FAMILY BACKGROUND AS A PREDICTOR OF STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMMME IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

This study determined family background as a predictor of students’ interest in business education programme in tertiary institutions in South East, Nigeria. The study employed four specific objectives, four research questions guided the study and four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational survey design. The population of the study comprised 1191-year two (2) and three (3) Business Education Students from public tertiary institutions offering business education in South East, Nigeria. A sample size of four hundred and eighty (480) business education students were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Instruments for data collection were structured questionnaire titled “family Background Questionnaire and Interest Scale on Business Education developed by the researcher. The instruments were validated by three experts in Business Education and Measurement and Evaluation from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus. The reliability of the instruments was determined using Cronbach Alpha co-efficient to determine the internal consistency of the instrument yielded correlation coefficient of 0.83 while family background questionnaire yielded0.87 for interest scale questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to answer the research questions while Linear Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The strength of the relationship was established using Cresswell correlation coefficient. Findings of this study revealed that there is moderate positive and significant relationship between family size, parental income, parent’s occupation and students interest in business education programme and strong positive and significant relationship between parent’s educational status and students interest in business education. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that family background predicted interest of students in business education programme in tertiary institutions in South East, Nigeria. It was therefore recommended among others that Government should sensitize families no matter the educational status on need and importance of supporting their children’s academic achievement in any level of education.