Innovative Business Idea Generation in Higher Education: The Interplay between Entrepreneurship Centres and Economic Conditions.

BACKGROUND: Entrepreneurship education is widely promoted as a strategy for reducing graduate unemployment and stimulating innovation in developing economies. Universities are expected to develop entrepreneurial capabilities that enable students to identify and pursue viable opportunities despite economic instability. However, limited empirical evidence explains how entrepreneurship centre engagement influences innovative business idea generation under volatile macroeconomic conditions. Drawing on Ecological Systems Theory, this study examines the effect of entrepreneurship centre engagement on innovative business idea generation among Nigerian undergraduates and investigates the moderating role of perceived general economic conditions. Entrepreneurship centre engagement is conceptualised as a microsystem influence, while general economic conditions represent exosystem forces shaping perceptions of feasibility and opportunity. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional design was adopted. Survey data were collected from 269 undergraduate students at a Nigerian university with an established entrepreneurship centre. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to assess direct and moderating effects. Reliability, validity, predictive relevance, and common method bias diagnostics were also examined. RESULTS: Entrepreneurship centre engagement significantly and positively predicts innovative business idea generation. Perceived general economic conditions also significantly influence ideation. However, the interaction effect is negative and significant, indicating that adverse economic perceptions weaken the positive relationship between entrepreneurship centre engagement and idea generation. The model demonstrates acceptable fit, moderate explanatory power, meaningful effect sizes, and predictive relevance. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that innovative business idea generation emerges from the interaction between institutional support and broader economic conditions. While entrepreneurship centres strengthen students' innovative thinking, perceived macroeconomic instability constrains this effect by influencing opportunity evaluation and feasibility perceptions. The study contributes to entrepreneurship education research by demonstrating how macroeconomic conditions shape the ideational outcomes of university-based entrepreneurship engagement in an emerging economy.