Identifying the Challenges of Involvement in Entrepreneurship Activities among a Group of Undergraduates

Year 2020, , 246 - 257, 30.12.2020

Sofeana Farid Shukran Abdul Rahman

https://doi.org/10.33200/ijcer.697597

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Entrepreneurship activities have been promoted in Malaysian universities through entrepreneurship education, mainly with the aim to minimize youth unemployment rate in Malaysia. The effort may have been hindered due to many reasons that may explain the lack of effectiveness of entrepreneurship education found in previous studies. The present study was conducted to identify the challenges of involvement in entrepreneurship activities among a group of undergraduates from a public university in Malaysia. Qualitative data was collected from three males and seven female undergraduates who were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. They were asked to provide insights on their lives as students who participated in entrepreneurship activities under the entrepreneurship center in the university they attended. Information gathered in the interviews was then analyzed using thematic analysis. There were two major themes found in this study which are external challenges and personal challenges. The findings are expected to provide insight on the key challenges faced by students as a result of their involvement in entrepreneurship activities. It could also contribute to the efforts to improve entrepreneurship education in Malaysia, and in turn inform the development of programs to develop interventions that improve entrepreneurship activities in higher learning institutions.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship education, Entrepreneurship education in Malaysia, Young entrepreneurs, Higher learning institution

References

• Bagheri, A., & Pihie, Z. A. L. (2012). An exploratory study of entrepreneurial attributes among Malaysian university students. Life Science Journal 2012, 9(3), 2358-2365.
• Bagheri, A., Pihie, Z. A. L., & Krauss, S. E. (2013). Entrepreneurial leadership competencies among Malaysian university student entrepreneurial leaders. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 33(4), 493–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2013.822789
• Barnard, A., Pittz, T., & Vanevenhoven, J. (2018). Entrepreneurship education in U.S. community colleges: A review and analysis. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-06-2018-0178
• Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2014). What can “thematic analysis” offer health and wellbeing researchers? International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v9.26152
• Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage Publications.
• Chiekezie, O., Nzewi, H., & Erhinmwionose, I. (2016). Entrepreneurial skill acquisition and job creation in Benin City, Nigeria. EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review, 4(6).
• Chukwudi, J., & Nwosu, J. (2018). Entrepreneurship education and the challenges of graduate employability in Nigeria. International Journal of Innovation Management, 9, 189-193. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijimt.2018.9.5.812
• Creswell, J. W. (2011). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative. Prentice Hall.
• Din, B. H., Anuar, A. R., & Usman, M. (2016). The effectiveness of the entrepreneurship education program in upgrading entrepreneurial skills among public university students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 224, 117–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.413
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. (2013). Enterprise education impact in HE and FE - final report. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208715/bis-13-904-enterprise-education-impact-in-higher-education-and-further-education.pdf
• Fleming, J., & Zegwaard, K. (2018). Methodologies, methods and ethical considerations for conducting research in work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 19, 205-213.
• Frese, M., & Gielnik, M. (2014). The Psychology of entrepreneurship. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 413-438. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091326
• Ferreira, A., Loiola, E., & Guedes-Gondim, S. (2017). Motivations, business planning, and risk management: Entrepreneurship among university students. RAI Revista de Administração e Inovação.
• Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2017). Research methods in psychology (5th ed.). Pearson Education Ltd.
• Iqbal, A., Melhem, Y., & Kokash, H. (2012). Readiness of the students towards entrepreneurship: A case of Saudi private university. European Scientific Journal, 8(5).
• Joshi, R. (2014). Entrepreneurship education: Core, context and challenges. Journal of Entrepreneurship & Management, 3(2).
• Karimi, S., Chizari, M., Biemans, H., & Mulder, M. (2010). Entrepreneurship education in Iranian higher education: The current state and challenges. European Journal of Scientific Research, 48.
• Khazanah Research Institute. (2019). A statistical snapshot of youth unemployment, 2011 to 2018. http:// http://www.krinstitute.org/Views-@-A_Statistical_Snapshot_of_Youth_Unemployment,_2011_to_2018.aspx
• Laurikainen, M., Silva, F., Schlember, P., Soares, J., & Melo, L. (2018). Entrepreneurship education: What can we learn from the Brazilian and the Finnish examples? Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educação, 13, 337-358. https://doi.org/10.21723/riaee.nesp1.v13.2018.11414
• Lorcu, F., & Erduran, G. Y. (2016). Soul of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education? International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Research, 2(3).
• McGuigan, P. (2016). Practicing what we preach: Entrepreneurship in entrepreneurship education. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 19.
• Morris, M., Shirokova, G., & Tsukanova, T. (2017). Student entrepreneurship and the university ecosystem: A multi-country empirical exploration. European Journal of International Management, 11, 65-85. https://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2017.081251
• Moses, C., & Akinbode, M. (2014). Entrepreneurship curriculum and pedagogical challenges in captivating students' interest towards entrepreneurship. The International Journal Research Publication’s Research Journal of Economics & Business Studies, 4(1).
• Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
• Olorundare, S., & Kayode, D. (2014). Entrepreneurship education in Nigerian universities: A tool for national transformation. Asia Pacific Journal of Educators and Education, 29. Othman, N., Hashim, N., & Wahid, H. A. (2012). Readiness towards entrepreneurship education. Education Training, 54, 697–708. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911211274837
• Oparaocha, G.O., & Pokidko, D. (2013). Exploring the impact of higher entrepreneurship education: Critical experiences as triggers or deterrents for career perceptions of graduates.
• Ozdemir, P. (2018). Internal and external interactions of entrepreneurial education ecosystems of universities: A study at Turkish universities. The Online Journal of Quality in Higher Education, 5(3).
• Pittaway, L., Gazzard, J., Shore, A., & Williamson, T. (2015). Student clubs: Experiences in entrepreneurial learning, 27, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2015.1014865
• Rahim, H. L., Abdul Kadir, M. A. B., Zainal Abidin, Z., Junid, J., Mohd Kamaruddin, L., Mohd Lajin, N. F., & Ahmad Bakri, A. (2015). Entrepreneurship education in Malaysia: A critical review. Journal of Technology Management and Business, 2(02).
• Rengiah, P., & Sentosa, I. (2016). An empirical study on the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in developing entrepreneurial intention among Malaysian university students. Education Journal, 5(4), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20160504.13
• Ridzwan, R., Muhammad, N. M. N., & Rahman, A. A. A. (2017). Issues and challenges among young entrepreneurs in Malaysia. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 19(03), 80–84. https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-1903028084
• Roshaidai, S. (2018). Ethical considerations in qualitative study. International Journal of Care Scholars, 1(2).
• Sanchez, J.C., Ward, A., Hernández, B., & Florez, J. (2017). Entrepreneurship education: State of the art. Propósitos y Representaciones, 5(2), 401 - 473. http://dx.doi.org/10.20511/pyr2017.v5n2.190
• Sandhu, M. S., Sidique, S. F., & Riaz, S. (2011). Entrepreneurship barriers and entrepreneurial inclination among Malaysian postgraduate students. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 17(4). 428–449. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552551111139656
• Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thronhill, A. (2012). Research methods for business students (4th ed.). Pearson Education Ltd.
• Seikkula-Leino, J., Ruskovaara, E., Pihkala, T., Rodríguez, I., & Delfino, J. (2019). Developing entrepreneurship education in Europe: Teachers’ commitment to entrepreneurship education in the UK, Finland and Spain. In the role and impact of entrepreneurship education. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786438232.00014
• Ustyuzhina, O., Mikhaylova, A., & Abdimomynova, A. (2019). Entrepreneurial competencies in higher education. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 22(1).
• Vanevenhoven, J. (2013). Advances and challenges in entrepreneurship education. Journal of Small Business Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12043
• Wang, X. (2013). Reflection on challenges and countermeasure of entrepreneurship education in China. Cross-Cultural Communication, 9(2), 18-22.
• Welsh, D. H. B., & Drăguşin, M. (2011). Entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions as a requirement in building excellence in business: The case of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Forum Ware International Journal, 1, 266-272.
• Yusoff, M. N. H. B., Zainol, F. A., & Ibrahim, M. D. B. (2014). Entrepreneurship education in Malaysia’s public institutions of higher learning—A review of the current practices. International Education Studies, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n1p17
• Zhou, M., & Xu, H. (2012). A review of entrepreneurship education for college students in China. Administrative Sciences, 2, 82-98. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci2010082