Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach

Lose, Thobekani; Cheteni, Priviledge Article Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Lose, Thobekani; Cheteni, Priviledge (2024) : Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2315693 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326063 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach Thobekani Lose & Priviledge Cheteni To cite this article: Thobekani Lose & Priviledge Cheteni (2024) Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2315693, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2315693 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2315693 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 04 Mar 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1846 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 MANAGEMENT | REviEw ARTiclE Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2315693 Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach Thobekani lose and Priviledge cheteni Centre for entrepreneurship Rapid incubator, Walter sisulu university, unitra, south africa ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to investigate what factors affect students’ readiness to start their own businesses once they graduate from university. A case study approach was conducted with an emphasis on an undergraduate degree program at a South African university. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 program participants and analysed using a reflective theme analysis method. Our findings suggest that the experiential learning methodology employed at the university increases students’ levels of self-efficacy in the realm of entrepreneurship, i.e. their belief in their own abilities to create and run successful firms. They look at the benefits of going into business for themselves with optimism. However, our findings suggest that certain students may lack the confidence to take initiative to try entrepreneurship.\ The major implication of these findings is that student readiness for entrepreneurship ventures is influenced by a multitude of factors which are beyond training. it is recommended that students participating in entrepreneurship programmes given support after graduation to realise their goals. 1. Introduction There is a widespread consensus around the world that entrepreneurship is an essential component of a country progress and economic expansion (Bowmaker-Falconer & Herrington, 2020; Shambare, 2013). in general, entrepreneurial activity propels the economy toward greater productive capacity, makes a positive contribution to economic growth, and generates new employment opportunities (Mukwarami, et al., 2020; Yen et al., 2016). in response to this, a number of countries, including South Africa, have made entrepreneurship a fundamental part of their higher education programs (lose & Khuzwayo, 2021). The promotion of entrepreneurial endeavours is one of the top priorities of economic policy in every country (Mukhtar et al., 2021), since it plays a significant part in both the maintenance and expansion of economic activity (izadi & Rezaei-Moghaddam, 2017; Mukhtar etal., 2021). According to Masha (2020), the majority of young people who have ideas for possible enterprises do not have the competence or ability to transform such ideas into profitable businesses. Numerous nations have each settled on their own distinct approaches to the instruction of aspiring businesspeople (cheteni & Umejesi, 2023). However, questions have been asked about the calibre of the education provided by higher education institutions [HEis] with reference to business startups and management. Although research has shown that education about entrepreneurship is associated with the growth of entrepreneurial skills and the motivation to engage in entrepreneurship, countries like South Africa still record low early-stage entrepreneurship intentions [TEA]. This is because entrepreneurship © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT Priviledge Cheteni PChet[email protected] Centre for entrepreneurship Rapid incubator, Walter sisulu university, unitra, south africa https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2315693 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 16 June 2023 Revised 30 October 2023 Accepted 3 February 2024 KEYWORDS Entrepreneurship education; innovation in business; training in entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial intentions REVIEWING EDITOR Huifen (Helen) cai, Middlesex University Business School, United Kingdom SUBJECT Economics and Development; Finance; Business, Management and Accounting; Education - Social Sciences 2 T. lOSE AND P. cHETENi education is associated with the development of entrepreneurial skills (Franco et al., 2010; Bowmaker-Falconer & Herrington, 2020). Because the TEA in South Africa is relatively low, there is a pressing need to analyse the efficacy of entrepreneurship education in developing entrepreneurial readiness among students graduating from higher education institutions (HEis) in the country. it is vital to establish the necessity of improving entrepreneurial education in order to ensure that desired economic growth may be accomplished, and this is essential to do so. This is especially important in rural communities, such as those that characterise the Eastern cape Province in South Africa, where most of the population lives in rural areas. when compared to urban provinces, these communities have significantly greater rates of poverty, unemployment, and social marginalisation (cheteni et al., 2019). There is currently no causal evidence examining the efficacy of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) for youth or ‘potential future entrepreneurs’. The current empirical foundation of the field consists of observational studies (Brown et al., 2011; von Graevenitz et al., 2010) and quasi-experimental studies (Brown etal., 2011). Furthermore, almost all of these published studies were carried out in the developed world. Meanwhile, Byabashaija and Katono (2011) study in Uganda stands as the only notable study on entrepreneurship education in the sub-Saharan region. This study is one of the first to investigate the effects of EE on youth and young adults in a developing context and it will shed light on the effect of entrepreneurship pedagogy in one university. Earlier studies of the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and factors like subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and attitude have mostly focused on these three areas (Alshebami et al., 2020). However, the importance of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) as a predictor of entrepreneurial endeavours has received less focus. in addition, researchers from the sub-Saharan region have not focused on this important issue, despite a growing body of evidence indicating that entrepreneurship can increase community income and well-being in developing countries by providing new jobs and economic success (Mukhtar et al. 2021). This paper contributes to two areas. Firstly, it delves To begin, there is an acknowledgement of the role that youth have historically played in the realm of entrepreneurship. Second, there is a recognition of the importance of youth participation in business. Thirdly, there is an emphasis on indigenous youth as the target demographic for the placement of entrepreneurship in rural settings. One of the claims that will be made in this paper is that one of the benefits of entrepreneurship is that it has the potential to eradicate poverty. This claim is made although it is generally accepted that entrepreneurship is responsible for the creation of jobs and for economic development (Bugwandin & Bayat, 2022). Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the connection between receiving an education in entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial intentions after graduation. The low TEA observed in South Africa has continued to be a source of worry, especially in light of the necessity of expanding education on entrepreneurship to promote economic growth. This is a case study of a rural university offering entrepreneurship education as part of its curriculum in South Africa. 2. Entrepreneurial readiness The idea of being ‘entrepreneurial ready’ has been investigated using a wide variety of research approaches. Both entrepreneurial intentions (Mohani etal., 2019; Malabana & Swanepoel, 2019) and the rate of entrepreneurial activities are closely related concepts that have been considered synonymous with entrepreneurial readiness. This presents a challenge when taking into account the assertion made by Siivonen, Peura, Hytti, Kasanen, and Komulainen (2019) that universities have become key economic drivers as a result of their role in the development of aspiring business owners and the conduct of research with economic value. According to the findings of Malebana (2019), exposure to entrepreneurial education was found to have a positive relationship with entrepreneurial intention behaviour. it is customary practice to think of entrepreneurial intention behaviour in terms of a person’s desire to pursue entrepreneurship as a career path as well as the individual’s possession of a powerfully positive attitude toward engaging in entrepreneurial behaviour. According to Mars and Rhoades (2012), the concepts of entrepreneurial intentions and readiness are effective if the entrepreneurs tend to adopt an agency view in which they see themselves as critical agents of cOGENT BUSiNESS & MANAGEMENT 3 social change. This view is necessary for entrepreneurs to have in order for the concepts to be effective. 2.1. Entrepreneurship education ‘Entrepreneurship education’ is simply an education for improving the skills of innovation and creativity. Entrepreneurship education has also been defined as an education that teaches about identifying business opportunities, allocating appropriate resources (such as finances, marketing, and human resources), and, most importantly, starting a new business (Kourilsky, 1995). According to Davidsson (2004), entrepreneurship education is about teaching participants how to explore numerous opportunities and how to make good decisions about which ones to pursue. According to Jones and iredale (2010), university-level entrepreneurship education programs are primarily aimed at raising awareness and encouraging students to pursue entrepreneurship as a possible career path. Many debates surround entrepreneurship education, specifically how education affects intention and its antecedents such as attitude toward behaviour, subjective norm, and perceived behaviour (Kirkley, 2017). According to some studies, entrepreneurship is not inherent, and teaching and training can help develop certain aspects of it (cheng et al., 2009; Neck & Greene, 2011). They argue that entrepreneurship, like science, can be taught and developed in the same way. Kuratko (2003) proposed new methods and paradigms for teaching entrepreneurship, thereby rejecting the notion that entrepreneurship is an inherent quality. Similarly, Mohani et al. (2019) found that EE is important in building entrepreneurship traits amongst students. The study utilises Koch etal.’s (2021) conceptual framework for entrepreneurship education, as shown in Figure 1. EE is generally understood to refer to the entrepreneurship-related education and upbringing of children and young people. EE manifests itself primarily in systematic, intentional teaching and learning in general education schools and vocational (business) schools in South Africa and other countries, though elements of educational and learning processes in family and extracurricular contexts can be classified under the term (cleveland & Bartsch, 2019). Figure 1 illustrates how the design of the EE in question can have a significant impact on the learning objectives and outcomes and how EE is integrated into the educational system (Koch etal., 2021). Educating about entrepreneurship aims to disseminate theories and characteristics about the entrepreneur, typical fields of action, and the entrepreneurial role in the economy and society, while educating for entrepreneurship aims to prepare for Figure 1. Variants of (youth) entrepreneurship education (Koch et al., 2021). 4 T. lOSE AND P. cHETENi entrepreneurial activity in the sense of a direct start-up qualification (lackeus, 2015). ‘Educating through entrepreneurship’ is the third strategy, and it involves guiding students through and outperforming entrepreneurial processes, often through business games or business plan competitions (lackeus, 2015). First, this type of education has close ties to the already established goals of South African education. They are geared toward helping each student grow into a fully functional, self-actualized adult and are grounded in a neo-humanist theory of education. Entrepreneurship, which places particular emphasis on the subject of education (Koch et al., 2021), can play a role in this context because it is concerned with imparting to students fundamental abilities related to substantial ways of thinking, acting, and problem-solving in accordance with formal educational theory. common entrepreneurship education often provides students with information and training that is only marginally useful in the context of actual future business ventures. These skills and capacities are also important when addressing everyday challenges, such as those we face in the areas of climate change, the environment, and resource depletion. 2.2. Theoretical framework Figure 2 illustrates the theory of planned behaviour as proposed by Azjen. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TBP, 1987) by icek Ajzen has been the primary theoretical framework that has guided the evaluation of youth entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs). The majority of EEP evaluations are theoretically underpinned by Ajzen’s theory. The idea that entrepreneurial attitudes, such as perceived desirability and perceived behavioural control, come before intention is at the heart of this theory. According to the model’s application to the field of entrepreneurship, perceived desirability is the degree to which a person finds the idea of starting a business appealing, and perceived behavioural control is equivalent to one’s perception of one’s own entrepreneurial self-efficacy. last but not least, it is thought that entrepreneurial intention—defined as the desire to launch one’s own business— is one of the best indicators of future entrepreneurial behaviour (Elmuti et al., 2012). As a result, it can be said that TPB is an appropriate theoretical model to illustrate and anticipate entrepreneurial intentions for business ventures given the wide variety of learning outcomes it has produced. Another intriguing suggestion about the connection between Perceived Behavioural control and intention and behaviour is made by Elmuti et al. (2012) in a theoretical article. They contend that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the process by which each person starts a business are directly related. Notably, the association between self-efficacy and intention may be to blame for growing entrepreneurship intention (wilson etal., 2007). A belief in one’s ability to successfully carry out the various roles and responsibilities involved in entrepreneurship is known as entrepreneurial self-efficacy (McGee etal., 2009). Entrepreneurial intentions are sparked by self-efficacy (caiazza et al., 2016; Elmuti et al., 2012). Ajzen’s model is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 2. theory of planned behaviour. cOGENT BUSiNESS & MANAGEMENT 5 3. Methodology The research philosophy known as ‘interpretivism’, which maintains the ontological view that reality can be interpreted from the views and perspectives of social actors in certain circumstances, served as the foundation for the study. This philosophy holds the ontological view that reality can be interpreted from the views and perspectives of social actors in certain circumstances (creswell & creswell, 2018). To put it another way, as people progress through life and come across a variety of phenomena that pique their interest, they develop their own unique interpretations of the world around them. interviews are a common way to gather information about phenomena because they give participants the opportunity to discuss not only themselves but also their points of view on the phenomenon that is being discussed (Bordens & Abbott, 2018). The research was conducted in the context of a South African university that offers programs in entrepreneurship. A Higher Education institution (HEi) in the Eastern cape province was selected for sampling using a purposive sampling criteria. To begin, the university was representative in that it is located in a non-urban area and offers general entrepreneurship education. Among these were the institution’s geographical isolation, its incorporation of entrepreneurial modules into required coursework, and the relatively large numbers of students enrolled in its entrepreneurship programs. The research project was conducted as a rich, detailed qualitative ethnographic field study to examine the entrepreneurial processes as experienced by the students in situ (Eberle & Maeder, 2016). interviews were used to collect data from 15 students who had recently graduated from an entrepreneurship programme that the university offers. There were a total of seven classes, with 371 students enrolled. The interviews were chosen over surveys because the aim was to get insights into how the entrepreneurship program contributed to their intentions of being entrepreneurs. Furthermore, interviews offer more valuable data that would not have been achieved with surveys given their nature (creswell, 2015). The students were enrolled in an entrepreneurship program. The participants’ biographical information is provided in Table 1. The participants were given pseudonyms to avoid identification, for instance, P1 means participant 1 and so on. This study obtained an ethical clearance certificate, which is required by all institutions of higher learning. This was accomplished by satisfying the requirements of a research ethics committee at the institution where the researchers work (Sefotho, 2022). we obtained informed consent from each of the 15 entrepreneur students prior to the start of data collection, and we gave them the option of deciding whether they wanted to continue taking part in the research (Okeke, et al., 2022). we protected all of the participants by assuring them of their right to confidentiality and anonymity. This was accomplished by adhering to the principle of non-maleficence (Babbie, 2012). 3.1. Data analysis The objective was to investigate the connection between receiving an education in entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial intentions after graduation. As a result, all interviews were openly and selectively coded by one researcher and discussed with the other members of the research team to establish a reliable coding system in accordance with grounded theory principles. The codes were then Table 1. Demographical information of participants. Respondent gender age education level P1 Male 25 undergraduate P2 Male 21 undergraduate P3 Male 23 undergraduate P4 Male 22 undergraduate P5 Female 21 undergraduate P6 Male 21 undergraduate P7 Female 19 undergraduate P8 Male 20 undergraduate P9 Male 23 undergraduate P10 Female 24 undergraduate P11 Male 27 undergraduate P12 Female 28 undergraduate P13 Male 23 undergraduate P14 Male 34 undergraduate P15 Male 24 undergraduate 6 T. lOSE AND P. cHETENi classified and clustered to identify higher-level attributes. A reflexive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the gathered data. Analysing patterns and themes in qualitative data is made much simpler with the help of reflexive thematic analysis, a method that is both accessible and theoretically malleable (Braun & clarke, 2021). in the reflexive TA approach, the researcher is seen as an active participant in the knowledge-creation process (Braun & clarke, 2019). The researcher’s interpretations of the meaning patterns across the dataset are represented by the codes. As a reflection of the researcher’s interpretive analysis of the data, reflexive thematic analysis is conducted at the nexus of (1) the dataset, (2) the theoretical assumptions of the analysis, and (3) the analytical skills and resources of the researcher (Braun & clarke, 2019). Using the same approach, we were able to identify different association types that the attributes can describe by mapping five themes (cultural, resources, psychological, models, and systems). 4. Analysis and findings The framework of analysis presented in Figure 3 provides a summary of the main themes and patterns across certain categories and subcategories, which are important for an adequate appreciation of the relationship between entrepreneurship education and readiness to engage in entrepreneurship after graduation. Nvivo software was used for analysis. Table 2 provides theoretical direction for the real and lived experiences of the respondents. The codes provided were then considered to establish categories and themes based on observable data patterns. Five codes were extracted from the participants’ data. it should be noted that the constant comparison technique originated in grounded theory and is often conducted together with other grounded theory strategies, which include theoretical sensitivity. This technique involves the recognition of concepts and cases for more detailed analysis, as they are likely to be central in deducing emerging theories. As expounded in Kolb (2012), when employing the comparative analysis strategy, important codes are first deduced from a data set using purposeful and systematic coding. To establish the relationship between receiving entrepreneurship education and readiness to engage in entrepreneurship, a sampling of relevant phrases that reflected the views and opinions of students was necessary. A majority of the students that were interviewed agreed that the entrepreneurship module has opened up their mindset and views about entrepreneurship. P5 and P7 affirm that the module opened their mindset and showed them that they can be self-dependent. However, P7 states that readiness can only be attained if an EE is taught as a package with practical and funding provided. He further laments that incubation of an entrepreneurship idea can be achieved in one university. The fact that both respondents use the word ‘mindset’ is intriguing because it suggests that being an entrepreneur was once seen as unattainable or unrealistic. This is consistent with previous research (Palmer etal., 2021) showing that entrepreneurship education boosts self-efficacy by giving them practical skills and experience that prepare them to start their own businesses. Figure 3. themes generated. cOGENT BUSiNESS & MANAGEMENT 7 Table 2. initial coding of data extracts. to what extent has education in entrepreneurship made you ready to engage in entrepreneurship? Codes ‘The entrepreneurship module has actually opened up a certain area in my mind. Now I admire the work of many entrepreneurs. I realised that entrepreneurship is an adventure, a way of life and a means of survival. But I think something needs to be done to adequately ensure readiness. Look getting psychological equipment is one thing. But let’s consider the initial capital, the space and the networks. More need to be done’ [P5] • -sense of psychological readiness • excitement for entrepreneurship • Materially not ready ‘I feel that the entrepreneurship module has made opened my eyes to see how I can be financially independent through being a player in the economy, but I think this idea that you educate at a certain university then you go for incubation somewhere else and then you seek funding from banks and government is wrong. Why can’t we create a model where you get a full package on one spot. I think that would make me more ready than I am now. To me readiness is enhanced if entrepreneurship education is heavily linked to practical activities of real businesses.’ [P7] • intellectual excitement • Practically not ready • theoretically ready • not ready with distributed route to entrepreneurship ‘Entrepreneurship is not just about knowledge acquisition; it entails real engagement in opportunity generation and persevering through various challenges to convert an opportunity into actual profit generating activities. There are opportunities to be converted, business plans to be formed, value chains to be analysed, viability test to be conducted, funding to be secured, markets to be assessed and so on. Readiness can only be attained if there is practical work related to these aspects of entrepreneurship. I see that the main challenge relates to these things.’ [P12] • not ready – inadequate resources • theoretical readiness • More practical support required ‘While I can argue that I have been capacitated mentally to be an entrepreneur. In other words, I have mental readiness, something remains missing. My question is – Why is it that entrepreneurship is not taught by entrepreneurs. I think in order to be fully ready to engage in entrepreneurship, I need lectures from the entrepreneurs themselves. Universities should promote adequate linkages and networks to allow entrepreneurs to teach entrepreneurship in universities.’[P6] • Mental readiness • Doubt readiness. Believes in the use of role models • not ready. inadequate linkages ‘Entrepreneurship education modules are wonderful and have done well to make me ready to engage in entrepreneurship, but I still face conflict from the society and community that I come from. Look, after graduating from the university, my family and other people in my community expect me to get employed somewhere and be a manager somewhere. Very few will appreciate me going to university and then coming back to struggle again, trying to establish and run a self-employment venture. I think entrepreneurship education should be done in conjunction with advocacy and community mobilisation to change views and attitudes in entrepreneurship.’ [P8] • intellectual excitement • not ready – poor community and family acceptance of entrepreneurship as a career option • Resource limitations • Poor university-community links ‘Personally, I am not ready to engage in entrepreneurship after graduation because I foresee big challenges in the real activities of entrepreneurship. I need funds, I need tools and equipment and I need space. The University does not offer those things, so how can I be ready?’[P4] • Resource limitations (not ready) • negative attitudes (not ready) ‘I am ready to go my brother, I come from a background where there are existing entrepreneurs who are making money already. In fact, my parents run some entrepreneurial projects at home. I think I am now ready to take those projects to another level.’[P7] • university – home education • Readiness through family entrepreneurship ‘I cannot say that I am fully ready because after graduation, I still have to seek the services of an incubator to help me set up my venture. Something which the University has not done. So, readiness is elusive.’[P11] • Feeling unsure • unsure about readiness • Distributed entrepreneurship education not the best approach ‘I think there is need for an overhaul of the entire entrepreneurship education system in order to make individuals like me ready. Why can’t the university have its own real entrepreneurship ventures which it uses to allow practical exposure of entrepreneurship. Learning by doing is more powerful than these simple lectures.’[P2] • nor ready – model of entrepreneurship education is unconvincing ‘Look, I hear that in China students are more entrepreneurial than us here in South Africa. Why can’t our education be organised in such a way that we have international exchanges of entrepreneurial students and lecturers where we get to know how they are doing it in China or in the United States of America?’[P1] • not ready due to a localised approach • adopt an international approach ‘The Covid-19 pandemic have increased my readiness to be an entrepreneur. I saw people losing their employment as businesses closed. I then realized that having your own venture is critical. It gives you independence and financial or job security compared to being employed. In addition, businesses nowadays are more based on technology which makes entrepreneurship more easier to start.’[P5] • environment-enhanced readiness • technology-enhanced readiness I cannot become an entrepreneur straight from graduation. I think I need to go out and work somewhere first before I can become an entrepreneur. There is less hustle as a member of an organisation than as an entrepreneur.’[P14] • not ready • Poor appreciation of the entrepreneurship career option ‘I think I still need to meet a real entrepreneur before I can describe myself as ready to start my own venture. University education on entrepreneurship is more theoretical yet entrepreneurship is practical.’ [P15] • initially feeling uncertain • Feeling abstracted • Feeling comfortable with time ‘I am not sure about my readiness. I will see when I graduate and start initiatives to start a venture.’[P10] • unsure about readiness