0.392	0.055	0.311	7.16	0
Social Expectation	0.454	0.051	0.376	8.969	0

a. Dependent Variable: Career Readiness

Analysis of the Hypothesis

H1: Perceived gender norms is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

The result of the hypothesis indicating that a change in perceived gender norms will result in a 12.1% change in career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The calculated t value and associate significance probabilities were 2.07 (P<0.038) respectively, thus indicating that the test was significant at the 5% level because it is lower than 0.05%. Therefore, the implication is that, at a ninety-five percent (95%) confidence level, the perceived gender norms do have a significant positive influence on the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The decision rule, therefore, that perceived gender norms are positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. This study is contrary to the previous studies’ findings that masculinity vs. femininity is negatively related to career readiness (Sajuyigbe & Fadeyibi, 2017; ILO, 2016). Also, the study did not agree with Hofstede (1983)’s assertion that male is depicted as having entrepreneurial traits such as ruggedness, huskiness, and ambitiousness, to strive for achievement. It is probably that Nigerian youth have seen entrepreneurial ventures as the only means of empowerment and survival since there is no white-collar-job anywhere again.

H2: Perceived celebrity endorsement is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

The result of the hypothesis indicating that a change in celebrity endorsement will result in a 39.2% change in career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The calculated t value and associate significance probabilities were 7.16 (P<0.000) respectively, thus indicating that the test was significant at the 5% level because it is lower than 0.05%. Therefore, the implication is that, at a ninety-five percent (95%) confidence level, the celebrity endorsement does have a significant positive influence on the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The decision rule, therefore, that celebrity endorsement is positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The study is not in agreement with previous studies that affirmed that phobia for risk-taking, ambiguity, and uncertainty prevent entrepreneurial ventures (Hofstede, 2015; Thurik & Dejardin, 2012). This may be a result of the incessant lay-off of Nigerian workers which left them with no option but to start new ventures.

H3: The perceived social expectation is negatively related to career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

The result of the hypothesis indicating that a change in social expectation will result in a 45.5% change in career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The calculated t value and associate significance probabilities were 8.96 (P<0.000) respectively, thus indicating that the test was significant at the 5% level because it is lower than 0.05%. Therefore, the implication is that, at a ninety-five percent (95%) confidence level, the social expectation does have a significant positive influence on the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The decision rule, therefore, that social expectation is positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The study opposes the view of Pinillos & Reyes (2011) that social expectation hinders entrepreneurial ventures.

Mediating Effects of Entrepreneurship Education on the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Culture and Career Readiness of Youth towards Entrepreneurial Ventures

The mediated multiple regression models have carried out through process macro conditional analysis in SPSS. The relationship between entrepreneurial culture and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures in this study was mediated by entrepreneurship education. The entrepreneurial culture was measured through three levels of gender norms, celebrity endorsement, and social expectation.

From Table 6, the results show the R in the model with the mediating variable was 0.50, 0.59, and 0.60 respectively, showing that R² change in respect to the model without the mediating variable. The results indicate that the mediating model was statistically significant with the model had F=84.65, 132.01, and 140.05 with a P-value=.00 all. This shows that the model is suitable for explaining the mediating influence of entrepreneurship education between perceived gender norms, celebrity endorsement, and social expectation, and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

Table 6 Model Summary
Model	R	R Square	F Statistics	P-value
H4 GN→EE→CR	0.50a	0.25	84.65	0
H5 CE→EE→CR	0.59a	0.35	132.01	0
H6 SE→EE→CR	0.60a	0.36	140.05	0

From Table 7, based on the mediation rule by Hayes (2013), entrepreneurial education has a mediating effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The rules state that the interaction term must be significant and if the interaction effect of the model values in both Lower-Level Confidence Interval (LLCI) and Upper-Level Confidence Interval (ULCI) has no zero value between them, the mediating variable has a significant effect on the model. The results indicate that entrepreneurship education does not mediate the relationship between perceived gender norms and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures with a p-value of 0.5708 indicating the study rejects the H4. While the result indicates that entrepreneurship education does mediate the relationship between celebrity endorsement and social expectation and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures with a p-value of 0.000 respectively indicating the study accepts both the H5 and H6. Overall, the study rejects the negative postulations and concludes that entrepreneurial education has a mediating effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. This is in line with the study of Fortin (2002) also argues that entrepreneurship education plays a significant role in enhancing the entrepreneurial culture and career readiness among youth globally.

Table 7 Interaction Effect Mediating Value Entrepreneurial Education
Terms	Coefficients	T values	P-values	LLCI	ULCI
Constant	2.22	13.949	0	1.9073	2.5326
Gen Norms	0.0233	0.5672	0.5708	-0.0573	0.1038
Cel Endo	0.1934	4.9786	0	0.1171	0.2698
Soc Expe	0.2937	8.1757	0	0.2231	0.3642

Conclusion

This study contributed to the previous studies by expanding the scope of how entrepreneurship education moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and career readiness of youth towards new business start-ups in Nigeria. The results indicated that entrepreneurial culture has a positive relationship with the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. Furthermore, the result demonstrated that entrepreneurial education has a mediating effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and the career readiness of the youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are as follows:

1) The perceived gender norms are positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. This connotes that gender is no longer a barrier to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

2) The perceived celebrity endorsement is positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. This means that phobia for risk-taking, ambiguity, and uncertainty cannot prevent the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

3) The social expectation is positively related to the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures. This implies that social expectation of supporting the immediate and extended family as well as society at large may not prevent the career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

4) Entrepreneurship education does mediate the relationship between perceived celebrity endorsement, social expectation, and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures but not mediate the relationship between gender norms and career readiness of youth towards entrepreneurial ventures.

Practical Implications

This study has widened the knowledge of Nigerian youth and Policymakers to the importance of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial culture in driving career readiness. It has exhibited that entrepreneurship education has a mediated effect between entrepreneurial culture and career readiness. This implies that career readiness emerged as a result of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial culture. This study, therefore, advocates that entrepreneurship education plays a significant role in enhancing the entrepreneurial culture and career readiness among youth. This indicates that entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial culture are indispensable tools that can re-fertilize the economy of the Africa continent by moving from wage-earning countries to entrepreneurial countries.

Theoretical Implications

This study contributes to the human capital theory of entrepreneurship. For instance, the findings reveal that entrepreneurship education does mediate entrepreneurial culture and career readiness. This agrees with the human capital theory of entrepreneurship which postulates that people that vast in entrepreneurial education are more prone to an entrepreneurial culture and career readiness (Olugbola, 2017). The theory also advocates that if human capital increases with additional entrepreneurship education, a student’s entrepreneurial career readiness should theoretically increase in proportion to the amount of entrepreneurship educational skills he or she acquires (Dilani, Oswald & Allan, 2014). By implication, an individual who possesses the right set of entrepreneurial skills will drive entrepreneurial ventures. This is the reason why Qiao (2017) argues that the United States of America became the birthplace of entrepreneurship on the ground that their educational setup is vibrant due to a string of pioneering entrepreneurial attitude which is prevalent in their educational system. No wonder why Oviawe & Anavberokha (2008) lament that if African students are well equipped with a spectrum of entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, and culture, Africa Nations will be transformed economically, technologically, and industrially.

Limitations and Future Research Recommendations

Academically, this study provides a new dimension for the study of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial culture, and career readiness. However, there are some limitations embedded in this study. For instance, this study limited to one state, which can be expanded to all 36 states of the federation in future studies. Also, this study makes use of quantitative techniques only, which can also be modified to mixed-methods in future studies.

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to appreciate the Management of Landmark University for giving full sponsorship to this research work.The authors wish to appreciate the Management of Landmark University for giving full sponsorship to this research work.

Competeting Intrests

The authors have stated that no contending issue in respect to the authorship and publication of this valuable article is allowed.

Authors Contributions

All the authors read and approved the manuscript.

Funding

The authors did not receive any grant from any government, organization or non-organization funding agency.

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