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Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

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<strong>Challenges</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Era</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Globalization</strong><br />

Edited by Emmanuel Obuah<br />

O<strong>the</strong>rs (Not stated) 2 6.5 Significance 0.06 (two-tailed)<br />

Total 31 100<br />

The ‘significance’ <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> relationship between entrepreneurship education and career <strong>in</strong>tentions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

student respondents is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g. The entrepreneurship programme aims to provide <strong>in</strong>sights <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong><br />

role <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs and small bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> society and attempts to develop core skills and attributes<br />

necessary for entrepreneurship such as creative problem-solv<strong>in</strong>g, diagnostic skills, communication and<br />

project management. It also provides an enrich<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>tegrative educational experience such as <strong>the</strong><br />

development <strong>of</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess plans and bus<strong>in</strong>ess consult<strong>in</strong>g, which allows students to <strong>in</strong>tegrate account<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

f<strong>in</strong>ance, market<strong>in</strong>g and o<strong>the</strong>r bus<strong>in</strong>ess discipl<strong>in</strong>es. It appears that <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurship programme both<br />

aided <strong>in</strong> engender<strong>in</strong>g key enterpris<strong>in</strong>g competencies and skills and encouraged over one-<strong>in</strong>-four (25.8%<br />

or n=8) <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respondents to <strong>in</strong>clude self-employment <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> career <strong>in</strong>tentions compared to 6.5% (n=2)<br />

prior to exposure to entrepreneurship (see Table 3).<br />

The results and statistical tests outl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Table 5 <strong>in</strong>dicate <strong>the</strong> extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> perceived <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

entrepreneurship education programmes on <strong>the</strong> career <strong>in</strong>tentions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respondents.<br />

Table 5: Influence <strong>of</strong> Entrepreneurship Programme on Career Intentions<br />

No. % Correlation Tests<br />

Not at all - - Kendall’s tau_b .345<br />

Very little extent 4 12.9 Significance 0.05 (two-tailed)<br />

Average Extent 6 19.3 Spearman rho .430<br />

Great Extent 11 35.5 Significance level 0.05 (two-tailed)<br />

Very Great extent 10 32.3<br />

Total 31 100<br />

Weighted Av. Score 3.9<br />

Majority <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respondents, 67.8% (n=21) thought that <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurship programme has ei<strong>the</strong>r a<br />

‘great or very great extent’ <strong>in</strong>fluence on <strong>the</strong>ir career <strong>in</strong>tentions. The weighted average score <strong>of</strong> 3.9 on a<br />

five-po<strong>in</strong>t scale, with one represent<strong>in</strong>g no <strong>in</strong>fluence at all and five for a very great extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence, also<br />

confirms <strong>the</strong> respondents’ perception. Moreover, <strong>the</strong>re is a statistical significant relationship between<br />

respondents’ entrepreneurship education programmes and career <strong>in</strong>tentions (tau_b = 0.345, p > 0.05) at<br />

95% confidence level. The implication is that entrepreneurship education programme <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respondents<br />

positively <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>the</strong>ir career <strong>in</strong>tentions. This f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g statistically supports <strong>the</strong> sub-hypo<strong>the</strong>sis H3 that<br />

purports that an entrepreneurship education programme <strong>in</strong>fluences students’ career <strong>in</strong>tentions. Evidently,<br />

a significant relationship exists between entrepreneurship education programmes <strong>of</strong> respondents and <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

career <strong>in</strong>tentions. This f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g is quite <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g for a number <strong>of</strong> reasons. First, it suggests a vote <strong>of</strong><br />

confidence for <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurship educational programmes <strong>of</strong>fered at KNUST, as <strong>in</strong>dicated by high<br />

approval rat<strong>in</strong>gs. It demonstrates also that perhaps <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurship programmes and curricula match<br />

with students’ expectations. Second, it is also an affirmation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> university as an<br />

organisation with a great <strong>in</strong>fluence on <strong>the</strong> societal development through <strong>the</strong> programmes it <strong>of</strong>fers.<br />

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