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Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Job Creation in Borderless Entrepreneurship: Empirical Evidence from Selected Technology Hubs in South-West Nigeria

Akinnusi Dele Ayodele, Ezekiel O. Adeleye Ph.D

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of artificial intelligence on job creation in borderless entrepreneurial ventures in tech hubs in South West Nigeria. The study, in part, aimed to identify the employment related perceptions of tech hub operators; identify the relationship between Ai and employment, its direction, and its statistical significance; and determine the strength of relationship through various statistical methods. The study used Schumpeter’s Innovation Theory to see how the phenomenon of Creative Destruction helped to both disrupt the employment structure and create new forms of employment. The study used a descriptive survey research design and an inferential statistics framework. The population of the study included the users and employees of five thousand nine hundred and thirty (5930) tech hubs in the South West Nigeria states and stratified the states according to industrialization as highly, moderately, and least industrialized. Data collection enabled 386 completed surveys and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The result showed a positive effect of artificial intelligence on job creation (β = 0.099, t = 1.705, p = 0.089 > 0.05), but not statistically significant, so the null hypothesis was accepted. The study concluded that the adoption of artificial intelligence by the hubs is reshaping the jobs rather than creating additional jobs. The hubs are now able to reach wider markets without requiring proportional increases in workforce. It was recommended that the National Information Technology Development Agency and the Industrial Training Fund provide flexible reskilling programs in line with the hubs’ accreditation; that the promoters of the hubs implement change management strategies for mid-skill analytics and coordination job roles and low-skill job roles; and that the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy separate gross job creation from net job changes in the projections of their programs.

Keywords

AdoptionArtificial Intelligence; Borderless EntrepreneurshipJob CreationTechnology Hubs. P-ISSN 2695-186X

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