Factors Influencing Attitude of Youth Towards Entrepreneurship

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1 International Journal of Adolescence and Youth ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: Factors Influencing Attitude of Youth Towards Entrepreneurship E. A. Dioneo-Adetayo To cite this article: E. A. Dioneo-Adetayo (2006) Factors Influencing Attitude of Youth Towards Entrepreneurship, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 13:1-2, , DOI: / To link to this article: Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC Published online: 27 Mar Submit your article to this journal Article views: 3009 View related articles Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

2 International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2006, Volume 13, pp /06 $ A B Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain Factors Influencing Attitude of Youth Towards Entrepreneurship E.A. Dionco-Adetayo* Department of Management and Accounting, Faculty of Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria ABSTRACT The study was carried out to investigate the attitude of youth towards entrepreneurship programs. It was aimed at identifying the capacity factors of potential youth entrepreneurs and the critical external factors influencing their attitude towards entrepreneurship programs. It was also aimed at determining the level of influence of these factors and identifying the perceived enhancing factors and inhibitions on the youth entrepreneurial skill development. The data of the study was collected from two hundred and ten respondents who were in their final year in the tertiary institutions in southwestern Nigeria. The respondents were selected using the stratified random sampling method. Entrepreneurship program attitude was measured using the Likert scale, while the independent variables were measured by nominal and interval scaling techniques. Data were collected through pre-tested questionnaires. Descriptive analysis was used to describe and highlight the variables, while inferential statistical tools were applied in the analysis of the relationships existing between variables of interest. The results show that innovativeness and industriousness were the entrepreneurial personality traits that scored very high. Infrastructure, finance, and technical factors were revealed to have been inhibiting their potentials, while the education system and the rate of information technology development were perceived to have positively impacted their attitude. A linear dependence between entrepreneurial personality traits, learning, and experience, and the general attitude was revealed. Social factors were among those revealed to have averagely influenced the attitude of the youth towards entrepreneurship programs. The study concluded that entrepreneurial capacity factors, such as personality traits, learning, experiences, social factors and culture; and entrepreneurial enhancing factors, such as information technology development and *P.O.Box 1084, OAU Post Office, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife , Osun State, Nigeria. eadetayo@oauife.edu.ng. Biographical notes: Erlinda A. Dionco-Adetayo has a Ph.D in Business Administration and is Senior Lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Her research focus is entrepreneurship and marketing.

3 128 education system have influenced the favorable attitude of the youth towards entrepreneurship programs. The study also concluded that the integration of some factor's, such as infrastructure and finance during information processing forming the beliefs of the youth have inhibited their skill development, thus developing an unfavorable attitude towards entrepreneurship programs. INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship has been recognized as an important element in the dynamics of modem economies. Many businesses, small and medium have become the major source of new job creation. They have made great contributions in introducing valuable new products and keeping the economy competitive in the world markets. This impressive and rapid growth of entrepreneurship is attributed to the power of education in promoting social, economic, political, and spiritual well-being of an individual and social development. Education has been the instrument in the development of man to enable him to live an effective and meaningful life and to be able to contribute towards the development of society in which he finds himself. The growth of entrepreneurship programs in educational institutions is remarkable for over two decades, now aiming to change the mindset of the youth. Colleges and universities provide entrepreneurial programs to undergraduate and graduate students, including practicing and potential entrepreneurs outside the educational institutions. Today, entrepreneurship programs have extended to the secondary and primary levels of education and have become the focus of discussion among many scholars. They believe that the introduction of entrepreneurship programs to the children at the lower level of education will enhance children's attributes and further develop awareness of entrepreneurial opportunities and skills to form entrepreneurial venture. It was also argued and discussed that the introduction of entrepreneurship program to preschool years is a crucial stage of the children cognitive and personality development imperative to entrepreneurial development. Various government and non-government agencies working for the development of entrepreneurship also provide training for dropouts and unschooled youths. This timely discussion and focus of entrepreneurship programs for the youth in the economic struggle is of paramount importance in economic development in particular developing countries like Nigeria. Youths are recognized, believed and hoped to be the future

4 129 economic leaders. They are to build that dreamed entrepreneurial community. For when entrepreneurship is the practice of many members of the society, that society develops very rapidly. In essence, economic prosperity if it is to be achieved, lies on the entrepreneurial development of the youth. Reynolds, Hay, Bygrave, Camp, and Autio (2000) reported that most firms have started and operated among those men aged between twenty-five and thirty-four years. This means entrepreneurship programs for the youths prepare them for early entrepreneurial involvement. This clearly means entrepreneurship programs for the youth had yielded successful entrepreneurs whose performances have been reckoned and appreciated. Numerous articles, books and television programs have actually acknowledged and portrayed them in no small part. The youth involvement in the economic struggle is of paramount importance. Developing them to have the spirit and drive towards entrepreneurship would mean preparing them to become successful and useful in the society and in the same manner making the society entrepreneurial. Unlike the tradition of focusing the development to the adults especially the retirees in order to make a living does not mean making the society entrepreneurial. Although it makes a small economic difference but their limited time cannot impact the passing of their successes to others. Therefore, economic prosperity if it is to be achieved lies in the development of the youth. In Nigeria, at the early age, youth who have been traditionally regarded as members of the economic production unit of the family had served their parents in various capacities. In the context of rural life, Adedoyin and Torimiro (1998) submitted that children are important source of labor, while in the micro scale industry, Dionco-Adetayo (1998) stressed that entrepreneurs relied on the efforts of their children. In other words, the involvement of youth at the early age of their lives in various entrepreneurial activities is evident, both in the urban and rural areas of the economy (Torimiro and Dionco-Adetayo, (2003). On these assumptions, the theories of socialization process that have offered explanations to the wide range of potentialities open to children to become entrepreneurs, those behavioral patterns that are customary and acceptable according to the standards of the family and social groups related to entrepreneurship, there is no doubt that the country this time should have been experiencing economic prosperity. The exposure of the youths to economic upheavals might have crafted an entrepreneurial community with evidence of economic and technological development.

5 130 Additionally, the majority might have been satisfied with locally manufactured goods and are not dependent to the labeled "imported" items. RESEARCH PROBLEM In the past, arguments and discussion on entrepreneurship programs have proven worthy of scholarly pursuit in research and instruction. Studies have arrived at what should be taught, when and how the materials be taught (Rabbior, 1996). The programs have successfully eradicated the major obstacles hindering the growth of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, objectives were set to continually aspire to do better by challenging what is being done and looking ways to improve them. However, in Nigeria, many factors are replete in the literature that might have been responsible for the slow growth of entrepreneurship in the country. Despite this result, the government and private sectors of the economy concern with entrepreneurial development did no relent in their efforts to arrest the problems contributing to the low level of entrepreneurship growth. Dionco-Adetayo, Fayomi, and Oribabor (1998) revealed that the business courses offered in the tertiary institutions have enhanced the potentials of the students in entrepreneurship. However, the youths viewed the escalating unemployment problems as an expression of the government's neglect to motivate the private sector of the economy. The youths believed that earning their certificates means challenging jobs either in the public and private sectors and are optimistic of getting job placement in the industry (Moibi, 2002). Current researches have also shown that entrepreneurs have inherent characteristics favorable to entrepreneurships (Dionco-Adetayo and Nassar, 1999) although they, the entrepreneurs have encounter barriers against their effective performance such as lack of technical knowledge, problem of infrastructure and facilities, among other problems (Dionco Adetayo, 1998). Despite massive information campaign on entrepreneurship and efforts of the government in entrepreneurship programs, the realization for self-employment becomes far from reality. What might have been responsible for the attitude of the students towards unemployment and entrepreneurship? Do these found barriers eroded their entrepreneurial spirit? It is in this light that this study was carried out. It aims at outlining the possible factors that are influencing the attitude

6 131 of the youth towards entrepreneurship program in the tertiary institutions. Specifically, it aims to identify the entrepreneurial capacity factors and the entrepreneurial opportunity factors of the potential youth entrepreneurs. It is also aimed at identifying the interfering external factors on their attitude and factors enhancing and inhibiting their skill development. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS Generally, the behavior of an individual is greatly determined by his/her attitude. Attitude has been defined as a feeling or evaluative reaction to an idea, object or situation. It depicts how positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable a person feels towards that particular idea, object, or situation in question. This definition is not in fact universally accepted. Sociopsychologists do not agree on the precise definition of this word attitude. But recent development in the various fields of study on attitude, they view attitude as multidimensional in nature, as opposed to the unidimensional emphasis by the early theories. The recent theory explains that the overall attitude of an individual is seen to be a function of (1) the strength of each of a number of beliefs the person holds about the various aspects or attributes of an idea, object or situation, and (2) the evaluation the person gives to each belief as it relates to the idea or object (Mayer and Sutton, 1996). Fishbein (1976) opined that beliefs are feelings, perceptions and knowledge over a certain object or idea that can be acquired through direct experience and through communication and learning. Accordingly, the favorable or unfavorable attitude of the youth towards entrepreneurial involvement is a function of his/her held beliefs on those attributes associated with entrepreneurship. These held beliefs, which are the expressions of the individual's feelings, perceptions, and knowledge on the attributes of entrepreneurship, are the bases of his/her attitude about it. In other words for entrepreneurship program to be implemented successfully, there is a need to determine the attributes associated with entrepreneurship and the attitude towards them. Many scholars have described the various functions, roles, nature, and characteristics of an entrepreneur and others have submitted their opinions and impressions about entrepreneurs' economic activities. Gill (1963) described the entrepreneur as an individual who possesses the drive, ambition, foresight and imagination to break through traditional barriers, overcome social

7 132 inertia and transform theory into practice. An entrepreneur is an action oriented individual. He has always the drive, the energizing thrust to accomplish goals. Being a creative individual, an entrepreneur has bright ideas and is ready and willing to initiate action towards the realization of the objectives. The entrepreneur is also described as a person who is able to look at the opportunity offered by the environment, marshal the available resources and implement action to maximize those opportunities in order that production can take place (Kline, Stegall, and Steinmetz, 1982). Many have shared the same opinion that an entrepreneur has the vision to spot the opportunities the environment is offering and has the ability to capitalize on them. Entrepreneurship is then best viewed as a creative process that stimulates an individual to undergo the stages of ideation, conceptualization, enterprise creation, and commercialization. Ideation is the process of generating ideas and becoming thoroughly familiar with them. It is a period of sleepless nights thinking for business opportunities. Conceptualization is a process of generalizing the possibility of the ideas into tangible offer by considering all the factors needed in producing and marketing the product. Enterprise creation process starts in deciding what business choice opportunity should be considered and. what legal form of business ownership should the enterprise take. These decisions have actually started in the conceptualization stage that is whether the entrepreneur opted to acquire an existing venture, starting a new venture, join a partnership, or a corporation. The last stage, commercialization, is a process involving allocation, acquisition, and utilization of resources for the production and distribution of goods and services to satisfy mankind. Commercialization is the implementation stage, which is the beginning of the business life. Creative process therefore, involves the ability of an entrepreneur in perceiving economic opportunities, innovation, risk-taking, capital formation, selection of venture type, enterprise creation, resource organization, production and marketing. Throughout the process, the entrepreneur uses his creativity with his mind as a creative masterpiece, full of infinite power. In reality, if men are to fully harness and use his creative thinking ability, the wonderful technical, economic and social progress that we have today will even be more than what we have actually harnessed. It has been estimated that man uses less than 10 percent of his creative ability. If man will only develop and apply even a fraction of this, he cannot help but succeed in his economic endeavor.

8 133 Accordingly, the many attributes of entrepreneurship recorded in the economic literature are influenced by the personality of an individual that determines his/her attitude towards it. This attitude towards entrepreneurship constitutes his/her entrepreneurial personality. Personality has been defined as a whole person concept. It includes an individual's perception, learning, motivation, experience, socio-economic characteristics, among others (Luthans, 1989; and Kimbel, Garmezy, and Zigler, 1974). Personality is described further as a set of behavior patterns, which a person has acquired under special circumstances of his/ her development and as a member of his/her society and the several groups he I she belongs. Luthans (1989} explained that among the many factors that influence attitude, culture makes a more significant contribution to personality. Considering personality as a psychological process of perception, learning, and motivation, culture dictates what a person will learn. Luthans further submitted that the contribution of family and social group to personality development have the most impact. It is the family and later the social group, which selects, interprets, and dispenses the culture. This contribution of family and social group in dispensing the culture is what is referred to as the process of socialization. Mussen (1963) defined socialization as the process, which an individual infant requires from the enormously wide range of behavioral potentialities that are open to him at birth, those behavior pattern that are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his family and social group. In essence, home environment and the immediate community of a person play a vital role in developing his/her beliefs. An attitude is also influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of a person, which determine his/her behavior. Older people for instance, have different outlook in life compared to the younger ones because experiences, education, and situation enable them to understand their environment better. Similarly, parent's economic responsibility increases as number of children increases. To them, more children would mean more mouths to feed apart from the provision of material necessities in life. Education on the other hand, enables individuals to understand and interact profitably with his environment. It is a factor that opens and broadens the horizon of man. This means that the person's ability to assimilate tradition and morals; develops his social and economic attitudes, which are known factors of optimum development of man. Moreover, it should also be considered that external factors or

9 134 immediate situation might predominate the attitude of a person. For example, a person whose developmental history has shaped a personality, which incorporates a high need for achievement and power, when placed into a highly bureaucratized work situation, this person may become frustrated and react apathetically or aggressively. Thus, on the surface the worker appears lazy or as a troublemaker. Yet the development history would predict that the individual would be a hard worker, striving to get ahead. In similar manner, external factors contributing to entrepreneurial endeavor such as economic policy, infrastructure, technology development, education system, information technology development rate may affect the predisposition of a person. In summary, the contributions of these factors in framing the attitude of the youth are important to determine for a successful youth entrepreneurship programs. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The study was carried out in two selected universities in the southwestern part of Nigeria. Two hundred and ten respondents were selected using stratified random sampling method. The students in their final year were grouped according to their age levels and specialization. Age level of youth indicated by the NYSC program in the country of which the upper limit of age 30 and below was used in the study. Pre-tested questionnaire was designed to ferret the pertinent information required by the study. The variable attitude, which is the belief assigned to entrepreneurship attributes in forms of attitude statements were listed. These include entrepreneurial capacity factors, entrepreneurship personality factors, and external factors or environmental factors. These attitudes were measured using a five-point scale viz: Very much (5), much (4), to an average (3), quite a bit (2) and not at all (1). Entrepreneurial personality traits attributes were determined by listing a set of pre-tested and validated entrepreneurial traits against a five-point scale. The general attitude was measured using Iikert scale after characterizing them into nominal scales. A mini focus group discussion was held to augment the areas taken as attributes. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages were use to analyze and describe the data. Correlation coefficient analysis through the use of simple regression was used in order to determine the relationship that exists between the variables to predict the influence of the independent variables in the attitude of the youth.

10 135 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Entrepreneurial Capacity Factors The results in Table I show that the mean scores of variables learning (4.069) and experience (4.027) revealed high favorable beliefs of the respondents. They have the belief that entrepreneurship can be taught and teaching it can develop their entrepreneurial ability. They also believe that attending entrepreneurship programs would help them to identify their potentials. Majority (72%) believe that business exposure is important especially at the early age because working with relations in business is a way of teaching and familiarizing them into the ins and outs of business. The results also revealed an average agreement of the respondents shown in the mean score results in the areas of motivation (3.439), social (3.318), culture (3.632), and socio-economic (3.730) factors of entrepreneurship Environmental (external) Factors The results in Table 2 show that the rate of information technology development was highly (4.064) favored by the respondents. They believe that it has a great impact on entrepreneurship development. Actually, information technology in the country has started to revolutionize most of the businesses. Educational system is also (4.260) perceived to have been contributing towards the achievement in developing an entrepreneurial society. This would have been the result of the amended academic curriculum introducing entrepreneurial development program by the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) in management and administration disciplines. This program was aimed at catalyzing and filling the gap in developing entrepreneurial competence among students. However, the perception of the majority among the respondents on factors like infrastructure, finance, and technical is opposed to what they believed on information technology development and education system. The discussion revealed that the linking roads from urban areas to the rural sites are unattended and disrupting the objectives of distribution system on raw materials and finished products. The discussion also had shown that electricity is almost getting out of reach of the economic sector. These unfavorable views of the respondents gave a low mean score of Finance is also held to be affecting entrepreneurship with a

11 136 low mean score of This is one of the issues discussed and that its impact to entrepreneurship has reduced the participation especially the smaller groups in the business sector. Technical factor was similarly viewed to be inhibiting the development of their potential and capacity, which was revealed by a low mean score of A low mean score of was also revealed against economic policy particularly the trade policies were revealed to have been inhibiting the development of small-scale industries. They perceived that economic policies are unsupportive towards entrepreneurship development. In summary the environmental factors were generally felt by the respondents to be deterring economic progress shown by a low grand mean score of Entrepreneurial Personality Trait Factors The data in Table 3 show the listed entrepreneurial personality traits perceived by the respondents to have been influencing their attitude. The data revealed that innovativeness and industriousness are highly perceived to be personal traits influencing their attitude showing mean scores of and respectively. These are personal qualities or attributes seen by the respondents responsible for their entrepreneurship attitude. They believe that it takes an entrepreneur's ability to conceive and develop an idea beneficial to mankind and that the success of this endeavor lies on the hard working entrepreneur. Many other attributes were perceived to be significant of which they believed to be favorable to entrepreneurship. These include risktaking (4.623), resourcefulness (4.190), persistence (4.090), preoccupation (4.547), optimism (3.993), and enthusiasm (3.924). The general mean score of highly indicates that the respondents believe on the listed entrepreneurial personality traits being responsible to their favorable attitude. Attitude on Entrepreneurship Program The results in Table 4 show the favorable attitude of the respondents towards entrepreneurship program for the youth. This is revealed by a high mean score of However, the contribution of the environmental factors to entrepreneurship program attitude is alarming. This is shown by a low mean score of (2.741), which indicates an unfavorable attitude of the respondents. This is opposed to their attitude on learning having

12 137 a high mean score of of which can be inferred that the youth are interested to learn entrepreneurship. They believe that learning can develop their potentials and build their capacities on entrepreneurship. The results can also be inferred that the youth's interest to learn is eroded by the threat of external factors. Also, their strong conviction that learning can develop their potential and skills is threatened by these factors. From the data, it can be inferred that such strong conviction of the youth possessing the innate entrepreneurial personality traits of which learning can develop is a major obstacle to entrepreneurship programs development. Moreover, the results of correlation analysis in Table 5 show that factors such as entrepreneurship personality traits (r= ), social (r= ), experience (r= ), learning (r= ), socio-economic (r= ), and culture (r= ) have significant relationships with entrepreneurship program attitude at 0.05 level of significance. Motivation (r= ) and external factors (r= ) were observed to have no significant relationships with attitude on entrepreneurship program. This means that the higher the favorable beliefs of the youths with those factors having significant relationships with attitude on entrepreneurship programs, the higher would be their favorable attitude on entrepreneurship programs. These results suggest that that these factors be visited before embarking on introducing an entrepreneurship program for the youth. Consideration should be given on the percentage contribution of each factor to attitude. For instance, entrepreneurship personality trait has contributed 16 percent, learning is 11 percent, experience is 10 percent, and social 7 percent. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The identification and examination of the factors influencing the attitude of the youth towards entrepreneurship programs is imperative. This will highlight the necessity of understanding various factors that may enhance or inhibit the success of the program. In the study, entrepreneurial capacity factors such as learning and experience are revealed to have perceived highly favorable in influencing entrepreneurship. Inclusive of social, culture, socioeconomic, these entrepreneurial capacity factors have averagely perceived to be favorable. Entrepreneurship personality traits such as being innovative and industrious have scored highest among the attributes listed framing favorable

13 138 views of the youth towards entrepreneurship. However, there are external factors that are perceived to be inhibiting the youth's entrepreneurial skill development and entrepreneurial potentials. These include the perceived neglect on the importance of improving infrastructure and facilities such as electricity and roads, the unsupportive economic policies, lack of financial assistance and low rate of technological development. Moreover, the study concludes that the factors identified have significantly contributed to the variation of the attitude of the youths towards entrepreneurship program. In other words, the results of the study tend to suggest that the attitude of the participants must be considered to ensure success of an entrepreneurship program in the country. In this way, the barriers that are eroding the entrepreneurial spirit and drive of the youths be addressed properly. The study therefore, draws the attention to both the concerned public and private institutions to make necessary efforts to improve and sustain the attitude of the youths towards entrepreneurship programs in the educational institutions. The following suggestions include: Facilities and infrastructure: This will facilitate quick delivery of products and services thus, attract the creation of new businesses. These include good road networks, communication, reliable banking facilities, and dependable power supply. Technical and technology assistance: This covers giving advice on the production aspects of the business such as engineering services, scientific research, quality control, product development, among others. Financial assistance: This refers to the provision of money through loans to be used in starting as well as expanding of viable businesses. Financing programs must be improved and accessible to entrepreneurs. Economic related policies: Recognizing the important role of entrepreneurship in economic development, government should revisit economic policies and development plans giving priority in assisting entrepreneurship programs. Education and information technology: Efforts in teaching and research to identify the needs in the development of entrepreneurship and address the barriers to it success is of paramount importance. An increased awareness on information technology must be sustained. Educational institutions must develop attractive programs/courses to draw the attention of the youths and enhance the development of their capacity factors. There is also a need to rekindle the entrepreneurial

14 139 spirit by establishing a business center where youth can have a practical experience to enrich their entrepreneurial involvement thereby changing their attitude towards entrepreneurship programs. It is also advocated that entrepreneurial attachment be considered in the school curriculum. Capacity factors: Intensive awareness campaign on the important roles of society in developing young entrepreneurs especially the family participation. REFERENCES Adedoyin, S. & Torimiro, D. (1998). "Rural Children and the Future Food Security in Nigeria", Children in Agricultural Program, Nigeria. Dionco-Adetayo, E. (1998). "Entrepreneurial Performance of Micro Scale Food Processing Industries in Osun State, Nigeria". Ph.D. Dissertation, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria. Dionco-Adetayo, E., Fayomi, 1., & Oribabor, P. (1999). "Entrepreneuarial Development in Tertiary Institutions: A Strategy for Self-employment", Journal of Behavioural Research, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria. Dionco-Adetayo, E. & Nassar M. (1999). "Personality Traits Associated with Entrepreneurial Performance in Post-Harvest Crop Production in Nigeria" Journal of Behavioral Research, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Vol. 1, No.1. Fishbein, M. (1976). "A Behaviour Theory Approach Between Beliefs and Attitude Toward an Object in Readings in Fishbein (ed) Attitude Theory and Measurement, McGraw-Hill; New York. Gill, R. (1963). Economic Development: Past and Present, Prentice-Hall, Inc.; Englewood, Cliffs, New Jersey. Kimble, G., Garmezy, N. & Zigler, E. (1974) General Psychology, 4th edition, The Ronal Press Company; New York. Kline, J., Stegall, D. & Steinmetz, L. (1982). Managing the Small Business. 3rd edition, Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Homewood; Illinois. Luthans, F. (1989). Organizational Behaviour, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York. Mayer, F. & Sutton, K. (1996). Personality: An Integrative Approach. Prentice-Hall, Inc.; New Jersey. Moibi, K. (2002). "Perception of Final Year Students Towards Employment", B.Sc. theses, Obafemi Awolowo University; Ife, Nigeria. Mussen, P. (1963). The Psychological Development of Child, Prentice-Hall, Inc.; Englewood, Cliffs, New Jersey. Rabbior, G. (1996). "Elements of Successful Entrepreneurship Education Program" in Entrepreneurship Education, Kent. C. (ed), Quorum Book; New York. Reynolds, P., Hay, M., Bygrave, W., Camp, S. and Autio, E. (2000). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Executive Report, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, USA. Torimiro, D. & Dionco-Adetayo, E. (2003). "Children Involvement in entrepreneurship in Rural Communities: An Attitudinal Analysis", Journal of International of Technology and Innovation, Elsevier Science; England.

15 Distribution of respondents' beliefs on entrepreneurship capacity factors Variables Very much Much At an Quite a bit Not at Mean averages all Score F % F % F % F % F % Learning a) Entrepreneurship can be taught b) I like attending entrepreneurship programs c) I believe on entrepreneurial ability development Socio-economic a) Entrepreneurship creates employment b) Entrepreneurship utilizes indigenous resources c) Entrepreneurship increases national productivity Culture a) I want to live in entrepreneurial society -.j::o. 0 APPENDIX TABLE 1

16 b) Entrepreneurship is a part of our culture c) Parents are happy seeing their children involved in entrepreneurship Experience a) Business exposure is important at early age b) Successful entrepreneurs are those who started working with relations c) I want to have experience in business Social a) Entrepreneurship is not gender biased b) Entrepreneurship is not meant only for elderly c) Entrepreneurship is not only for married people' Motivation a) Entrepreneurs are self-motivated b) Entrepreneurs are high in need achievement c) Entrepreneurs means self-reliance Grand Mean Score ,.. Source: Survey 2002 Very much = 5 Much = 4 At an average = 3 Quite a bit = 2 Not at all = 1 -

17 Distribution of respondents on perception of external factors Very Mean low Score F % i!:> TABLE 2 Variables Very high High Average Low F % F % F % F % Information Technology Education system Infrastructure Finance Technical Economic policy Grand mean score Source: Survey 2002 Very high= 5 High= 4 Average= 3 Low= 2 Very Low= 1

18 Distribution of respondents on perception of entrepreneurship personality traits Variables Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Mean Agree Disagree Score F % F % F % F % F % Innovation Industrious Risk-taking OS Resourceful Persistence Preoccupation OS OS Optimism OS Enthusiasm OS Grand mean score VJ """ TABLE 3 Source: Survey 2002 Strongly agree = 5 Agree= 4 Neutral= 3 Disagree =2 Strongly disagree = 1

19 Distribution of respondents on entrepreneurship program attitude Strongly Mean Disagree Score F % t TABLE 4 Variables Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree F % F % F % F % Learning Culture Motivation Experience Socio-economic Social Environmental Entrepreneurial traits Grand mean score Source: Survey 2002 Strongly agree = 5 Agree= 4 Neutral= 3 Disagree= 2 Strongly disagree = 1

20 TABLE Results of regression analysis showing the relationship between factors of entrepreneurship and attitude Variables Coefficient of Coefficient of Sig F Correlation (r) determination (r2) Personality traits Social Experience Learning Socio-economic Motivation Culture External forces Source: Survey 2002 p < 0.05