ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC GROWTH NEXUS IN NIGERIA: MODERATING EFFECT OF INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY: ARDL COINTEGRATION APPROACH

This paper explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth in Nigeria: the moderating role of institutional quality. To accomplish this, the study employs an Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) from (2002Q1–2019Q4) and uses a moderator model to examine the impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth via institutional quality. The resilts show that institutional quality in Nigeria has a positive impact on economic growth. The results also indicate that the interactive effect of institutional quality and entrepreneurship has positive effect on economic growth in Nigeria both in the short-run and long-run. The study illustrate that the productive entrepreneurship is a potent vehicle for promoting long term economic growth in Nigeria. In general, unless institutional quality is introduced to improve the influence of entrepreneurship on economic growth, entrepreneurial activity alone may not lead to desired growth. Furthermore, the study presents a perspective of the role of government in establishing an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurial activity and, as a result, enhances economic growth in Nigeria. Based on this finding, the study recommends for the implimantation of measures and policies aims at encourageing productive entrepreneurial activities that contribute to economic growth. In addition Government and policymakers should improved the quality of institutions such as improving Government Effectiveness, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Voice and Accountability, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. KEYWORDS: Economic growth, Entrepreneurship, Moderating, Institutional quality.