Sociocultural Issues Contributing to Poor Youth Involvement in Entrepreneurial Activities in South Africa : A Prospect of Young Graduates in Thohoyandou

High rate of youth unemployment in South Africa (highest in the world at 54.7% in 2018) has been associated with several issues. Among other key issues, poor involvement of youth in entrepreneurial activities is prevalent, leaving scholars with tasks of providing lasting solution. Over the years, discourse on the concern revolves around physical, environment, economic, as well as political issues with little attention on social and cultural issues associated with the challenge. Assumptions are that interventions may not suffice given that every society is built on these two actors. In an attempt to address the gap, this study follows an exploratory sequential mixed method research design to provide insight into sociocultural issues responsible for poor involvement of the youth with specific focus on young graduates in Thohoyandou. Snowball sampling was followed in the data collection, utilising semi-structured and structured questionnaires for the interviews. The analysis was performed using Atlas-ti v8 (thematic/report-based analysis) and descriptive statistics through SPSS v25. Drawing from 56 participants, it was observed that reference group and family influence (35%); personal lifestyle and standards 34%; and entrepreneurship orientation in the society (31%) emerged. We recommend community engagement for enhanced orientation on entrepreneurial development. There is also a need to strengthen the place of entrepreneurship in the institutions of higher learning.