Abstract
Background: Youth unemployment has increased worldwide, affecting both developed and developing countries. Many developed countries have taken initiatives to reduce unemployment by introducing and applying policies that facilitate the creation of businesses to create jobs. However, developed countries have not succeeded in curbing rising youth unemployment. Initiatives are being taken to reduce high unemployment, especially among the youth in developing countries. Nevertheless, youth unemployment remains so high in South Africa compared to other countries globally that the government of this country has declared the issue a national crisis.
Information and communication technologies are one of the solutions that the South African government is seeking to reduce unemployment. Therefore, this study aims to find out how entrepreneurship ventures can help improve youth employability in South Africa. There is a global trend of using vlogging and blogging applications for small business start-ups. Platforms such as YouTube have successfully spawned entrepreneurs and are becoming increasingly popular among young people. The purpose of this study is to recommend entrepreneurial initiatives to South African youth to combat the high unemployment in the country.
Method/Approach: This study used a quantitative research methodology and a questionnaire as the survey instrument. The survey was conducted online using Google SurveyMonkey, and 140 young respondents aged 18 to 34 years provided the data used for the study. The Technology Acceptance Model was used as the framework for the study. SPSS was used to clean and analyse the data. SPSS was also used to perform a Pearson Chi-Square Test of Independence to determine if vlogging and blogging applications were associated with entrepreneurship.
The results showed that the three most recommended online entrepreneurship ventures for South African youth to adopt are, starting an online business, creating digital content, and vlogging and blogging. In addition, the study found that knowledge plays a critical role in deciding which entrepreneurial venture would have the potential to improve the youth’s wealth index and income generation.
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Finally, the study established that there was a relationship between the use of vlogging and blogging applications and entrepreneurship. Moreover, the study found that the relationship between the use of vlogging and blogging and entrepreneurship was moderate.
Conclusion: The study concluded that South African youth are willing to engage in online entrepreneurship using vlogging and blogging applications; however, they must have adequate knowledge, as perceptions change depending on the knowledge youth possess regarding their choice of using the applications for entrepreneurship purposes.
Keywords: Information Communication Technology (ICT), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Vlogging and Blogging Applications, Entrepreneurship, Pearson Chi-Square Test of Independence, South African Youth.