Motivating Business Students to the Entrepreneurial Sector

Motivating Business Students to the Entrepreneurial Sector An Empirical Study on Factors Motivating Business Students to Move to the Entrepreneurial Sector Abstract. This exploratory study is attempts to examine how employable individuals turn their focus to start-ups. Today, majority of employees still practise a more or less self-protective strategy. In this paper we would report on the results of an empirical study of factors motivating degreed potential employees to move to self enterprising. The deciding factors to become an entrepreneur and of sustainable employment-oriented factors to be analyzed in order to discover how they differ. Participants consisted of 200 students from Malaysia entered final year of business undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data on factors and types of relationships influencing career choice and entrepreneurial intention. The results of the analysis will serve as a basis for the development of employment practices designed to support start-ups in adopting sustainable business practices. 1. Introduction Today, employees still act in accordance with employers legal obligations and try not to attract special attention from local independent business owners. This papers main aim is to take a fresh look into graduates expectation on the factors motivating employees when considering switching jobs if employed and to identify the level of interest as they commence and develop entrepreneurial ventures. The study principally examined why employees decide to become entrepreneurs, therefore, seven main issues associated with graduates enterprises as they established, operated and grew their businesses, these being chosen following a process of brainstorming with a pilot group of graduate entrepreneurs. 2. Review of Literature 2.1. Overview A number of researchers have attempted to consider factors such as gender, grade point average, duration and field of study and entrepreneurial family background as important factors affecting students perception and attitudes towards the prospect of new own business formation, and some of these factors clearly enhance or inhabit such tendency (Oakey, Mukhtar and Kipling, 2002). However, Cooper, Woo, and Dunkelberg (1989) suggested that the various objectives identified by other researchers can be reduced to three factors: challenge, wealth and autonomy. Using cluster analysis Woo, Cooper, and Dunkelberg (1991) identified two types of entrepreneurs depending upon their purposes at the time of commencing the business: firstly self-regulating who placed high priority on not having to work for others, and secondly, â€Å"company-men. who builds the organization. 2.2. Motivation Generation of start up ideas have been explored by a number of researchers. Opportunity recognition is dependent on whether the entrepreneur was extrinsically stimulated. A leading entrepreneurship text has recognised the â€Å"important implications for entrepreneurs who need to be creative in their thinking† and of the concept that creativity can be learned or enhanced (Timmons Spinelli, 2008). The three types of opportunities identification to the field of entrepreneurship as established by Sarasvathy, Dew, Velamuri, and Venkataraman (2003) are recognized, discovered and created. There are various motives to start a new venture. According to Amit, McCrimmon, Zietsma and Oesch (2001), money is important but not necessarily most important. They argue that some of the key non-monetary motives for starting up a business include the wish to be independent and the combination of work and household responsibilities. These start-up motives may have important consequences for the d egree of (over)optimism that characterizes (promising) entrepreneurs. For example, if an entrepreneur is mainly driven by wealth creation, it may be expected that (s)he is more likely to be disappointed if the turnover in the first year is relatively low. If the entrepreneur is driven by the wish to be independent, (s)he may be unpleasantly surprised by the strong reliance upon a limited number of clients or the bank. If the primary start-up motive is exploiting a perceived opportunity, the entrepreneur may be faced with other people who came up with the same idea or possibly an overestimated market demand for the (new) product. Gilad and Levine (1986), agreed in their analysis on intrinsic and extrinsic that there are discrimination between start-up motives. Intrinsic motives include the desire for independence and combining work with care for family members. Entrepreneurs who are driven by such motives will probably be less inclined to set unrealistically high pecuniary goals. Extrinsic motives include two categories: pull and push factors. An opportunity of perceived profit is an important pull factor of entrepreneurship, while (the threat of) unemployment is a well-known push factor. Regarding the exploitation of opportunities, Hayward, Shepherd and Griffin(2006) argue that overoptimistic founders will commit too many resources to the opportunities that are the bases of their ventures. If entrepreneurs are ‘blinded by their own ideas and fail to adequately assess the competition and the (potential) problems to transform the opportunity into a profitable venture, over optimism is around the corner. The creation of a new organization, however, is contingent upon the belief that self-employment promises more expected utility than either employment within an existing organization or unemployment (Douglas Shepherd, 2000; Van Praag Cramer, 2001). 3. Methodology Gartner (1989) proposed that a common limitation of studies into the predictors of entrepreneurial intentions is the failure of investigators to choose samples that are (1) comprised solely of people who are serious about entrepreneurship and (2) who are in the process of making the decision to become involved in creating a new business. Krueger, Reilly and Carsrud (2000) find that studies comprising samples of upper-division college students can uncover job-related preferences at a time when respondents are struggling with important career decisions. Therefore, it is acceptable and appropriate to investigate entrepreneurial intent utilizing a sample of upper-class college students. (Brice and Nelson, 2008), it is important to note that the population of interest in their study consists of individuals who perceive that they will become entrepreneurs and not necessarily only those who will actually become entrepreneurs. This difference is significant because while actions has been demonstrated to be predicted by intentions. Therefore, the focus of this research remains at the entrepreneurial intentions level of analysis. The sample chosen consists of postgraduate and undergraduate business degree program students who were nearing graduation. When students contemplate graduation, they may also develop immediate career plans and long-range goals. The respondents are those from the business disciplines because, based on their discipline interest, they have already decided to pursue business-related careers. For that reason, a homogeneous sampling of university college students was included in this study. In this study, we follow the method tested by Brice and Nelson. This study sample consisted of 200 students from University Colleges in Malaysia who participated utilizing a structured questionnaire data collection methodology. Subjects consisted of final (3rd) year business undergraduates and final year Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in the concentrations of management. They were appropriate primarily because their academic concentration implied that they had serious interest in pursuing a business career. The main themes covered by the survey questions include firm and owner characteristics; interest to start-up; motivation to switch jobs; career preferred timing and industry; medium for seeking employment: desire and likelihood of rewards and opportunity; criteria of choosing employers. The two researchers contacted students directly via targeted groups of respondents list originating from the Faculty of their academic major program. Five questions adapted from Chen, Greene, and Crick (1998) was used to assess start up intentions. Responses were gathered on a 5-point Likert scale and total scale score was obtained by averaging the five questions. Brice and Nelson have reported a Cronbachs alpha of 0.92 for this scale, which implies strong reliability. Information pertaining to each respondents age, gender, and class was obtained to use as control variables in the analysis. Each of these control variables was recorded as non-continuous, categorical predictors. 4. Analysis and Results Once all the related information from the respondents was entirely obtained, the students motives leading to start-up were analyzed. From the mean of all motivation constructs, it could be argued that the main motive for start-up is the need for achievement (average value = 14.3), followed by economic reasons (mean value = 12.89) and the need for independence (average value = 12.89). In order to establish instrument reliability, Cronbachs coefficient alpha was computed. The reliability coefficient was 0.71 which indicates that the instrument was reliable in its measurement of determinants for start ups. Data reduction technique is used to unfold the information embedded in our data. Hypothesis 1: Intention for independent business start-ups is higher than joining established firms After elimination of subjects with survey questionnaires were only partially completed, the final sample totalled 196 students. As shown in Table 2, this sample was equally represented between the genders, consisting of 107 (54.6%) males and 89 (45.4%) females. Subjects were primarily graduating undergraduate business students (65.8%) and graduating postgraduate students (34.2%). In fact, there were 129 bachelor degree students who aged below 25 years than MBA students who aged 26 and above. The majority of subjects were expecting salary between RM5001- RM15000 (56.2%) which is not in accordance or earnable with employment even in established firms. Since the mean, median and mode values are very close to each other, it shows the data is symmetrical. The mean for the 196 students is 2.08 with a standard deviation of 1.088. The Trimmed mean value of 2.01 is similar to the mean above. Hence, shows there are no outliers in the data set. In this survey, since the sample size is 196, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is used. The p-value of the test is less than 0.001. Hence, the data is not distributed normal. Of the 196 students, 77 (39.3%) very enthusiastic towards start-ups, 52 (26.5%) eager to start-up, 46 (23.5%) open to any opportunity, and 16 (8.2%) to consider start-up option. Out of total, 5 (2.6%) prefer employment. Since the correlation value is within 0.5 to 0.8, start-up intention among degree students is said to correlate â€Å"adequately† with at least one other variables in the construct. In this survey, the KMO value is 0.819, which is considered good. Bartletts test of sphericity is used to analyse whether the correlation matrix is an identity matrix. Identity matrix can be ruled out if the p-value of the test is less than 0.05 (Karuthan and Krishna, 2009). In this model, since the p-value is less than 0.001, the researcher proceeds with factor analysis. Since the researcher wanted to study the underlying construct among the six variables: Curiosity, Interest, Consideration, Preparation, Setting Up and Start-up Timing. This is a single underlying concept; therefore, it is called the â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure†. Since the â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† varies from person to person, it is a variable too. However, it cannot be measured by physical means. Hence, it is called a latent variable or just factor. The model for â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† is given in Figure 4. In Figure 4, one can visualize six simultaneous regression functions: Curiosity, Interest, Consideration, Preparation, Setting Up and Start-up Timing as the dependents and â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† as the independent. In the table above, since there are 6 variables in this analysis, 6 components (or factors) are listed in the first column. The respective eigen values and percent of variance explained are provided in the next two columns. For Factor 1, the eigen value is 3.109 and the variance is 51.811% of the total variance. For factor 3, 4,5 and 6 the eigen value is less than the default value of 1. In the same table, under â€Å"Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings†, only two factors are listed, corresponding to the factors for which the eigen values is more than 1. Based on the cumulative % column, these factors explain 68.792% of the total variance in the 6 original variables. According to Karuthan and Krishna, (2009) established that, in social sciences, at least 50% of the total variance in the variables in analysis must be explained by the factor of factors. In this survey, a single factor extracted explains more than 50% of the total variance in the original variables. Hypothesis 2: Motivations to switch job if employed in established firms associated with independent business start-ups We use multivariate data analysis to recognize the association between different motivation variables. The analysis has shown the variables in a scatter plot and quantifying the strength of association using correlation analysis. An association is established, both empirically and theoretically, therefore we pursued to obtain a regression model. This model, used to predict the value on entrepreneurial intention (outcome), given the values on the motivations to switch job if employed variables (predictors). Table 6, the p-value for the Levenes test for equality of variance is 0.000, which is less than 0.05. Thus, equality of variances is not assumed. Table 7 depicts that the F-value is 3.933 and the degrees of freedoms are 7 and 188. The p-value of the test is 0.000, which is less than 0.05 and the eta-squared value of 0.128, which is less than 0.15,hence, at least one pair of means differ significantly. Therefore there is a need to identify the pair that differs significantly. In this case, the researcher has performed posthoc tests. Based on Kruskal Wallis Test, the p-value of this test is 0.000, which is less than 0.05. Thus, at least one reason differs in terms of motivation towards self-employment rather employment. Based on Kruskal Wallis Test (Table 5) for the mean ranks, obviously, the degreed students are looking for a more challenging career in terms of expanded scope of work, more responsibilities and change in career path rank much higher compared to the students who looking to join a more established and stable organisations. On the other hand, 82.20% students feel that they need to escape from unfavourable office environment such as not happy with peers, bosses, office politics and etc. Based on Table 3.1, this supports students interest, whereby 97.4 cumulative percent and mean rank shown in table below of probability of considering the new business start-up.

Essay examples --

Justice Penny White of Tennessee, lost her retention election in 1996 after the Tennessee Conservative Union campaigned against her, saying she was soft on crime and capital punishment. A retention election is beneficial because it eliminates Justices that feel pity or emotion towards cases and/or people. Justice White for example ordered a new death sentence hearing for the case of State v. Odom and was knocked off the bench in a retention election because of her decision. This retention election process is beneficial because it allows citizens to retain judges who are doing significantly. It also allows us as citizens to vote off Judges who we think are doing poorly or do not represent us as a whole. Justice Penny White was voted off the ballot because citizen did not like the decision she made in the case on State v. Odom. Churches formed prayer circles to call community members stating that they would vote no for Justice White because she is evil. (Denver Bar Assoc iation.) White was opposed by a variety of victims' right groups as well as by Republic governor Don S... Essay examples -- Justice Penny White of Tennessee, lost her retention election in 1996 after the Tennessee Conservative Union campaigned against her, saying she was soft on crime and capital punishment. A retention election is beneficial because it eliminates Justices that feel pity or emotion towards cases and/or people. Justice White for example ordered a new death sentence hearing for the case of State v. Odom and was knocked off the bench in a retention election because of her decision. This retention election process is beneficial because it allows citizens to retain judges who are doing significantly. It also allows us as citizens to vote off Judges who we think are doing poorly or do not represent us as a whole. Justice Penny White was voted off the ballot because citizen did not like the decision she made in the case on State v. Odom. Churches formed prayer circles to call community members stating that they would vote no for Justice White because she is evil. (Denver Bar Assoc iation.) White was opposed by a variety of victims' right groups as well as by Republic governor Don S...

Position of women in 16 and 17 century Essay

Women were challenged with expressing themselves in a patriarchal system that generally refused to grant merit to women’s views. Cultural and political events during these centuries increased attention to women’s issues such as education reform. Though modern feminism was non-existent. The social structure women limited opportunities for involvement; they served largely as managers of their households. Women were expected to focus on practical domestic pursuits and activities that encouraged the betterment of their families, and more particularly, their husbands. Education for women was not supported—harmful to the traditional female virtues of innocence and morality. Women who spoke out against the patriarchal system of gender roles, or any injustice, ran the risk of being exiled from their communities, or worse; vocal unmarried women in particular were the targets of witch-hunts. The seventeenth century women continued to play a significant, though not acknowledged, role in economic and political structures through their primarily domestic activities.They often acted as counselors in the home, â€Å"tempering† their husbands’ words and actions. Women were discouraged from directly expressing political views counter to their husbands’ or to broadly condemn established systems; nevertheless, many women were able to make public their private views through the veil of personal, religious writings. Marriage: The seventeenth century represents a fascinating period of English history, drawing the attention of whole generations of historians. This turbulent age saw three major events that had a deep impact on England’ s political as well as social life—the English Revolution, the Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660 and the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Amidst the turmoil of the events, people’s everyday lives unfolded. While it was men’s preoccupation to keep the country’s political and economic affairs going, women had an indispensable, though far less public, part to play. This paper aims at providing an outline of the seventeenth-century English marriage, viewed from the woman’s perspective. It touches upon topics such as concluding marriages, basic marriage values, duties of a married woman and possibilities of divorce. Attention is paid to the areas in which the  seventeenth-century reality was different from today’s. In seventeenth-century England, marriage and sexual morals played a far more important social role than nowadays. A family centred around a married couple represented the basic social, economic and political unit. In the Stuart period, a husband’s â€Å"rule† over his wife, children and servants was seen as an analogy to the king’s reign over his people—a manifestation of a hierarchy constituted by God. A woman was regarded as the ‘weaker vessel’ (a phrase taken from the New Testament)—a creature physically, intellectually, morally and even spiritually inferior to a man; therefore, the man had a right to dominate her (Fraser 1981: 1). In a society strongly influenced by Puritan values, sexual integrity and the status of a married person gave a woman respectability and social prestige. This, together with the fact that it was very difficult for women to find ways of making an independent living, meant that securing a husband was a matter of great importance. Theoretically, it was possible for two people to marry very young. The minimum legal age was 12 years for women and 14 years for men. In addition, it was possible for the couple to get engaged at the age of 7, with the right to break off the engagement on reaching the minimum age of consent (Stone 1965: 652). However, early marriages were rather rare—the average age of the newlyweds was about 25 years. Interestingly, the basic requirement for a legally valid marriage was not a formal consecration in a church, but the completion of a marriage contract, commonly called ‘spousals’. Spousals were an act in which the bride and groom said their vows in the present tense—‘per verba de prasenti’ (Ingram 1987: 126). In a majority of cases, this procedure was accompanied by a church ceremony (banns). Yet if the marriage was concluded without witnesses and not consecrated in a church, it had the same legal validity. This practice had existed in England since the twelfth century and lasted till 1753. Not having to go through a church ceremony made it possible for lovers to marry secretly, without the knowledge of their parents. In this way, they could escape the dynastic scheming of their families.

Typical Course of Study for 9th-Grade

Ninth grade is an exciting time for most teens. The beginning of the high school years marks the culmination of their primary education, and the  course requirements for high school students  begin their preparation  to enter college or the workforce after graduation. Curriculum for 9th-grade students shifts to address higher level thinking skills and autonomous study skills. In 9th grade, language arts prepares teens for effective oral and written communication. Typical courses in science include physical science and biology, while algebra is the standard for math. Social studies usually focuses on geography, world history, or U.S. history, and electives such as art become a vital part of a students  education. Language Arts A typical course of study for ninth grade language arts includes  grammar, vocabulary, literature, and composition. Students will also cover topics such as public speaking, literary analysis, citing sources, and writing reports. In 9th grade, students may also study  myths, drama, novels, short stories, and poetry. Math Algebra  I is the math course that is typically covered in 9th grade. Some students may complete  pre-algebra  or  geometry. Ninth grade students will cover topics such as real numbers,  rational and irrational numbers, integers, variables,  exponents  and powers,  scientific notation, lines, slopes, the  Pythagorean Theorem, graphing, and using equations to solve problems. They will also gain experience in reasoning skills by working through reading, writing, and solving equations, simplifying and rewriting equations to solve problems, and using graphs to solve problems. Science There is a wide range of topics that 9th-grade students can study for science. Standard high school courses include biology, physical science, life science,  earth science, and physics. Students may also take interest-led courses such as astronomy, botany, geology, marine biology, zoology, or equine science. In addition to covering standard science topics, it’s essential that students gain experience with science practices such as asking questions and forming hypotheses, designing and carrying out experiments,  organizing and interpreting data,  and evaluating and communicating results. This experience usually results from taking science courses with labs and learning to complete lab reports after each. Most colleges and universities expect high school students  to complete two or three lab sciences.  Ã‚   Two of the most common science courses for ninth grade students are biology and physical science. Physical science is the study of the natural world and includes topics such as the earth’s structure, ecology, weather,  climate, erosion, Newton’s laws of motion,  nature,  space, and astronomy. Physical science may also cover  general science principals such as  the scientific method and  simple and complex machines. Biology is the study of living organisms. Most biology courses begin with a study of the cell, the most basic component of all living things. Students will learn about cell structure, anatomy, taxonomy, genetics, human anatomy, sexual and asexual reproduction, plants, animals, and more. Social Studies As with science, there is a wide range of topics that students can study for ninth-grade social studies. Social studies encompass history, culture, people, places, and environments. Students need to gain experience with  social studies skills such as reading maps, using timelines,  critical thinking, evaluating data, problem-solving, and understanding how cultures are affected by geographic location, events, and economics. Standard high school courses for 9th-grade students include American history, world history,  ancient history, and geography. Students studying U.S. history will cover topics such as the exploration and settlement of America, Native Americans, the foundations of American democracy, the Declaration of Independence, the U. S. Constitution, taxation, citizenship, and types of government. They will also study wars such as the American Revolution and the Civil War. Ninth graders studying world history will learn about major world regions. They will learn about the patterns of migration and settlement in each, how the human population is distributed, how people adapt to their environment, and the effects of physical geography on cultures. They will also study wars such as World War I and World War II.   Geography can easily be incorporated into all history topics. Students should learn map and globe skills using a variety of map types (physical, political, topographical, etc.). Art Most high school coursework now requires art credit. Colleges and universities vary on how many elective credits they expect, but 6-8 is average. Art is  a broad topic with ample room for interest-led, elective  studies. Art studies  for ninth grade students can include visual arts such as drawing, photography, graphic design, or architecture. It can also consist of performance art such as drama, dance, or music. Art studies should allow students to develop skills such as watching or listening and responding to art, learning the vocabulary associated with the art topic being studied, and fostering creativity. It should also allow them to encounter topics such as  art history, famous artists and works of art, and  the contributions of various types of art to society and its impact on culture.