SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MANAGERS’ RATING OF SKILLS NEEDED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA

SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Technology Education

CONTRIBUTORS:

Oluwasina, Boladale Ruth
J. I. Ezenwafor

ABSTRACT:

This study determined managers’ of small and medium scale enterprise ratings of skills needed by business education graduates for entrepreneurial success in South-West Nigeria. Five research questions were answered and ten hypotheses were tested in the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted. A sample population of 910 respondents was selected for the study using stratified random sampling technique. A five point rating scale questionnaire containing 58 items was used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument which yielded coefficients of 0.81, 0.86, 0.79, 0.81 and 0.93 for the different clusters with an overall coefficient of 0.84. The researcher administered the instrument with the help of three research assistants to the respondents. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while t-test and analysis of variance were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance using SPSS 23.0. Findings of the study revealed that SMEs managers rated personality, communication, human relation, management and business skills as highly needed by business education graduates for entrepreneurial success in South-West Nigeria. Gender and years of experience did not influence respondents’ mean ratings on the skills needed by business education graduates for entrepreneurial success.It was concluded,that the acquisition of relevant skills will enhance the success of business education graduates in South-West Nigeria and other parts of the country. The study recommended among others that, heads of Business Education Departments and entrepreneurs should work together towards ensuring that business education students acquire the necessary practical skills for entrepreneurial success during the six months industrial training programme.

Recently browsed