FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION

ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION: A CASE OF

HARTZELL HIGH SCHOOL IN MUTASA DISTRICT OF MANICALAND PROVINCE.

BY

CHIPUNZA SHINGIRAI

R137124G

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 A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS OF THE BACHELOR OF ADULT EDUCATION DEGREE

GWERU, ZIMBABWE

MAY 2016

APPROVAL FORM

The undersigned certify that they have read and recommended to the Midlands State University

for acceptance, a research project entitled: Attitudes and perceptions of secondary school

students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. A case of Hartzell

High School in Mutasa District of Manicaland Province, submitted by Shingirai Chipunza, in

partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Adult Education Degree.

Supervisor Date

.................................................................... ........... / ............. /................

Programme Co-ordinator Date

.................................................................. ........... /............... / ...............

External Examiner Date

...................................................................... ............. / ............ / ................

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL FORM........................................................................................................................ii
DEDICATIONS.............................................................................................................................vi
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................viii
LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................ix
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................x
ACRONYMS.................................................................................................................................xi
CHAPTER I: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM...........................................................................1
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background to the Study.......................................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the Problem......................................................................................................3
1.3 Research Question.................................................................................................................3
1.4 Sub-Questions.......................................................................................................................3
1.5 Significance of the Study......................................................................................................4
1.6 Delimitations.........................................................................................................................5
1.7 Limitations............................................................................................................................5
1.8 Definition of key Terms........................................................................................................6
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE........................................................8
2.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................8
2.1 Theoretical Framework of the Study.....................................................................................8
2.2 History of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education.............................................9
2.3 Who Is an Entrepreneur?.....................................................................................................11
2.4 What is Entrepreneurship?..................................................................................................11
2.5 What are the Types or Classes of Entrepreneurs?...............................................................12
2.6 What is Entrepreneurship Education?.................................................................................13
2.7 Historical Background of Vocational and Technical Education in Zimbabwe....................13
2.8 What are Entrepreneurial Attitudes?...................................................................................17
2.9 Factors Affecting Attitudes, Intentions and Perceptions towards Entrepreneurship and
Entrepreneurship Education...............................................................................................18
2.9.1 Entrepreneurship education and training.........................................................................18

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 2.9.2 Gender.............................................................................................................................20
2.9.3 Personal Characteristics...................................................................................................21
2.9.4 Availability of role models..............................................................................................22
2.9.5 Government policy..........................................................................................................23
2.10 Attitudes & Perceptions of Students towards Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship
Education............................................................................................................................24
2.10.1 The Global Perspective..................................................................................................24
2.10.2 The Regional perspective..............................................................................................27
2.10.3 The Local or National Perspective................................................................................28
2.11 Summary............................................................................................................................29
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................30
3.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................................30
3.1 Research Design..................................................................................................................30
3.2 Population and Sample........................................................................................................31
3.3 The Stratified Random Sampling Method and Sampling Procedures.................................31
3.4 Research Instruments..........................................................................................................32
3.4.1 The Questionnaire...........................................................................................................32
3.4.2 The Interview...................................................................................................................34
3.4.3 Document analysis...........................................................................................................34
3.5 Ethical Considerations.........................................................................................................35
3.6 Data Collection Procedures.................................................................................................35
3.7 Data Analysis Plan..............................................................................................................36
3.8 Summary.............................................................................................................................36
CHAPTER IV: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.........................37
4.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................................37
4.1 Data Presentation.................................................................................................................37
4.1.1 Number of Respondents..................................................................................................37
4.1.2 Do you know the meaning of the term entrepreneur and entrepreneurship?................37
4.1.3 Do you agree that people who start businesses should have entrepreneurship
knowledge and skills?...............................................................................................................43
4.1.4 Is it important to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in Zimbabwean secondary
schools?....................................................................................................................................44
4.1.5 Is your subject combination equipping you with the skills and knowledge needed to start
a business in future?.................................................................................................................46
4.1.6 Does your school environment promote students entrepreneurial activities?.............46
4.1.7 Are you aware of the procedures and requirements of registering a new business venture
in Zimbabwe?...........................................................................................................................47
4.1.8 Do you think gender has an effect on entrepreneurial intentions?................................50
4.1.9 What do you think should be done to promote entrepreneurship & entrepreneurship
education?.................................................................................................................................51
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 4.2 Data Analysis and Discussion...........................................................................................51
4.2.1 Respondents Demographic data (Gender, Form and Age)..............................................51
4.2.2 Students knowledge of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship............................52
4.2.3 Students Perceptions of the Entrepreneur........................................................................54
4.2.4 Students Entrepreneurial Intentions, Attitudes and Perceptions.....................................55
4.2.5 Factors influencing students entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and perceptions?.....56
4.2.5.1 Parental Influence on Entrepreneurial Intentions.........................................................56
4.2.5.2 Gender...........................................................................................................................57
4.2.5.3 Environment..................................................................................................................58
4.2.6 Factors That Would Discourage Students from Engaging In Entrepreneurship..............59
4.2.7 Students Perceptions towards Entrepreneurship Education...........................................59
4.2.8 What should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education?....61
4.6 Summary.............................................................................................................................62
CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................63
5.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................63
5.2 Summary.............................................................................................................................63
5.3 Conclusions.........................................................................................................................64
5.4 Recommendations...............................................................................................................65
5.5 Recommendations for Further Studies................................................................................67
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................68
APPENDIX (I): QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS.............................................................77
APPENDIX (II): INTERVIEW GUIDE.......................................................................................80
APPENDIX (III): DOCUMENT ANALYSIS GUIDE.................................................................81
APPENDIX (IV): RELEASE LETTER.......................................................................................82
APPENDIX (V): LETTER OF INFORMED CONSERNT........................................................83
APPENDIX (VI): PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH.................................................84

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DEDICATIONS

I dedicate this work to my lovely and supportive wife, Marcia Chipunza and my three adorable

daughters, Tatenda, Tadiwanashe and Tawananyashe. Without your support, I would have not

made it this far. To my late father Mr. E. Chipunza, I wish you were alive to witness the

achievements of one of your own sons. Above all, I dedicate this piece of work to the Almighty

Lord for His divine protection and guidance throughout my academic voyage.

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ABSTRACT

The study aimed at establishing the attitudes and perceptions of Hartzell High School students
in Mutasa District of Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, towards entrepreneurship and
entrepreneurship education. The prevalent scenario in which Zimbabwe has the best literacy
rate in Africa, and has tried many initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship
education and yet continues to face unemployment challenges among its youths ,motivated this
study. The study adopted a Descriptive Case Study design and used a mixed method approach in
which a questionnaire containing both open and close ended questions and an interview guide
were administered to students individually and in groups respectively. A document analysis
guide was also employed to study students note books and the Zimbabwe School Examinations
Council (ZIMSEC) A Level national syllabuses for Accounting, Business Studies and
Economics. The questionnaire and the interview guides were administered to 60 Form Five and
Six commercial students who were selected using stratified random sampling method. The
sample was drawn from a population of 78 students (40 Form 5 and 38 Form 6). The results
were presented in pie charts, tables and graphs and analyzed using descriptive content analysis
and descriptive statistics. The study showed that a majority of the students had positive attitudes
towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education and indicated high intentions to start
their own businesses sometime in future. The need to be independent and earn a lot of money
appeared to be the main motivating factors for engaging in entrepreneurship, while limited
capital and unfavourable business environment were cited as key entry barriers. The majority of
the students thought running their own businesses was more prestigious and would earn them
more money than working for others and expressed satisfaction with self-employment. They also
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agreed that the introduction of entrepreneurship as a subject in Zimbabwean secondary schools
was a noble idea, although they were against making the subject compulsory, arguing that
subjects should not be forced on students. The findings also revealed students lack of
knowledge on the procedures and requirements of registering businesses from a local
perspective, governments entrepreneurial programmes and aid to people who need to start their
own businesses and where to get assistance or information needed in starting a new business
venture. The research recommends on the inclusion of the requirements and procedures of
registering businesses in the Business Studies National syllabus, from a local perspective
instead of the general overview that currently exists and the dissemination of entrepreneurship
related information to students such as governments entrepreneurial policies and programmes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this dissertation would have not been possible without the support and efforts

of many people. As such I am, highly indebted to them and acknowledging their starling efforts

is the best way to say thank you.

Firstly, I express my sincere and profound gratitude to my dissertation supervisor Ms Maruzani,

for the utmost professional advice and guidance she rendered as I travelled through my

academic journey. You were a wonderful companion to work with. I am also highly indebted to

the Department of Adult Education lecturers and my Bachelor of Adult education Degree

classmates for their support, insightful guidance and encouragement. I extend my appreciation to

Hartzell High School Commercial students who participated in this work. Their sincere and

valuable responses and efforts contributed much to the accomplishment of this study.

Special mention goes to my adorable wife Marcia for her unwavering moral and financial

support. You are a wonderful and reliable pillar of strength. To my three beautiful daughters,

Tatenda, Tadiwanashe and Tawananyashe, I say thank you for the encouragement, support, love

and patience as I was not there all the time to give you the fatherly attention and love you

deserve. Many thanks go all my family members, who stood by me and rendered support

throughout my studies. To my young brother Nyasha, your support, encouragement and

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hospitality cannot go unmentioned. Thank you very much Nyati Mhenyu. Finally, and most

importantly, I thank the almighty God for the strength, courage and motivation He gave me

throughout my studies. Honestly, without His blessings I would not have made it this far.

MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS YOU ALL!

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Ajzens Theory of Planned Behaviour: (Adopted from Ajzen, I., 1991)...................9

Figure 4.1: Do you think running your own business is more prestigious than working for

others?...........................................................................................................................................39

Figure 4.2: Do you think running your own business will earn you more money than working

for others?.....................................................................................................................................40

Figure 4.3: Will you be personally satisfied with self-employment?..........................................41

Figure 4.4: Are entrepreneurs born or made?..............................................................................41

Figure 4.5: How do you rate the contribution of entrepreneurs to the economic growth of your

country?.........................................................................................................................................43

Figure 4.6: Do you think Entrepreneurship as subject should be made compulsory in secondary

schools regardless of students career intentions?.........................................................................44

Figure 4.7: Do you know where to get assistance and information when you want to start own

business?.......................................................................................................................................47

Figure 4.8: Are you aware of the programmes and help the government provides to people who

want to start their own businesses?...............................................................................................47

Figure 4.9: Does the environment in Zimbabwe promote entrepreneurship?...........................48

Figure 4.10: Do you come from a family that owns a business?................................................49

Figure 4.11: Do your parents have an influence on your entrepreneurial intentions?...............49

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Demographic Data (Gender, Form & Age).................................................................37

Table 4.2: Do you have any intention of starting your own business sometime in future?.........38

Table 4.3: What do you consider to be the main motivating factor (reason) for people starting

their own businesses?....................................................................................................................40

Table 4.4: What is the major reason that would discourage you from starting a business?.........40
Table 4.5: How do you rate the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean curriculum as whole, towards

the promotion of entrepreneurship?..............................................................................................46

Table 4.6: Which of the following characteristics best describe an entrepreneur?......................49

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ACRONYMS

CIET Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training

EWP Education with Production

GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

GES Global Entrepreneurship Summit

GEEPP Graduate Entrepreneurial and Employment Promotion Programme

HEXCO Higher Education Examination Council

JAZ Junior Achievement Zimbabwe

MBA Masters in Business Administration

MLPAE Ministry of Liaising on Psychomotor Activities in Education

MNAECC Ministry of National Affairs Employment Creation and Cooperatives

NASS National Strategic Studies

NCC National Craft Certificate

NFC National Foundation Certificate

TPB Theory of Planned Behaviour

VocTec Vocational and Technical

VTCs Vocational Training Centres

YECC Young Entrepreneurship Charity Club

ZIMFEP Zimbabwe Foundation of Education with Production

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ZIMSEC Zimbabwe School Examinations Council

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CHAPTER I: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

1.0 Introduction

This chapter sets out the orientation of the study, gives an insight on the background of the

study, motivation of the study, statement of the problem, and the significance of the study to

various stakeholders. A discussion on the delimitations, limitations and assumptions of the study

is also stated. Thereafter, the chapter concluded by defining the key terms used in the study such

as attitudes, perceptions, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.

1.1 Background to the Study

Internationally, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education are considered as means of

stimulating stagnated and revitalizing developing economies, creating new jobs, and raising

employment levels (Bishop, 1985; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). There is a general agreement

and belief that entrepreneurship and the provision of entrepreneurship education are the conduits

through which developing countries, Zimbabwe included, can create sustainable employment

which will translate to economic prosperity and social stability in the long run.

Since attaining independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has made tremendous achievements in

educational development including having a literacy rate of 92%, the highest on the African

continent, 6000 primary schools, 2500 secondary schools, 363 colleges, 14 universities, 42

vocational training centres and 6 youth training centres (Zimbabwe National Education for

Sustainable Development Strategy and Action Plan for 2014 and Beyond, 2013 & Machadu,

2014). Unfortunately, the above mentioned milestone achievements have not transformed the

economy as the country is haunted by economic problems, with unemployment among youths

topping the list. In an attempt to encourage the acquisition of business and entrepreneurship

skills, a lot of initiatives have been implemented including offering vocational and technical

education in Vocational and Technical Colleges and the introduction of practical subjects in both

primary and secondary schools. These initiatives were in response to the 1999 Nziramasanga
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Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training which labelled the Zimbabwean education

irrelevant, as it prepared students to be job seekers instead of job creators (Commission of

Inquiry into Education and Training (CIET), 1999).

In an attempt to capacitate youths, the government launched the Graduate Entrepreneurial and

Employment Promotion Programme in 2013 to provide youths with entrepreneurial skills and

on-the-job skills in projects such as potato production, horticulture, livestock and cattle fattening

projects and value added agricultural projects (Mtomba, 2013). During the same year, the

government also created the Ministry of Liaising on Psychomotor Activities in Education, to

integrate primary education and technical, vocational, entrepreneurial and life skills training in

order to produce educated and productive personnel, capable of creating self-employment and

employment for others through establishing their own businesses after schooling (The Southern

Eye, 2013 & The Herald, 2014).

Additionally, in January 2015 the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, embarked on a

curriculum review programme, on the basis that the high unemployment rate prevalent in

Zimbabwe was a result of the inadequacies of the current curriculum which lacks a balance

between academic and vocational orientation (The Herald, 2014 & Daily News, 2014). The new

curriculum will be designed in such a way that it equips students from both primary and

secondary levels with lifelong skills, through learning vocational and technical subjects, hoping

that after school, students will use the acquired skills and knowledge to create self-employment

and become self-reliant (The Herald & Daily News, ibid).

Of late, most institutions of higher learning such as colleges, vocational training centres and

universities, have introduced courses on entrepreneurship and Midlands State University for

example, has gone to the extent of making the entrepreneurship module compulsory to all

students, regardless of the career path being pursued by students. The aim is to equip every

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student with entrepreneurial knowledge, with the conviction that the acquired knowledge will be

used mainly to create self-employment.

According to Mtomba (2013) & The Herald (2015), enrolment figures in institutions of higher

learning have been increasing and Zimbabwes universities annually churn out, more than 14000

graduates, but the prospects of finding gainful employment have dwindled to the lowest ebb,

owing to an outdated and irrelevant curriculum which trains students to be job seekers instead of

equipping them with the knowledge and skills to be self-reliant. This is a clear testimony that the

Zimbabwean education system no longer guarantees gainful employment for its citizens and

entrepreneurship could be the lasting solution to the problem of youth unemployment. The

continuous rise of unemployment figures in a country where there are many educated youths,

prompted the researcher to undertake the study with the aim of establishing the attitudes and

perceptions of secondary school students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship

education.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite having the best literacy rate in Africa and having tried well intentioned initiatives to

promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, Zimbabwe continues to face the

challenge of unemployment especially among its youths. This study therefore, aimed at

establishing the attitudes and perceptions of secondary school students towards entrepreneurship

and entrepreneurship education.

1.3 Research Question

What are the attitudes and perceptions of Secondary School students towards entrepreneurship

and entrepreneurship education?

1.4 Sub-Questions

In pursuance of the main research question, the following research questions were formulated to

guide the study:

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a) What is entrepreneurship education?
b) What is the governments policy on VocTec (practical) subjects?
c) How do students perceive entrepreneurs?

d) What factors influence entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and perceptions?

e) What should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study is important for the following reasons:

To the students, the findings of the study will help them to have an introspection of their

attitudes, intentions and perceptions towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.

Additionally, the results of the research will also be useful to Hartzell High School in evaluating

the nature and quality of the subjects they offer to students and even help in introducing new

entrepreneurship courses that are responsive to the current pupils attitudes and perceptions

towards entrepreneurship. The findings will also be used by the school administration to source

funds towards entrepreneurial programmes and activities for students.

This study will assist the researcher to develop skills and knowledge needed to solve educational

problems through research. The researcher will also have an opportunity to transform the learned

theoretical aspects of research, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education into practice.

The findings of this study will also contribute to literature on the concept of entrepreneurship

and entrepreneurship education at grassroots level. Thus, the study will act as a substantial base

for modification of existing body of knowledge and generate new ideas as other scholars can use

its findings to formulate other research questions. More so, this study will conclude by

proposing recommendations that can be used to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship

education in a secondary school set up.

1.6 Delimitations

The study aimed at finding out the attitudes and perceptions of secondary students towards

entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The research was conducted at a United

4
Methodist Church run secondary school situated 18 km from Mutare city centre along the

Mutare-Nyanga road in Mutasa South District of the Manicaland Province. The research

participants were Form Five (5) and Form Six (6) Hartzell High School Commercial students.

As such, the results or findings of the study cannot be generalized to the wider populace of other

areas in Zimbabwe and the world at large. In other words, the opinions and views contained in

this document are those of Hartzell High School Commercial students in the period September

2015 to May 2016.

1.7 Limitations

During the process of undertaking the study, the researcher faced a number of obstacles. The

researcher confronted financial challenges in meeting the costs of preparing and printing

research instruments such as the questionnaire. The researcher was bailed out by a friend who

offered a printer for the purpose of conducting the study. As a practising classroom practitioner,

the researcher faced the problem of work overloads such as having 36 periods per week and

hence failed to conduct the research during normal learning hours. The researcher had to use the

few free periods students had and in most cases, arrangements were made to meet the

respondents during the weekends.

The researcher also worked under extreme pressure in his endeavour to meet professional

requirements such as submission schemes of work, marking pupils work and carrying out any

duties assigned by the school administration while at the same time adhering to set deadlines for

the submission of the final write up of the study. Hence, time at the researchers disposal was

very limited. In trying to solve this problem, the researcher had to burn the midnight candle and

used every minute that was available towards the study. There was also non-cooperation by

respondents who took time to fill in and return questionnaires to the researcher. Nevertheless the

researcher overcame the above limitation by explaining to students, the essence of filling in and

returning the questionnaires within a reasonable time and the students responded positively.

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1.8 Definition of key Terms

The following terms need to be defined in the context of this study:

a) Attitude

Eagly and Chaiken (1998) defines attitude as a psychological tendency that is shown by

assessing something with some level of favour or disfavour. In this study the term attitude was

used to refer to students level of liking or disliking of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship

education.

b) Perception

Lindsay & Norman (1977), define perception as the process by which organisms interpret and

organize sensation and become conscious of the world around them. Contextually, perception

meant students level of liking or disliking, comprehension and awareness of entrepreneurship,

entrepreneurship education and related concepts.

c) Entrepreneurship

Rwigema & Venter (2004) describe entrepreneurship as the process of conceiving, organising

and launching a business opportunity or idea into a successful and profitable business entity. For

the purpose of this study entrepreneurship referred to the establishment of a business venture

mainly for self-employment.

d) Entrepreneurship education

Jones & English (2004) define entrepreneurship education as the process of imparting

knowledge and skills and developing attitudes that will enable people to perceive and act on

business ideas and opportunities. In this study entrepreneurship education referred to the process

of developing, imparting and improving basic entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.

1.9 Summary

This chapter gave the orientation of the study and covered the background and motivation of the

study, statement of the problem, and the significance of the study. A discussion on the

delimitations and limitations of the study were also stated before defining the key terms used in
6
the context of the study such as attitudes, perceptions, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education.

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.0 Introduction

This chapter aimed at reviewing literature related to the attitudes and perceptions of students

towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. Issues that were looked into included
7
the history of entrepreneurship, vocational and technical education in Zimbabwe and factors

influencing entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions.

2.1 Theoretical Framework of the Study

The research is informed by Ajzens (1991), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) which is

premised on the position that much human behaviour is planned, and is therefore, preceded by

intention toward that behaviour. According to the theory, human behaviour is influenced by three

key attitudes namely, the attitude towards the behaviour, the subjective norms regarding the

behaviour and perceived control over performance of the behaviour (Ajzen, ibid). The attitudes

towards the behaviour were explained by Ajzen (2001), as the extent to which the individual

holds a positive or negative personal assessment about being an entrepreneur and is determined

by the expected rewards one is likely to get from being an entrepreneur.

On the other hand the subjective or perceived social norm has been defined by (Ajzen, 2001) as

the influence of people close to the individual, for example the family and their support, respect

and approval for being or not being an entrepreneur, because of the value and status they

associate with the concept of entrepreneurship. Thus, for Ajzen (2001) a child who grows up in a

family that highly regards entrepreneurship is likely to be an entrepreneur.

The third attitude known as the perceived behavioural control was defined by Scholten, Kemp &

Omta (2004) as the perception of the easiness or difficulty of becoming an entrepreneur. Thus,

the chances of engaging in entrepreneurship are high or low if one views entrepreneurship as an

easy or complicated task respectively. Hence, Ajzen (1991), postulated that the Theory of

Planned Behaviour rests on the principle that, the more pleasing or approving the attitude and

subjective norm, the greater the perceived control and the stronger the persons intention toward

entrepreneurship is expected to be.

Attitude towards
the Behaviour 8
 Intention Behaviour
Subjective norms

Perceived
behavioural
control

Figure 2.1: Ajzens Theory of Planned Behaviour: (Adopted from Ajzen, I., 1991).

2.2 History of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education

The concept of entrepreneurship has its roots in France as back as the 17 th Century, while

Alberti, Sciascia & Poli (2004), state that entrepreneurship education was pioneered in Japan by

Shigeru Fijii, who started teaching in this field in 1938 at Kobe University in Japan. The concept

was then exported to the United States of America in 1947 when Myles Mace introduced the

first course in entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School (Katz, 2003). In December 1993,

the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing entrepreneurship as

a critical conduit through which nations could socially and economically transform the lives of

their citizens and bring about sustainable development (Sexton and Smilor, 1997). In pursuit of

social and economic transformation, nations were urged to craft and execute policies that would

spur and support entrepreneurship. Nkomo (2005) stated that the 49 th World Congress of the

International Council for Small Businesses held in South Africa in 2004 underscored the need to

use academic institutions in developing entrepreneurial knowledge and skills and at the same

time challenged African universities to develop entrepreneurship education programmes as a

means of to supporting entrepreneurial activities.

Thereafter, entrepreneurship education gathered international fame and attempts to promote it on

a global scale were taken a step further by the United States of America in 2008 who mooted the

idea to have a Global Entrepreneurship Summit (Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2014). The

9
first Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) was hosted in 2010 in Washington and aimed at

identifying ways to deepen ties between business leaders, foundations, universities, and

entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world (GES, 2014). Ever

since, the Summit has been a global event held every year during the Global Entrepreneurship

Week (GEW) with 140 countries in attendance and the 2015 Summit was held in Kenya (Global

Entrepreneurship Summit, 2014).

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (2014), the Summit has been and is still a

platform where established and aspiring entrepreneurs together with investors meet to exchange

notes, while researchers and policymakers would be examining and discussing policies

necessary to promote entrepreneurial growth. According to Botha, Nieman & Van Vuuren

(2006), entrepreneurship has taken centre stage globally because of the general agreement that it

is a solution to slow economic growth, unemployment and poverty. Sexton and Smilor (1997)

indicated that the significance of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs was realised way back,

especially in the United States of America when small firms created 27 million jobs between

1980 and 1995, after having introduced entrepreneurship classes at universities.

Drawing from literature, it is clear that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education have

stood the taste of time (Sexton & Smilor, 1997; Katz, 2003; Alberti, Sciascia & Poli, 2004 and

Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2014) and this research is keen to establish Zimbabwean

governments policy position on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in schools.

2.3 Who Is an Entrepreneur?

Grant (2000), defines an entrepreneur as an individual who organises the factors of production,

decides what to produce (the type of good or service and quantity), how to produce it and where

to produce it. For Kumar, Poornima, Abraham & Jayashree (2003) an entrepreneur is an

individual who plays an important function in the economic development and transformation of

a country, by perceiving, seizing, converting market opportunities and assembling factors of

10
production in order to achieve realistic economic benefits and goals. The above definitions

indicate that an entrepreneur is a visionary and decision maker, who pulls resources together

with the goal of benefiting economically from his or her efforts.

On the other hand Kor, Mahoney & Michael (2007), viewed an entrepreneur as someone who

believes that he or she is right while everyone is wrong because of the ability to see

opportunities where the majority will be seeing challenges. Thus, entrepreneurs are rule breakers

who turn challenges into opportunities and believe in themselves, rather than following the

majority band wagon. Stemming from the above definitions, an entrepreneur is simply a person

who comes up with business ideas, identifies opportunities and decides on their exploitation,

organises resources and bears the risks associated with above mentioned activities.

2.4 What is Entrepreneurship?

Hisrich & Peters (2002), defined entrepreneurship as a process of devoting time, effort and

money in the creation of a business venture and assuming both risks and benefits associated with

the venture. This definition reveals that entrepreneurship is a process which involves sacrificing

and devoting ones time and money, and at the same time taking in the business risks and rewards

as they come. Rwigema and Venter (2004) described entrepreneurship as the process of

conceiving, organising and launching a business opportunity or idea into a successful and

profitable business entity. Timmons & Spinelli (2007) suggested that entrepreneurship is a way

of exercising leadership, reasoning and acting on opportunities. The two definitions above see

entrepreneurship as mental act which involves identifying and acting on opportunities.

Entrepreneurship is also defined by Van Aardt, Van Aardt, Bezuidenhout & Mumba (2008) as a

process of initiating, creating and expanding the enterprise and getting together other resources

to profitably exploit business opportunities at ones disposal. From the above definitions

entrepreneurship is not an event but a goal oriented process, in which one uses his or her skills

11
and abilities to identify and act on opportunities, bear risks and bring factors of production

together and utilizes them purposefully.

2.5 What are the Types or Classes of Entrepreneurs?

There are two categories or classes of entrepreneurs based on entrepreneurial motives. Storey

(1994) stated that, an individual can either be pushed into entrepreneurship, due to lack of other

survival alternatives or pulled into entrepreneurship primarily to exploit existing business

opportunities. According to Uhlaner and Thurik (2007) pull factors also known as opportunity

influences refer to the expectations of being better off as an entrepreneur, while push factors also

known as necessity influences are associated with unsatisfied employment options or

unavailability of jobs.

In other words, pull factors are attractive or positive, while push factors are harsh or negative.

Examples of pull factors include the need for independence, monetary rewards, self-realisation,

market opportunity, social status, to have more influence in the community, and to follow a role

model (Shane, Kolvereid, & Westhead, 1991, Carter, Gartner, Shaver & Gatewood, 2003 &

Giacomin, Guyot, Janssen & Lohest, 2007). On the other hand push factors include loss of a job,

redundancy, and disagreements with the current or previous employer. Therefore one can be an

entrepreneur either as a result of opportunity (pulled entrepreneur) or necessity (pushed

entrepreneur). Maritz (2004) adds that Necessity-based entrepreneurs find themselves engaging

in entrepreneurship in order to survive and to provide the basic necessities of life since there

would be no other alternative to choose from.

Bhola, Verheul, Grilo & Thurik (2006) postulated that, high income and developed countries are

characterized with Opportunity Entrepreneurs while low income and poor countries are

associated with Necessity Entrepreneurs. The argument is that high income countries can afford

to provide social benefits to their citizens while low income nations cannot due high levels of

poverty (Reynolds, Bygrave, Autio, Cox & Hay, 2002). Reynolds et al (2002) take it further by
12
saying, opportunity entrepreneurs are likely to contribute more to the economic development

and employment creation as they are profit or wealth driven, where as necessity entrepreneurs

immediate goal is survival. This study also sought to establish the category in which the students

fall in.

2.6 What is Entrepreneurship Education?

The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership Clearinghouse on Entrepreneurship Education

(CELCEE), (1999) defined entrepreneurship education as the process of imparting knowledge

and skills that will enable people to recognise favourable business opportunities which might

have been overlooked or hesitated by others. In concurrence with the above, Jones and English

(2004) defined entrepreneurship education as the process of providing individuals with the

ability to recognise business opportunities and the knowledge, attitudes and skills to act on them.

Bink (2005) described entrepreneurship education as the pedagogical process which involves the

encouragement of entrepreneurial activities, behaviours and mind-sets. From the above

definitions, it is clear that entrepreneurship education is and should be a continuous and life-long

process driven by the need to develop and improve basic entrepreneurial skills, knowledge,

thoughts, perceptions and behaviours needed to identify and exploit opportunities into successful

and sustainable businesses.

2.7 Historical Background of Vocational and Technical Education in Zimbabwe

Many countries across the globe have embraced the concept of vocational and technical

education in their national curriculums with the common reason being the need to solve the

challenges of youth unemployment (Nherera, 1999). Vocational and technical education has

been defined by Kotsikis (2007) as any form of education that aims to equip students with

appropriate qualifications, skills and technical knowledge, so that students are able to practice a

profession, art or activity, independently. The whole concept is rooted in Nyereres Education for

Self-Reliance, an education system that provides and equips the learner with self-employable

13
skills and knowledge and in fields such as catering, carpentry, agriculture and information

technology, with the aim of making it possible for learner to utilize the skills and knowledge

acquired to create their own income generating ventures, even if they are not able to secure jobs

in the public sector (Nyerere, 1968).

According to Atkinson (1985) the development of Vocational and Technical Education (VocTec

Education) in Zimbabwe, can be traced to the 20 th Century Natal crafts training, which were

later transplanted to Zimbabwe in the 1923s, culminating into the establishment of skills centres

at Tsholotsho and Domboshawa, specifically to impart skills in building, carpentry and

agriculture. Mungazi (1989) & Nherera (1999) stated that real and meaningful transformation of

VocTec education in Zimbabwe took place when technical and vocational education was

introduced in the former F2 (technical) secondary schools, specifically to develop African skills

in carpentry, metalwork, building, needlework, cooking and agriculture so that they provide

cheap labour, with Musengezi Secondary School pioneering the programme in 1966.

After attaining political independence, the Zimbabwean government phased out the F (2)

schools system and converted them into conventional schools in 1981, and the F (2) system was

succeeded by the introduction of the philosophy of Education With Production (EWP) in

schools, that combined theory and practice in their curricula, run by the Zimbabwe Foundation

of Education with Production (ZIMFEP) (Ministry of Education, 1987). Unfortunately,

Education with Production did not achieve the intended goals due to lack of seriousness in

implementation, coupled with lack of trained teaching personnel to execute the programme.

In the 1990s Zimbabwe faced numerous socio-economic problems with unemployment being

one of them and a census conducted in 1992 revealed that fifty-three percent of all the

unemployed individuals in the country were holders of certificates, diplomas or degrees from

tertiary institutions, suggesting a missing link between academic subjects and technical and

vocational subjects (Government of Zimbabwe, 1991; 1998 and 1999). A pre-vocational craft
14
course called National Craft Certificate (NCC) and a National Foundation Certificate (NFC)

were introduced with the objective of equipping youths with entrepreneurship skills training so

that they will establish own businesses once they fail to get employed in the formal sector

(Condon, 1993). Additionally, Siddiqui & Matare (1993) indicated that the Department of Youth

Development and Skills Training, established in the Ministry of National Affairs Employment

Creation and Cooperatives (MNAECC), was given the responsibility of establishing youth

training centres to train school leavers in vocational courses so as to equip youths with

entrepreneurial and life-long skills.

In 1998 President Mugabe appointed a commission known as Presidential Commission of

Inquiry into Education and Training under Dr C. Nziramasanga to study and report on the state

of education and make recommendations needed for sustainable development of the country,

after many parents and stakeholders had expressed concern over the relevance and quality of

education of Zimbabwe (CIET, 1999). In 1999 the Nziramasanga Report was presented and it

condemned the state of education and labelled it irrelevant and recommended for an education

system capable of preparing children for the world of work by equipping them with basic

survival, technical and vocational skills (CIET, 1999).

The report recommended the introduction of practical subjects in primary and secondary

schools, the need for VocTec students to undergo industrial attachments in order to have hands-

on experience or exposure to the reality in the work place and that all polytechnics, technical and

vocational institutions offering courses under the auspices of Higher Education Examination

Council (HEXCO) should offer National Strategic Studies (NASS) as a compulsory subject

across the board as the subject gave students entrepreneurial skills (CIET, 1999).

A more pronounced and comprehensive policy position on VocTec education was spelt out in the

Secretarys Circular No.2 of 2001 which made at least one of the technical and vocational

15
subjects to be taken at O level compulsory (Secretarys Circular No.2: 2001). However, due to

lack of a unified policy review framework and guidelines, the Secretarys circular 3 of 2002

attempted to erode the gains of the 2001 circular by shifting emphasis towards humanities and

the classics and making VocTec subjects optional in the secondary school. The 2001 Circular

position on VocTec education was reignited by the Secretarys Circular 14 of 2004 which made

vocational and technical subjects compulsory at junior and middle secondary levels (Secretarys

Circular 14 of 2004). Since then, the education system has continued to go under changes to

suite life realities and to date there are 42 Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) doted around the

country for the purpose of empowering youths with enterprise skills under the Ministry of

Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment.

In 2014, the policy position of Secretarys Circular 14 of 2004 which made vocational and

technical subjects compulsory in primary and secondary schools was revived when the Ministry

of Primary and Secondary Education crafted a new curriculum to be implemented in the year

2016 and its main highlights are:

a) the introduction of practical subjects in primary and secondary schools with agriculture

examinable at grade seven,

b) O level grading system will be based on 40 % theory, and 30 % practical examinations

and continuous assessment respectively.

c) Engaging in a Life Skills Orientation programme for five months after completion of O

Level (The Herald, 2014).

On the other hand, institutions such as Harare Institute of Technology, Chinhoyi University of

Technology and Womens University in Africa are now offering degrees in entrepreneurship and

Masters in Business Administration (MBA) as part of their curricula, with the aim of equipping

students with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills so that they become self-employed after

graduating rather than seeking employment (Zindiye, Chiliya, & Masocha, 2012). Additionally,

some institutions of higher learning (for example Midlands State University) have gone to the

16
extent of making the module of entrepreneurship compulsory regardless of the career path being

pursued by the student. According to Mtomba (2013) in early 2013, the government launched

Graduate Entrepreneurial and Employment Promotion Programme (GEEPP) to provide youths

with entrepreneurial skills and on-the-job skills in projects such as potato production,

horticulture, livestock and cattle fattening projects.

Literature on VocTec education has revealed that the government has made a lot of efforts to

promote entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurship education since independence through

crafting sound policies, but youth unemployment has remained a problem. The success of the

new curriculum to be introduced lies in the attitudes and perceptions of students towards self-

employment. It is against this backdrop that this research seeks to establish the attitudes and

perceptions of students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.

2.8 What are Entrepreneurial Attitudes?

Vaughan & Hogg (1995) defined attitude as, a positive or negative feeling or assessment about

some person, object or issue. In concurrence with the above, Eagly and Chaiken (1998) defined

attitude as a psychological tendency that is shown by assessing something with some degree of

favour or disfavour. The two definitions indicate that attitudes are general assessments of an

object, which can be favourable or unfavourable. In entrepreneurship context, Ajzen (2002)

defined attitude as the extent to which one views entrepreneurial behaviour and its results as

valuable, beneficial and favourable. Sharing the same perspective, Bosma & Levie (2009)

described entrepreneurial attitudes as the extent to which people think there positive or negative

opportunities for starting a business. Central to the above definitions is the idea that attitudes

revolve around the concept of making evaluations or assessments which will in turn show

whether one likes or dislikes something (entrepreneurship). This literally means, when the task

of establishing and venturing into entrepreneurship appears to be easy, one is likely to have a

17
positive attitude and the chances of translating the positive attitude into entrepreneurial

behaviour will be high.

2.9 Factors Affecting Attitudes, Intentions and Perceptions towards Entrepreneurship and

Entrepreneurship Education

2.9.1 Entrepreneurship education and training

Entrepreneurship education and training has been cited as a key factor in influencing

entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

(GEM, 2001) postulated that people with limited education are less likely to participate in

entrepreneurial initiatives. Herrington and Wood (2003) stated that entrepreneurship education is

critical in raising awareness of the nature and importance of entrepreneurship, helping to

develop an entrepreneurship culture, equipping learners with practical skills and knowledge

needed to effectively and successfully manoeuvre in the business world, cultivating positive

attitudes, perceptions, mindsets and developing entrepreneurial related personality traits. Sharing

the same perspective, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education (CEE) (2004) asserted

that entrepreneurship education empowers individuals with knowledge and skills such as the

ability to recognise pursue and act on opportunities, ability to gather and assemble the needed

resources, and the ability to think in a creative and critical manner.

Several studies carried out around the globe have indicated the existence of a strong relationship

between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions

(Gorman and Hanlon, 1997; Kolvereid and Moen, 1997; Henderson and Robertson, 2000 &

Galloway and Brown, 2002). Schroder and Rodermund (2006) stated that educational

programmes have important influence on the entrepreneurial attitudes of would-be entrepreneurs

and their study revealed increased interest in entrepreneurship of Germany students after

participating in entrepreneurial programmes and similar results were obtained in studies carried

out in United States of America, United Kingdom and France. Hannon, (2009) study found out

18
that that close to 78% of students surveyed in Ireland who passed through entrepreneurship

education showed interest in establishing their own business ventures in the future.

Another study from Sri Lanka, by Kumara (2012) further revealed that students who have

received entrepreneurial education often developed positive attitudes, intentions and beliefs

towards self-employment and entrepreneurship to a greater extent. The findings from the above

mentioned studies concur with previous studies by (Gorman and Hanlon, 1997; Kolvereid and

Moen, 1997; Henderson and Robertson, 2000 & Galloway and Brown, 2002) which indicated a

positive link between the provision of entrepreneurship education and positive entrepreneurship

attitude and intention. Additionally, Zain, Akram & Ghani, (2010) study using a sample of 230

Malaysian undergraduate business students in public university revealed that more graduating

students were prepared to venture into entrepreneurship and they were influenced by

entrepreneurial courses they were studying, entrepreneurial family members and academics who

were in business related disciplines. The same study also indicated that personality traits

influence entrepreneurial intention in that the way in which a person thinks and behaves

influences their decision to become an entrepreneur (Zain, Akram & Ghani, 2010).

The study by Teixeira (2010) revealed reasonable entrepreneurship intents among Portuguese

students enrolled in higher education, though the students had limited comprehension of the

entrepreneurship process including the nature of challenges entrepreneurs face in penetrating

markets, crafting business plans and ideas, coming up with marketing strategies and legally

financing a new business venture. On a positive note a study conducted in Ghana found out that

most of the tertiary students were motivated to a greater extent to start-up a business because of

their exposure to entrepreneurship trainings (Owusu-Ansah, 2004). From the above, it is clear

that entrepreneurship education is a conduit through which entrepreneurial skills, knowledge

attitudes, intentions and perceptions can be developed.

19
It has been observed that most existing literature focused on mature learners (tertiary students)

in explaining the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions

and perceptions. The present study aims to establish the extent to which young learners

(secondary school students) are benefiting from entrepreneurship related subjects they are

studying, how the subjects affect their entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions and

the extent to which the current Zimbabwean curriculum is promoting entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education. In the same vain the present study seeks to confirm or refute

findings from other researches within the Zimbabwean context.

2.9.2 Gender

Green & Cohen (1995) and Beggs, Doolitle & Garsombke (1994) stated that the relationship

between gender and entrepreneurship has been under discussion for years and they noted that

entrepreneurship has historically been assumed to be male. This position is supported by Wang

& Wong (2004) who also discovered that males interests in entrepreneurship are consistent but

females interests decline with time and Mazzarol, Volery, Doss & Thein (1999) stated that

females were less likely to be founders of business than males.

On a different note, Buttner & Moore (1997) and Mirchandani (1999) noted that womens desire

for challenge and self-determination, the need to balance work and family responsibilities and

restricted mobility within organisations, encourage them to become entrepreneurs. Studies by

Cromie (1987), Birley (1989) and Changanti (1986) comparing female and male entrepreneurial

motivational factors highlighted the following reasons in an attempt to explain the differences:

a) Differences in the way women and men are socialized produce different entrepreneurial

orientations.
b) Women face structural and entry barriers such as lack of industrial experience, limited

networking and education.

c) Women strive towards small and stable firms, to create time to balance their entrepreneurial

roles with family and social roles.

20
In support of studies by (Changanti, 1986; Cromie, 1987 and Birley, 1989), Brush (1992) added

that womens business relationships and operations tend to be part and parcel of their family,

societal and personal relationships. Studies by Matthews & Moser, 1995; Delmar and Davidson,

2000) found out that males had a higher attitude for entrepreneurship behaviour than females.

Fielden, Davidson, Dawe & Makin, (2003) argued that the low entrepreneurial perceptions and

intentions for females are as a result of their low self-efficacy (self-belief) and the lack of

necessary capability. Another study by Gibson, Harris & Barber (2008) indicated that both male

and female students wanted to start their own businesses but males showed greater inclination

than their female counterparts at the time of study.

However the impact of gender has been rejected by Lee, Wong, Maw & Leung (2011) research,

on the grounds that some stereotyped images caused by womens socialization, responsibilities

of supporting the family, raising the children may have negative influence on their

entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions. Literature reveals that there is no consensus on the

effect of gender on entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions. Based on the above

review of related literature, this study seeks to establish secondary school students opinion on

the effect of gender on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions.

2.9.3 Personal Characteristics

According to Raposo, Matos Ferreira, Finisterra do Poo and Gouveja Roderigues (2008)

personal traits have an important role in shaping attitudes, motivation and perceptions to start-up

a business. Some of the personality traits that entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions include

innovation and creativity, risk taking and tolerance, proactive, achievement orientation,

endurance and determination, self-confidence and intelligence (Shaver, 1995). Arenius and

Minniti (2005) asserted the individuals confidence in their own knowledge and entrepreneurial

skills also know as self-efficacy is one of the determinant factors in the development of

entrepreneurial attitudes, intention and perceptions. Thus, those who doubt they abilities will be

21
hesitant or will never pursue entrepreneurship as a career path. The above position is supported

by Wilson, Kickul and Marlino (2007) who asserted that individuals who are confident with

their personal abilities have high entrepreneurial intentions, while those who doubt their

capabilities will never establish business ventures.

On the other hand Antonites and Wordsworth (2009) stated that risk taking and tolerance is one

key component of successful entrepreneurs. Timmons and Spinelli (2009) claimed that

commitment and determination, courage, leadership, opportunity obsession, risk taking, need to

excel and creativity, self-reliance, and adaptability are the commonly agreed seven features

identifiable with entrepreneurs, though there is no definite profile of traits a perfect entrepreneur

should possess. A study on Malaysian potential entrepreneurs indicated that demographic

characteristics such as gender and age did not have a significant impact, but the personality traits

positively correlated with entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions (Othman, Mutalib

and Ismail, 2008). There is evidence that personality features influence entrepreneurial attitudes,

intentions and perceptions but there is no agreement the most outstanding characteristic

identifiable with an entrepreneur. As such, this study sought to establish students views on the

feature that best describes an entrepreneur.

2.9.4 Availability of role models

Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) postulated that individuals prior exposure to entrepreneurship in

practice especially, through their family background in business, have positive effects on

students attitudes and perceptions towards a career in entrepreneurship. Ajzens assertion was

supported by Kolvereid (1996) and Carr & Sequeira (2007) who noted that people with prior

exposure to entrepreneurial activities, especially growing up in an entrepreneurial family, have

higher chances of engaging in entrepreneurship, compared to those without prior experience and

exposure.

22
Krueger (1993) stated that many studies have established a correlation between having

entrepreneurial parents and the likely hood of students expressing interests in entrepreneurship.

For example, a study by Davidson & Honig (2003) showed that support and encouragement

from family members, relatives and friends positively impacted on the development of

entrepreneurs. Similar results were obtained from studies conducted by Basow & Glaser, 1980;

Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000 & Sanchez, 2009) which indicated that having an

entrepreneurial reference person influences positively to opt for an entrepreneurial option.

Shinnar, Pruelt and Bryan (2010), in their research on non-business students attitudes towards

entrepreneurship in Northern Carolina universities, established that parents played a great role in

shaping and influencing the students attitudes. This position is derived from Albert Banduras

Social Cognitive Learning Theory which posits that people learn from the environment through

observation and imitation of behaviour and its associated consequences (Bandura, 1977).

Contextually, students can develop positive entrepreneurial intentions by observing successful

business persons at their disposal who are reaping positive rewards from the business ventures,

such as high quality lifestyles. At the same time, exposure to failing business persons can

discourage or scare off students from engaging in entrepreneurial behaviours. The study is also

aimed at establishing the level of parental influence on students entrepreneurial intentions.

2.9.5 Government policy

One of the most critical factors affecting the entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions towards

entrepreneurship is the ease of doing business. Literature on entrepreneurship places particular

emphasis on the role of the government as a key player and factor affecting the attitudes and

perceptions of citizens towards exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. Levie and Autio (2008)

argued that government policy is a key determinant factor in the promotion of positive attitudes

and perceptions towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education as the policy shapes

the business environment. In support of the above, Luthje & Franke (2003) & Kristiansen &

23
Indarti (2004), avowed that, if people have negative views about the business environment, they

may be discouraged or decide not to establish own enterprise. Kirzner (1985) study confirmed

that entry and exit barriers inhibit the entrepreneurial process and this position concurred with

(Grilo & Irigoyen, 2006; Klapper, Laeven & Rajan, 2006 and Van Stel, Storey & Thurik, 2007)

studies which pointed to government policy in terms of regulations, high taxes and bureaucratic

procedures for the creation of businesses as the main entry barriers that discourages the attitudes,

intentions and perceptions towards the entrepreneurial process. Hence, the studies agreed on the

importance and influence of government policy as critical factor that affects entrepreneurial

attitudes, intentions and perceptions.

Additionally, information gathered by the Doing Business (2015), Zimbabwe is globally ranked

180 out of 189 economies on the ease of starting a business, 104 and 153 in getting credit and

electricity respectively, it requires 9.0 procedures, takes 90.0 days and costs 114.6% of income

per capita. A close analysis of the above rankings reveals that the Zimbabwean environment

discourages and stifles the entrepreneurial spirit. This current study also seeks to establish

knowledge level of students on legal requirements involved in the creation of a business.

2.10 Attitudes & Perceptions of Students towards Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship

Education.

2.10.1 The Global Perspective

According to Green & Pryde (1990) attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education differ across national frontiers. For example, a research carried out in

Canada showed that almost all the youths had interest in starting their own businesses some with

only a few not willing to engage in the entrepreneurial process citing outstanding barriers such

as fear of losing money invested, lack of knowledge about the first step to take and the duties of

an entrepreneur (Green and Pryde, 1990). A research conducted with Dutch university students

indicated a positive result of 90% towards entrepreneurship, while an opinion survey conducted

24
in 1998 revealed that 48% of young people in Britain, between the ages of 16 and 21, aspired to

own their own businesses, and 70% of American youths showed the desire to have their own

businesses someday but had weak perceptions about their personal ability to engage in the

entrepreneurial activity (Green and Pryde, 1990).

A research carried out in Finland by Gallup Europe (1994) revealed negative results as close to

70% of Finns university students disliked self employment, while 27% preferred to be self-

employed. In addition to the above, Wang and Wong (2004) study in Singapore on the level and

determinants of interest in entrepreneurial intention among students showed a positive level of

interest among the respondents who cited inadequate business knowledge and perceived risk as

the main obstacles to their intentions. Kolbre, Piliste & Venesaar (2005) study showed that 61%

Estonian of students was prepared to start their own enterprise, 13% were actually establishing

businesses at the time of questioning, 6% had their own enterprise and nearly one fifth of the

students had no intention to be an entrepreneur. For those who had positive attitudes, the

ambition for freedom was the main motivational factor, followed by the intention for self-

realisation and the need to earn more income was the strongest pushing factor.

The above findings on entrepreneurial motivating factors were supported by Krueger, Reilly &

Carsrud (2000), who stated that there are several reasons why individual chooses to be self-

employed and mentioned the desire to have economic freedom, the need to be independent or

ones own boss, to exert authority and power to make decisions, to realise ones potential (self-

actualization), and the need to use ones skills as some of the factors. Additionally, a study

conducted with university students in Hong Kong by Chan Yuk Che (2005) indicated that a

number of students were positive about the importance of learning Entrepreneurship Education

and similar results were obtained in United States of America through a survey in which students

acknowledged the usefulness of entrepreneurship education in helping them to establish and run

25
their own businesses. These results concurred with those of the Gallup Survey (1994), where

85% of High School students indicated a desire to learn more on the subject.

A study by Ali, Topping &Tariq (2011), 60% of students of six universities in Pakistan showed

positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship though students from five universities indicated that

they would be more serious in starting their own businesses after failing to get jobs. The study

also highlighted the impact of demographic factors such as, parental income, profession and

gender with parents income emerging as the most influential variable. For example students

from low income families compared to those from high income families, had relatively higher

entrepreneurial intentions and were more willing to engage in entrepreneurship for a living,

while participants with highly educated parents had relatively strong entrepreneurial intentions

compared to the students of low educated parents and they even preferred entrepreneurship over

well remunerated and secured government jobs (Topping &Tariq, 2011). The same study further

highlighted that gender did not impact on entrepreneurial acceptability in most of the

universities studied, although male students at Sindh Hyderabad and University of Balochistan

Quetta indicated highly positive entrepreneurial intentions when compared with female

respondents (Topping &Tariq, 2011). Generally, the need to earn more money emerged as the

entrepreneurial motivating factor according to the study and this agreed with the findings of

1994 Gallup Survey.

As far as entrepreneurial variables are concerned, the results yielded by Topping &Tariq 2011

study seemed to concur with Aykol & Gurbuz (2008) study on the determinants of

entrepreneurial intention among economics and administrative sciences and engineering students

of Istanbul State University, which cited the impact of factors such as gender, having

entrepreneurial parents, favourable environmental conditions, and academic support. However,

on the contrary, Ali et al... (2010) study with the students of the Islamic University of

Bahawalpur in Pakistan showed positive attitude and perceptions of students towards

26
entrepreneurship but hinted that demographic variables such as gender, parental income and

profession did not affect entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions significantly.

A research carried out in Romania in 2013 indicated that 70% of the Romanian respondents had

positive attitude and perception towards entrepreneurship and cited a number of reasons to start

businesses with the need to earn more money and independence being the key motivators while

the fear of failure, unfriendly business environment and lack of financial resources were the

major discouraging factors (Hayton, Cacciotti, Giazitzoglu, Mitchell, & Ainge, 2013). The

findings of this study were almost similar with those Green and Pryde (1990) study which

highlighted fear of financial failure as a major discouraging factor towards entrepreneurship.

2.10.2 The Regional perspective

Olufunso (2010) study on graduate entrepreneurial intentions in South Africa yielded negative

results as most of the students were prepared to work for private or public companies and the

main obstacles cited to entrepreneurial intentions included inadequate capital, skill, support,

economy, and crime. Identical findings were obtained by Usman, Usman and Idrissa (2013)

study on perception and attitude of students of tertiary institutions towards entrepreneurship

education in Nigeria showed that most students were not willing and committed to

entrepreneurship education because they regarded entrepreneurship as risky and a filed meant

for unskilled people and most of the students ambition was to search for white-collar job with

stable salaries.

A study by Akpomi (2008) on entrepreneurship among business and economics development

students in Nigeria revealed that only 12.4% of the students aspired to own businesses upon

graduation, owing to lack of start-up capital, inadequate preparation on how to handle business

challenges and the negative attitude of Nigerians towards buying locally manufactured products.

Another study by Kabun & Maalu (2012) in Kenya with secondary school students revealed that

the majority of students had a positive perception of entrepreneurship as a career, but their
27
perceptions were being hindered by a number of factors such as the fear of failure, lack of

capital and knowledge on how to start and run own business. Additionally, the same study by

Kabun & Maalu (2012) did not find any differences in the perceptions of entrepreneurship

between students who had prior entrepreneurial exposure through studying Business Studies as a

subject and those who had not studied the subject, but it indicated that students who had parents

or guardians in self employment were not highly motivated to go into entrepreneurship.

Regional studies seemed to have obtained mixed results on students entrepreneurial attitudes,

intentions and perceptions as compared to international findings.

2.10.3 The Local or National Perspective

Mauchi, Karambakuwa, Gopo, Njanike, Mangwende and Gombarume (2011) survey of nine

institutions in Zimbabwe targeting Academics involved in entrepreneurship teaching and

research was conducted and it showed positive students perceptions towards entrepreneurship

education as 57% of the respondents perceived entrepreneurship as an important subject in

tertiary institutions, while 13% had negative perceptions Another study conducted by Manuere,

Danha & Majoni (2013) with a sample of 400 students drawn from five schools at Chinhoyi

University of Technology acknowledged the significance entrepreneurship education and

students entrepreneurial intentions were high as the majority were prepared to establish their

businesses soon after graduation, although males entrepreneurial intentions were high than

female intentions.

Additionally, all students cited social responsibility (the need to give back to the community) as

the motivating factor behind their entrepreneurial intentions (Manuere et al, 2013). A survey on

entrepreneurial interest of University of Zimbabwe students by Mushipe (2013) showed that

entrepreneurship interests are gender related and this was evidenced by poor female attendance

of the Entrepreneurship Development Program over three years.

28
Drawing from reviewed related literature it has been observed that most of studies were

conducted using adult learners from tertiary institutions such as colleges and universities and

very few were conducted to establish the attitudes, intentions and perceptions of secondary

school students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. This is one of the

gapes the present study seeks to close. On the other hand, most of the studies are foreign and

their findings may not be applicable to the Zimbabwean situation at Hartzell High School since

geographical location, socio-political and economic environments differ across national

boundaries. More so, some of the studies were done some years ago and there is need for

continual research since conditions change over time. Hence, the present study aimed to

establish attitudes and perceptions of secondary school students towards entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education within the Zimbabwean setting, at Hartzell High School.

2.11 Summary

This chapter provided the theoretical frame work of the study and reviewed literature related to

the research topic. Issues reviewed included the history of entrepreneurship and vocational and

technical education in Zimbabwean, factors influencing entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and

perceptions and a follow up on previous studies and the knowledge gaps the study intended to

close.

29
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter outlined the research design, target population, sample, and sampling technique and

sampling procedures. It also provided an in-depth discussion on the questionnaire and interview

guides as the research instruments to be used for data collection. Issues related to data collection

procedures, data presentation and data analysis plan were also dealt with.

3.1 Research Design

Kinnear and Taylor (1991) defined a research design as a detailed outline of how the

investigation will take place and provides answers to issues on how data will be gathered,

instruments to be employed for data collection and how the instruments will be administered and

finally how data collected will be presented and analyzed. In support of the above, Kombo &

Tromp (2009) defined a research design as a comprehensive roadmap for collecting and analysis

of data in a manner that satisfies the needs of the research topic or problem. Hence, a research

design is an overall strategy and outline of conducting research and with the main objective

being of putting together the different components of the study in a coherent and logical way so

as to provide answers to the research question and other questions that might have been framed

to guide the study.

The Descriptive Case Study design was employed to investigate students attitudes, and

perceptions towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. Bhattacherjee (2012)

defined a case study, as a method of thorough investigation of a contemporary phenomenon

within its real-life context or natural setting in one or a few sites. The main merits of a Case

Study according to Bhattacherjee (2012), are that it enables detailed information to be gathered

using many data collection methods and allows the research questions to be altered, if the

originally designed ones prove to be less relevant. Data collection instruments used for the

research included the questionnaire and interview guides.

30
3.2 Population and Sample

Polit and Hungler (1999) defined a population as, the totality of all subjects that are of interest to

the researcher and to whom the research results can be generalised. In concurrence with the

above, Chiromo (2010) described a population as a group of people ear marked for a research

project. On the other hand, Creswell (2003) asserted that when dealing with people, a sample is

sub-set, portion, fraction or representation of the whole population that is examined and from

which conclusions can be drawn about the entire population. Therefore, a population is the total

number of items, be it people or animals under study and provides a base from which a sample is

chosen. The population for this study consisted of 78 Hartzell High School Commercial students

(40 Form 5 and 38 Form 6 students). The study used the stratified random sampling techniques

to come up with a sample of 60 students drawn from a population of 78 Commercial students.

3.3 The Stratified Random Sampling Method and Sampling Procedures

According to Bhattacherjee (2012), stratified random sampling is a probability method where

the population is divided into non-overlapping or homogeneous sub-groups or strata of similar

characteristics from which a sample is randomly selected from each stratum. The population of

this study was made up of two strata; 40 Form 5 and 38 Form 6 Commercial students. Forty

cards were designed for Form 5 students and of these 31 were written YES while 9 were written

NO. Each student was asked to pick one card at random form a hat and those who picked cards

bearing a YES became the research participants and those who picked cards written NO were

excluded from the research. The same procedure was used for the Form 6 stratum of 38 students,

where 29 cards were written YES and 9 written NO.

For each Form, the stratum representation in the study was obtained through dividing the

stratum population by the total population, and then multiplied by the target sample. Thereafter,

the stratum representations were then added together to come up with the total target population.

The following formula was used to come up with the target sample from the two strata:

31
Stratum representation = Total in a stratum Total Population Target Sample

(i) Form 5 stratum representation = 407860

= 30.7

= 31

(ii) Form 6 stratum representation = 387860

= 29.2

= 29

Hence, total target sample = 31+ 29

= 60

At the end of the sampling process, there were13 male and 18 female Form 5 students and 13

male and 16 female Form 6 students respectively. The justification for the selecting this method

was that it ensured equal representation from each subgroup and allowed correlations and

comparisons of subsets in terms of their attitudes and perceptions towards of subsets in terms of

their attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.

3.4 Research Instruments

Borg and Gall (1993) defined research instruments as tools or devices needed for gathering data

from research subjects such as questionnaires, tests, interview guides. This research study used

the questionnaire and interview guide to solicit information from the students. Document study

was used in the analysis of students notes exercise books and the Zimbabwe School

Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) A Level national syllabuses for Accounting, Business

Studies and Economics. Thus, the researcher used three research tools to allow for data

triangulation, which was defined by Ahmad (2008) as a process of using multiple data collection

strategies for the purposes of getting a more comprehensive picture of the problem under study

or even for cross checking information.

3.4.1 The Questionnaire

A questionnaire is defined by Babbie (1990) as a data collection instrument, which contains a

32
well compiled and organised set of questions, for the purposes of eliciting information from

respondents so as to get insight into the problem under study. It is simply a document containing

questions which the research respondents are expected to answer. The study used a questionnaire

containing both closed and open ended questions. According to Chiromo (2010) closed ended or

structured questions are short, definite, and concrete and they ask respondents to choose a

response from a given set of answers without further explanation for the choice made, (e.g. Yes /

No, Agree/ Disagree).

Some of the closed ended questions in the questionnaire adopted a Likert Scale format. Malhotra

(2004) defined a Likert scale as an itemized scale which respondents are asked to show their

level of agreement to a particular issue, by selecting one of the response options given. The scale

ranged from excellent to very poor and the respondents were asked to select one option by

placing an X in the boxes provided. Using the Likert scale, excellent response represented a

positive answer while a very poor response indicated a negative answer and the frequencies of

the options were calculated based the rate of selection.

On the other hand, with open ended or unrestricted questions, participants are offered an

opportunity to give an explanation for the response they would have selected from options

available and give a free response in their own words to questions where options were not

provided. The questionnaire was divided into four Sections. Section A, gathered Demographic

Information such as students Gender, Age and Form, while Section B, solicited students

responses on entrepreneurial attitudes. Section C, focused on perceptions and knowledge of

entrepreneurship education and Section D, dwelled on general questions on entrepreneurship

related issues.

The questionnaire was chosen because it can be prepared easily, coded, analysed and

standardized to create uniformity comparison of the data gathered. However, the major

drawbacks are that open ended questions can gather large volumes of data that are difficult to
33
analyse and respondents detest them because of their time consuming nature. In an attempt to

counter the drawbacks of questionnaires, I guaranteed the participants that all information

elicited and provided was to be confidential and used for academic purposes only.

3.4.2 The Interview

According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005), an interview is an interaction in which oral questions

are posed by the interviewer to elicit oral responses from the interviewee. In other words, an

Interview is an oral questionnaire in which respondents give information orally in a face to face

conversation and in this study the interviews were conducted using the group method. Powell,

Single and Lloyd (1996) defined the group interview method as a process of interviewing a

number of interviewees at the same time. The respondents were divided into groups ranging

from six to eight participants per group and an interview data collection schedule for recording

responses was designed for each group.

The group interview method was chosen because of being handy in saving time and its ability to

reduce the number of interview scripts that were analysed. Compared to other data gathering

instruments such as questionnaire and observation, the interview is generally a rich source for

exploring peoples inner feelings, experiences perceptions and attitudes (Wisker, 2001). Davlin

(2006) stated that the interview as an instrument of gathering data fits well with the tenets of

qualitative research, while Mouton (1996) was of the opinion that the interview helps in getting

in-depth responses as the researcher can probe into areas in which respondents are able to

expand their ideas. However, the major drawback particularly of unstructured interview is that of

yielding data that could be too difficult to summarise or analyse. In order to enhance the

effectiveness of the interview, the interviewees were briefed on the fundamental questions

guiding the research prior to the interview.

3.4.3 Document analysis

The researcher studied primary documents such as students notes exercise books and the
34
Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) A Level national syllabuses for

Accounting, Business Studies and Economics since these were the commercial subjects being

studied by the participants of this study. The motive behind the analysis of these documents was

to identify the nature of skills, topics and concepts contained therein in relation to

entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education and also to identify gaps that existed with

literature reviewed on the topic under study.

3.5 Ethical Considerations

Denscombe (2002) defined ethics as the branch of philosophy which deals with what is

considered to be morally right or wrong, good or bad. This means researchers have the

responsibility to uphold and adhere to high ethical standards and conduct research in a manner

that does not bring both the function and the information into disrepute. Creswell (2003) posited

that it is important to let the research participants aware of that the purpose of the study,

information being sought and what purpose it will be put to and how it will affect the

participants directly or indirectly. The researcher put in place a number of measures to respect

the rights, needs, values, desires and the personal integrity of the participants. Firstly, the

research participants were made aware that participation in the study was voluntary and so was

withdrawal. The researcher explained to the participants that the research instruments such as

questionnaires, interview scripts and recordings were to be kept in a tightly locked storage only

accessible by the researcher and were to be eventually shredded.

3.6 Data Collection Procedures

First and foremost, the researcher obtained a release letter from the Midlands State Universitys

Department of Adult Education seeking permission from the Head of Hartzell High School, to

allow the researcher to conduct the study. The researcher also wrote a letter of informed consent

that was addressed to the Head of Hartzell High School, clearly explaining the terms and

conditions under which the research was to be conducted and attached samples of the research

35
instruments. Upon, receiving Heads permission to conduct the research, the researcher made

arrangements to administer the questionnaire and the interview guides that were initially, given

to the researchers supervisor and pilot tested to improve their validity and reliability. The

research participants were briefed of what was expected of them before they were issued with

the questionnaire and interviewed.

3.7 Data Analysis Plan

Kiden (2010) defined data analysis as a process of organizing, breaking down data, synthesizing

it into meaningful units, searching for pattern, and identifying what is significant and how it will

be presented to others. The study made use of pie charts, tables and graphs to present and

analyse data. The questionnaires and interview scripts were carefully studied, in order to draw

out common themes. These themes were recorded on the basis of their frequency of occurrence

and categorized before they were analyzed through descriptive content analysis and descriptive

statistics. Where applicable, frequencies of particular responses were calculated and expressed in

percentage. Thus, the data was both qualitatively and quantitatively presented and analysed.

3.8 Summary

This chapter outlined the research design, population, sample, and sampling techniques and

sampling procedures. The chapter also provided and in-depth discussion on the questionnaire

and interview guides as the research instruments that were used for data collection. Other issues

covered encompassed the data collection procedures, the data analysis plan and ethical

considerations. In general, the chapter focused on the way the research was conducted.

36
CHAPTER IV: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.0 Introduction

This chapter focused on the presentation, interpretation, analysis and discussion of data collected

and obtained from questionnaires and interviews in the previous chapter. The results were both

quantitative and qualitative and were presented in form of tables, charts as well as graphs. The

researcher made use of descriptive statistics to describe and examine collected data. The

presentation, interpretation, analysis and discussion of data was guided by the questionnaire and

interview guides as findings of each question asked were be looked into.

4.1 Data Presentation

4.1.1 Number of Respondents

The researcher sampled 60 students who were interviewed and issued with questionnaires. All

the students were interviewed and all the issued questionnaires were returned to the researcher.

Table 4.1 Demographic Data (Gender, Form & Age)

Form & Gender

Form 5 Form 6
Age M F M F frequency %
Gende Form 5 Form 6 Frequency % 17 5 10 0 1 16 26.7
r
Male 13 13 26 43.3 18 8 7 8 10 33 55
Female 18 16 34 56.7 19 0 1 5 5 11 18.3
Total 31 29 60 100 60 100

4.1.2 Do you know the meaning of the term entrepreneur and entrepreneurship?

The first question under section [B] of the questionnaire was meant to establish if students knew

the meaning of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. Information gathered showed that

all the despondences were knowledgeable of the two terms and gave various definitions.

Listed are the definitions of an entrepreneur provided by students:

37
a) A person who takes in the risks and is responsible for organising the factors of production in

order to produce goods and services for a profit.

b) An individual who owns a business and stands to benefit from the investment made.
c) One who starts a business in order to provide self employment and wishes to retain control.
d) Someone involved in managing a business and with the ability for risk taking.
e) A risk taker who organises factors of production and decides what to produce, how to

produce and for whom to produce.

f) A person who is innovative, a risk taker and is self employed.

On the other hand entrepreneurship was defined as:

a) The ability and skill to bring factors of production together to produce goods and services.
b) The process of being an entrepreneur.
c) An economic activity which involves bringing resources together for a profit.

Table 4.2 Do you have any intention of starting your own business sometime in future?

Response Frequency & percentage Overall Frequency & %

Form 5 % Form 6 %
YES 31 100 27 93.1 58 96.7
NO 0 0 2 6.9 2 3.3

The second question under section [B] of the questionnaire sought to establish students

entrepreneurial intentions and give reasons for their intentions. The students responses are

tabulated in Table 4.2. Those who indicated the intention to establish their own businesses

sometime in the future gave the following reasons.

a) I will engage in entrepreneurship for profit and for enjoying myself

b) I want to clearly understand the consumer behaviour and I think I can understand it much

better if I am actively involved in running my own business.

c) I want to be my own boss and enjoy the financial benefits as I wish.
d) To earn more and contribute to the development of my nation.
e) To create employment for others and myself.
f) To offer employment opportunities to others since there is high unemployment.
g) I am business minded and would like to apply my knowledge of entrepreneurship.
h) To apply all the knowledge I would have learnt and to leave a legacy for my family.
i) Giving back to the community and changing my country for the better.
j) Because all the profits will be for my benefit and I will not be answerable to anyone.
k) It has been my childhood dream to own a business so I will pursue it.
l) To become someone great financially and create employment for fellow Zimbabweans.
m) I feel its inborn to be an entrepreneur as I enjoy taking risks and operating independently.
n) Self-employment gives me confidence and allows me to use my own skills and abilities.
o) Starting my own business will enable me to self-actualize.

38
On the other hand those who indicated no intention to establish a business in future had this to

say in support of their decision:

a) I am just not interested in owning a business of my own.

b) Fear of losing the money invested in case of business failure.

is runing your own business prestigious than working for others

5%

Yes No

95%

Figure 4.1: Do you think running your own business is more prestigious than working for

others?

is runing your own business earn you more money than working for others

5%
Yes No

95%

39
Figure 4.2: Do you think running your own business will earn you more money than

working for others?

Table 4.3: What do you consider to be the main motivating factor (reason) for people

starting their own businesses?

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

to be ones own boss 20 33.3
to earn a lot of money 16 26.7
to use ones skills & abilities 15 25

to build something for the family 9 15

TOTAL 60 100

Table 4.4: What is the major reason that would discourage you from starting a business?

FACTORS FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Lack of skills 2 3.3
Problems with managing it 2 3.3
Like to work for others 1 1.7
Not enough capital 27 45
It is too risky 6 10
Unfavourable business environment 22 36.7
TOTAL 60 100

satisfaction with self-employment

13%

YES NO

87%

40
Figure 4.3: Will you be personally satisfied with self-employment?

Are entrepreneurs Born, Made or Both

BORN; 10%
MADE; 25%
BOTH; 65%

Figure 4.4: Are entrepreneurs born or made?

Students were asked to indicate whether entrepreneurs are born, made or both born and made.

The respondents who indicated that entrepreneurs are Born gave the following arguments in

support of their position:

a) Entrepreneurship is natural because we have many successful uneducated business people.

b) Children born in families where there are entrepreneurs are likely to take after their parents.
c) There are people who do not have education but they have their knowledge which they were

born with and are running successful businesses.

d) Some people can become entrepreneurs without going to school or being educated. Thus,

entrepreneurs are born.

For the Made category, below are the explanations they gave to support their line of thinking:

a) Just like any trade, entrepreneurs can also be trained.

b) People are made entrepreneurs through training and education.
c) A person needs only to be trained for entrepreneurship knowledge and skills.
d) People learn how to run businesses at school or university.

Students who believed that entrepreneurs are both Born and Made gave the following

explanations:

a) Some people are born with the talent in them and some are inspired to start their businesses

by others and education.

b) Some people are born with the desire to be entrepreneurs while others are influenced by

other people.
41
c) Some are born with the intelligence of being able to think out solutions to problems and

make money out of it and some are made as they get the skills via different ways especially

education and training.

d) Some people are born in a family where they do entrepreneurship so they will be likely to do

the same, whereas some are to be taught how to become entrepreneurs.

e) Some people are born with the natural liking of entrepreneurship while others develop it

because of influence of others.

f) Just like talents they can be natural or developed through training, so is entrepreneurship.
g) For one to be an entrepreneur he or she needs to have a talent in leading and organising. Also

one can get these skills through education.

h) Some people have dreams to become entrepreneurs whilst others are inspired by the success

made by those who would have attempted it first.

contribution of entrepreneurs to national economic growth

30 28
27
25

20

15

10
5 4
5
5 3
2
1
0 0
0
EXCELLENT GOOD AVERAGE POOR VERY POOR

Figure 4.5: How do you rate the contribution of entrepreneurs to the economic growth of

your country?

4.1.3 Do you agree that people who start businesses should have entrepreneurship

knowledge and skills?

Listed below are students responses to the above question:

42
a) If you dont have the knowledge and skills you will end up facing problems and making

wrong decisions.
b) Help in avoiding mistakes and making wrong decisions.
c) Help in negotiating, assessing and signing of business deals and contracts.
d) For the purpose of continuity the entrepreneurs should have the knowledge and skills.
e) Help them to effectively and efficiently run the business.
f) Taking a risk is not an easy task, a person should be aware of the concepts of opportunity

cost, cost benefit analysis and elasticity of demand in order to succeed in the business world.
g) So as to make sound business investment decisions.
h) To be able to make good judgment of business deals.
i) Knowledge and skills of running a business are important for successful entrepreneurs.

4.1.4 Is it important to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in Zimbabwean secondary

schools?

All the respondents indicated that it was a noble idea to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject

in Zimbabwean secondary schools.

making entrepreneurship compulsory in secondary schools

70.00%

60.00%
61.70%
50.00%

40.00%
38.30%
30.00%

20.00%

10.00%

0.00%
YES NO

Figure 4.6: Do you think Entrepreneurship as subject should be made compulsory in

secondary schools regardless of students career intentions?

Students who were for the idea of making entrepreneurship a compulsory subject irrespective of

students career paths gave the following reasons given to justify their position.

43
a) Everyone should be given an opportunity to learn everything then you choose your own area

later in life.
b) This gives foundation to those children with the intentions of starting their own businesses

and allows all people to grow with the idea in mind.

c) Enables everyone to have a business mindset.
d) Allows economic expansion of the country because everyone will be having the knowledge

and skills to start a business.

e) It is good for everyone to have the basic knowledge or skills in business and this can be used

in future.
f) These days there is lack of employment so being your own boss is the way to go.
g) It is good to equip everyone with the knowledge and skills of doing business in case one

decides to be an entrepreneur in future.

h) Every career involves entrepreneurship somehow. E.g. an auto electrician can run his own

workshop or a teacher running a private college or a lawyer opening up his or her law firm

or a medical doctor operating his or her own surgery.

Listed below are some of the explanations given by students who were against the idea of

making entrepreneurship a compulsory subject.

a) Some students might not be interested in the subject as a result of having different ambitions.

The subject will be taken seriously if it is learnt by a voluntary student.

b) It is not good to force people to do what they dont have interest in.
c) Students should not be forced to take up subjects they dont like.
d) Not everyone has a dream of owning his own business or becoming an entrepreneur.
e) Only those interested in entrepreneurship should take the subject.
f) Entrepreneurship can be a sub-topic in subjects like business studies and economics and

cannot stand on its own as a subject because there a few things involved in it.
g) Some people may not be interested in becoming entrepreneurs, so it will be a waste of time

and resources.
h) Forcing subjects on students is not a good thing as they will not take it seriously.
i) Students should be allowed to follow their hearts instead of being forced.
j) Students should be allowed to do subjects they have passion in.
k) It wastes study time for and increases pressure on students who do not have intentions of

being entrepreneurs.
l) Let students choose what they want. We cannot all become entrepreneurs; hence lets not

waste time forcing people to learn what they may never apply.

44
4.1.5 Is your subject combination equipping you with the skills and knowledge needed to

start a business in future?

All the students acknowledged that their subject combinations were equipping them with the

skills and knowledge needed to start own businesses in future.

4.1.6 Does your school environment promote students entrepreneurial activities?

In respond to the above question, 58 students responded positively (YES) while two responded

negatively (NO). The YES category forwarded the following reasons for their opinion:

a) As students we are allowed to form and run entrepreneurial clubs like the Young

Entrepreneurship Charity Club (YECC), Heart Art (HA) and the Junior Achievement
Zimbabwe (JAZ).
b) The clubs compete for clients and this has given us exposure on how the real business world

is like out there.

c) We have a variety of commercial subjects offered from Form One up to A Level.

The students, who selected NO as an answer to the above question, forwarded the following

reasons for their option:

a) We havent heard of any teacher in the school who is running a successful business.
b) Entrepreneurship is not offered as subject in the school.

Table 4.5: How do you rate the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean curriculum as whole,

towards the promotion of entrepreneurship?

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Good 39 65
Average 18 30
Poor 3 5
TOTAL 60 100
4.1.7 Are you aware of the procedures and requirements of registering a new business

venture in Zimbabwe?

In respond to the above question, all the students indicated that they lacked knowledge on the

procedures and requirements of registering a new business venture in Zimbabwe.

45
 knowledge on where to get access to assistance and information needed in starting a business

6%
YES NO

95%

Figure 4.7: Do you know where to get assistance and information when you want to start

own business?

YES ; 16

NO; 44

Figure 4.8: Are you aware of the programmes and help the government provides to people

who want to start their own businesses?

46
 does the Zimbabwean environment promotes entrepreneurship

NO; 43%
YES; 57%

Figure 4.9: Does the environment in Zimbabwe promote entrepreneurship?

Students who chose the Yes response supported their position by the following explanations:

a) The environment in Zimbabwe is very peaceful and this is ideal for business.
b) The indigenisation policy has opened business opportunities to people who never thought

they will own businesses.

c) The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises helps small business owners.
d) The government provides financial assistance to those who want to establish businesses.
e) The land reform programme has made many black Zimbabweans to be entrepreneurs in the

agriculture sector.
f) Youths are given loans for income generating projects through the youth fund.
g) There is a ministry for the small and medium enterprises.

Students who selected the NO option forwarded the following explanations:

a) From the newspaper I read companies are complaining of complex and expensive company

registration process.
b) The indigenisation policy is threatening away foreign investors.
c) There are many legal formalities involved in setting up a business.

Table 4.6: Which of the following characteristics best describe an entrepreneur?

CHARACTERISTIC FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Risk taker 24 40
patient 2 3.3
47
 Goal driven 1 1.7
visionary 3 5
innovative 10 16.7
adaptive 1 1.7
Opportunity obsessed 3 5
Determination & perseverance 7 11.7
Positive mental attitude 9 15
Total 60 100

family business ownership

YES; 18%

NO; 82%

Figure 4.10: Do you come from a family that owns a business?

parental influence on entrepreneurial intentions

20%
YES NO
80%

Figure 4.11: Do your parents have an influence on your entrepreneurial intentions?

Listed below are the explanations given by the respondents who chose the YES response:

a) My parents have just opened a new pharmacy and always ask me to help them during school

holidays and I have developed interest in the business.

b) The progress they are making with their business is a source of inspiration.
c) Seeing them daily working tirelessly for the success of their business and the financial

rewards they get motivates me to be an entrepreneur one day.

48
d) I am inspired by the way they conduct their business and the profits they get.
e) The history about how they started their business and the profits they get inspires me
f) Seeing how my parents failed to start their own business has been a driving force on my part

and I have to fulfill and achieve what they did not.

g) Generally they just support me on the subjects I am doing and encourage me to know more

about the current economic affairs of the nation.

4.1.8 Do you think gender has an effect on entrepreneurial intentions?

In respond the above question, 2 students opted for the YES response, while 58 were for the NO

response. Those opted for YES gave the following explanations:

a) Males are risk takers, achievement motivated and innovative than females.
b) Men endure for a long time than women who easily give up when the going gets tough.

Listed below are the explanations given by students who opted for NO as a response:

a) The decision and ability to engage in entrepreneurship rests with the mind.
b) Anyone is capable of being an entrepreneur as long as he or she has the ability and skills.
c) What men can do, women can also do it if given equal opportunities.
d) Its all about having the right mental attitude, because we even have successful female

business persons who are even performing much better than men.
e) The decision to be an entrepreneur is determined by the mind set not by being a boy or girl.
f) Entrepreneurship is a mind game and some women are even smarter than men.
g) Gender is not an issue, as long as one has the knowledge, skills and positive mind.

4.1.9 What do you think should be done to promote entrepreneurship & entrepreneurship

education?

a) Make every piece of entrepreneurship related information available to students e.g.

government policies, programmes.

b) Include the requirements and procedures of registering a business in the Zimbabwean

situation in the national syllabus, instead of the general overview that exists in the current

Business Studies Syllabus

c) Reduce the price of land for youths who want to start own businesses
d) Equip youths with skills and knowledge of establishing and running
e) Giving grants and cheap loans to youths who want to start businesses
f) Improve the current business environment to encourage more youths to venture into

entrepreneurship
g) Hold entrepreneurship related workshops with youths
h) Make loans easily available at reasonable interest rates
49
i) Introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in schools
j) Inform students on where they can access information and help they need if they want to

start their own businesses

k) Company registration and requirements and procedures should be made easy

4.2 Data Analysis and Discussion

4.2.1 Respondents Demographic data (Gender, Form and Age)

The first, second and third items of the questionnaire under Section A, requested respondents to

indicate their Form, Gender and Age. The findings were that 26 male students took part in the

study. That is, 13 Form 5 and 13 Form 6 students respectively and they constituted 43.3 % of the

sample. On the other hand, there were 34 female students who participated (18 Form 5 and 16

Form 6) and their percentage translated to 56.7%. Hence, female representation in the study was

relatively higher than male representation.

The information on respondents ages revealed that 16 students were aged 17 years; that is, five

Form 5 males, 10 Form 5 females and one Form 6 female and the 17 years category constituted

26.7% of the sample. As for the 18 years category, there were 33 students (eight Form 5 males,

eight Form 6 males, seven Form 5 females and 10 Form 6 females) and they constituted 55% of

the sample. The 19 years category had 11 students (five Form 5 males, one Form 5 female, and

five Form 6 females) and constituted 18.3% of the sample. Thus, the 18 years category was

highly represented in the study with 55%, followed by the 17 years category with 26.7% and the

19 years category being the least represented with 18.3% (Table 4.1).

4.2.2 Students knowledge of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship

The first question under Section [B] of the questionnaire was meant to establish if students knew

the meaning of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship (Appendix, I). Information gathered

showed that all the despondences were knowledgeable of the two terms and this was shown by

their ability to define the aforementioned terms. Document analysis revealed that the two terms

were adequately covered in the pupils note books and in the ZIMSEC Advanced Level
50
Economics Syllabus 9158 for 2013-2016 under Unit 1, entitled Basic Economic Ideas. This

could be the reason why students demonstrated knowledge of the two terms.

However, although students showed great awareness of the terms entrepreneur and

entrepreneurship, the study also revealed that none of the students was aware of the procedures

and requirements of registering a new business venture in the Zimbabwean context (Section

4.1.7). Further information obtained from document analysis and interviews, showed that the

ZIMSEC Advanced Level Business Studies 9198 Syllabus for 2008-2012, under unit 5.1 entitled

Business and the Environment only provided a general overview of company registration and

requirements, but not specifically in the Zimbabwean context. Therefore, this could have been

the reason for students lack of knowledge on the business registration procedures and

requirements from a Zimbabwean perspective.

As far as students knowledge of where and how they will access to the assistance and

information needed they intend to start a new business, only two students responded positively,

while 58 responded negatively (Fig 4.7). Additionally, only 16 students indicated awareness of

the programmes and help the government provides to people who want to start their own

businesses, while 44 students indicated lack of knowledge of the mentioned subject matter (Fig

4.8). Hence, the study revealed students lack of knowledge on business registration procedures,

requirements, where and how to access assistance and information needed in starting a new

business venture and government entrepreneurship programmes and aid to people who need to

start their own businesses. This is owing to the fact that the above mentioned concepts were not

covered in any one of the A level national syllabuses analyzed through document analysis

guide.

Students were asked to rate the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean curriculum towards the

promotion of entrepreneurship and the results obtained were that 39 students rated the

51
curriculum as good, 18 average and 3 (Table 4.5). Hence, the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean

curriculum in the promotion entrepreneurship was rated to be good. These results concurred with

the findings of the 1999 Nziramasanga Commission which acknowledged that the curriculum

was good, but was not effective enough as it did not marry theory and practice, a critical

component needed in preparing students for entrepreneurship and the field of work in general

(CIET, 1999). The findings also validate the curriculum review programme launched in 2014

and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Educations decision to introduce a new curriculum

in year 2016, with special emphasis on VocTec subjects and industrial attachment for students

upon completion of Ordinary Level (The Herald, 2015). Thus, lack of knowledge by students on

business registration procedures, requirements, where get assistance and information needed in

starting own business venture, government entrepreneurship programmes and aid to people who

need to start their own businesses could have emanated from the inadequacies of the curriculum.

4.2.3 Students Perceptions of the Entrepreneur

In response to the question on the characteristic identifiable with an entrepreneur, risk taker was

highly favoured with 40%, followed by innovative 16.7%, positive mental attitude 15%,

visionary and opportunity driven 5% respectively, patient 3.3%, adaptive and goal driven 1.7%

(Table 4.6). However from the interviews conducted, many students did mention that one

characteristic was not enough to describe and entrepreneur as the features complement each

other. One of the students did mention that, risk taking alone without vision and goals does not

work. The results are a true reflection of reviewed related literature, which showed no

agreement on the most outstanding characteristic identifiable with an entrepreneur, though risk

taking was mentioned outstandingly in this study (Wilson et al..2007; Timmons & Spinelli 2009)

On the other hand when asked to indicate whether entrepreneurs are born, made or both born

and made 10% (6 students) believed that entrepreneurs are born, 25% (15 students) were of the

conviction that entrepreneurs are made and 65% (39 students) said entrepreneurs are both born

52
and made (Fig 4.4). The results above showed that entrepreneurs are both born and made; a

confirmation that growing up in an entrepreneurial family and provision of entrepreneurship

education are critical in moulding a would-be entrepreneur as postulated by Herrington & Wood,

(2003) and Carr & Sequeira (2007).

On the contribution of entrepreneurs to national economic growth, 27 students (45%) rated

entrepreneurs as excellent, 28 (46.7%) as good and five (8.3%) as average. The overall picture

depicted is that the contribution of entrepreneurs to the economic growth of Zimbabwe was

positive and encouraging as shown by a rate 45% excellent and 46.7% good (Fig 4.5). This

position was in agreement with revealed literature, which indicated that entrepreneurs play a key

role to the economic growth of nations through creating new jobs, and raising employment

levels (Bishop, 1985; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000).

4.2.4 Students Entrepreneurial Intentions, Attitudes and Perceptions

The second question under Section [B] of the questionnaires sought to establish students

entrepreneurial intentions and give reasons for their intentions. The students entrepreneurial

intention was high with 96.7% indicating the intention to establish their own businesses

sometime in future while 2 students (3.3%) were not willing to engage in entrepreneurship and

one of them feared to lose invested money in case of business failure (Table 4.2). These results

were slightly above those obtained by Green and Pryde (1990) study of Dutch students which

indicated a positive result of 90%. For those who indicated the intention to establish their own

businesses, the need to be independent, to earn a lot of money and use ones skills and

knowledge appeared to be the main entrepreneurial motivating factors. Hence, the majority of

the students fell within the category of Opportunity or Pulled Entrepreneurs as their

entrepreneurial intentions were profit or wealth driven and if such intentions are translated into

entrepreneurial behaviour, the countrys economy will grow as indicated by Reynolds et al...

(2002).

53
In addition to the above, the majority of students expressed positive attitudes towards

entrepreneurship as 95% (57 students) thought running own businesses will be more prestigious

and will earn them more money than working for others, while 5% (3 students) thought

otherwise and, 86.7% (52 students) also indicated that they will be personally satisfied with self-

employment, with 13.3% (8 students) responded negatively to the subject (Fig 4.1 & 4.2). These

results revealed students positive attitude towards self-employment and were in contrast with a

research carried out in Finland by Gallup Europe (1994) which revealed a 70% negative attitude

towards self employment, with 27% positively prepared to be self-employed. Despite the

differences stated above, students expressed positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship as a

carrier option.

4.2.5 Factors influencing students entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and perceptions?

When asked to select the main motivating factor behind the establishment of own businesses

from the 6 options given (Table 4.3), the need to be ones own boss was the most favoured

response with 33.3%, followed by the need to earn a lot of money with 26.7, while the third

highest response, the need to use ones skills and abilities had 25% and the need to build

something for the family had 15%. The results obtained for this question were close to the

studies conducted by Kolbre, Piliste & Venesaar (2005), Topping & Tariq (2011) and Hayton et

al.., 2013) which cited the need for freedom and the need to earn more income as entrepreneurial

motivation factors. On the other hand the results were different form Manuere, Danha & Majoni

(2013) study of Chinhoyi students in which all students cited social responsibility (the need to

give back to the community) as the motivating factor behind their entrepreneurial intentions.

Other influencing factors in which students gave their positions on was family, gender and

environment.

54
4.2.5.1 Parental Influence on Entrepreneurial Intentions

Out of the 60 research participants, 11 came from families that owned their own businesses,

while 49 came from non-business owning families (Fig 4.10). On the issue of parental influence

on students entrepreneurial intentions, 20% (12) stated that their entrepreneurial decisions were

influenced by their parents, while 80% (48) said that their intentions had nothing to do with their

parents. Those who attributed their entrepreneurial intentions to parental influence appreciated

the experience they were getting through assisting their parents to run the businesses during

school holidays. More so, they cited the profits and comfortable lifestyles their parents were

realising through entrepreneurship, as driving forces for the establishment of own businesses

sometime in future. Thus, the study established a correlation between students entrepreneurial

intentions and parental influence, and similar results were obtained by the following studies:

Fishbein and Ajzen,1975; Basow & Glaser, 1980; Kolvereid,1996; Krueger et al.., 2000;

Davidson & Honig, 2003; Carr & Sequeira, 2007; Shinnar, Sanchez, 2009 and Pruelt & Bryan

2010. All these studies agreed that individuals prior exposure to entrepreneurship in practice

especially, through their family background in business, positively impact on students

entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions.

However, 80% (48) of the students indicated that their entrepreneurial intentions were

independent of parental influence (Fig 4.11). Interestingly, the majority of the students indicted

the willingness to engage in entrepreneurship and the possibility is high that they were being

influenced by entrepreneurship education they were getting from the commercial subjects they

were studying. Generally, parental influence on students entrepreneurial intentions was low,

owing to the fact that the 49 came from non business owning families (Fig 4.10).

4.2.5.2 Gender

Out of the 60 research participants, only 2 students acknowledged the effect of gender on

entrepreneurial intentions. The two stated that, Males are risk takers, achievement motivated

55
and innovative than females. Males endure for a long time than women who easily give up when

the going gets tough. This position fitted well with (Mazzarol, Volery, Doss & Thein, 1999;

Delmar and Davidson, 2000; Wang & Wong, 2004 & Gibson et al.., 2008) studies, in which

gender was found to impact on entrepreneurial intentions.

However, 58 students dismissed gender as an issue on the basis that entrepreneurship is a mind

game. The results of this study are in support of Lee, Wong, Maw, & Leung (2011) study which

showed that being an entrepreneur rests with the mind rather being male or female. From the

same results, some students who dismissed gender as a factor contradicted themselves and this

was evidenced by the responses they gave. For example two students mentioned that:

a) Its all about having the right mental attitude, because we even have successful female

business persons who are even performing much better than men.
b) Entrepreneurship is a mind game and some women are even smarter than men.

Generally, the majority of students dismissed gender as an influencing factor to entrepreneurial

intentions, but it should not be ignored that the study produced mixed notions on the subject, a

position that is also evident in the reviewed literature (Cromie, 1987); Birley, 1989); Changanti,

1986) and Lee et al..,2011).

4.2.5.3 Environment

Out of the 60 students, 58 indicated that the school environment was conducive and promoted

students entrepreneurial activities. The majority mentioned the existence of entrepreneurial

clubs such as the Young Entrepreneurship Charity Club (YECC), Heart Art (HA) and the Junior

Achievement Zimbabwe (JAZ). A follow up made through interviews gathered that the clubs

were engaged in entrepreneurship related activities like selling refreshments during special

occasions held at school and YECC was also involved in printing and selling of T-shirts and the

profits were channelled towards charity (e.g. payment of school fees for the less privileged

students from the Faire Field Childrens Home). On the other hand 2 students mentioned that the

school environment was not promoting students entrepreneurial activities, mainly because they
56
were not aware of any teacher running a successful business and that entrepreneurship was not

being offered as subject in the school. The above responses also indicated the importance of role

models and entrepreneurship education as influencing factors for students to engage in

entrepreneurship as stated by Krueger et al.., (2000), Owusu-Ansah (2004) and Sanchez (2009).

Generally, the school environment was said to be highly conducive for and supportive of

students entrepreneurial activities.

Furthermore, from the 60 students, 34 were of the opinion that the Zimbabwean environment

promoted entrepreneurship, while 26 chose a negative response on the subject matter. Of the 34

who chose YES as an answer, the existence of a peaceful atmosphere in the country was cited as

the dominant explanation. On the other hand, the NO category mentioned obstacles of doing

business such as lack and difficulties in obtaining capital, numerous legal and costly formalities

involved in setting up a business. Although, the Zimbabwean environment emerged on the

positive (YES) side in the promotion of entrepreneurship, there was a marginal difference of

only 8 students between the positive and negative responses (Fig 4.9). This marginal difference

indicated that the government needed to improve the business environment, a position supported

by Doing Business (2015) which ranked Zimbabwe position 180 out of 189 globally, on the

ease of doing business. Moreover, literature on entrepreneurship also placed particular emphasis

on the role of the government as a key player and factor affecting the attitudes and perceptions

of citizens towards exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities and if individuals have negative

perception regarding the business environment, they may not decide to start their own

businesses ( Luthje & Franke, 2003) & Kristiansen & Indarti,2004).

4.2.6 Factors That Would Discourage Students from Engaging In Entrepreneurship

When asked to select one factor that would discourage students from engaging in

entrepreneurship not enough capital featured most with a 45% frequency, followed by

unfavourable business environment 36.7%, it is too risky 10%, lack of skills and problems with

57
managing it had 3.3% respectively and like to work for others was the least preferred response

with 1.7% (Table 4.4). These results concurred with a research carried out by (Hayton et al.,

2013) in Romania in which students cited unfriendly business environment and lack of financial

resources as the major discouraging entrepreneurial factors. However, the results are different

from those obtained in study conducted with Canadian university students who cited lack of

knowledge and fear of financial loss as the main barriers (Green & Pryde, 1990).

4.2.7 Students Perceptions towards Entrepreneurship Education

All the research respondents agreed that people who need to start businesses should have

entrepreneurship knowledge and skills as these are critical in running successful businesses. The

explanations given by students on the importance of entrepreneurship knowledge and skills

(Section 4.1.3) were also emphasized in the reviewed literature and the Consortium for

Entrepreneurship Education (2004) summed it up when it stated that entrepreneurship education

empowers individuals with knowledge and skills such as the ability to recognise pursue and act

on opportunities, ability to gather and assemble the needed resources, and the ability to think in

a creative and critical manner.

The students also indicated that their subject combinations were equipping them with the skills

and knowledge needed to start businesses in future and the development of entrepreneurial mind

sets and they all agreed that the introduction of entrepreneurship was a noble idea. Hence,

students acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurship education as a key driver for

successful establishment and subsequent running of businesses, and this position was also

highlighted by GEM, (2001); Herrington & Wood, (2003); CEE, (2004); Rodermund, (2006);

Hannon, (2009) and Kumara, (2012).

However, although the respondents shared the same position on the importance of introducing

entrepreneurship as a subject in Zimbabwean secondary schools, they differed on the idea of

making the subject compulsory. Out of 60 respondents 23 students (38.3%) favoured the idea of
58
making entrepreneurship a compulsory subject irrespective of students career paths (Fig 4.6). In

support of their position, the student did mention that it was critical to equip every student with

entrepreneurial skills and knowledge in case one might decide to venture into business in future.

The generally agreed explanation was that, every career involves entrepreneurship somehow; for

example an auto electrician can run his or her own workshop or a teacher running a private

college or a lawyer opening up a law firm or a medical doctor operating own surgery.

On the other hand 37 (61.70%) students disliked the idea of making entrepreneurship a

compulsory subject in Zimbabwean secondary schools and the outstanding argument being that

the subject should not be imposed on students. A close analysis of the above explanations,

revealed that, central to the students arguments was the idea that entrepreneurship should not be

imposed on students. Thus, the results indicated a negative response on the idea of introducing

entrepreneurship as a compulsory subject in secondary schools. Hence, the above situation

posed a real threat to the successful implementation of the new education curriculum in 2016

which is biased towards VocTec subjects and governments policy position that, it is compulsory

for every student to study at least one practical subject as a means of developing entrepreneurs

in various fields (Secretarys Circular Number 14 of 2004, and The Herald, 2015).

4.2.8 What should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education?

Students were asked to suggest what should be done to promote entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education and one of the key issues they mentioned was the need to make

entrepreneurship related information available to students on issues such as, government

entrepreneurial policies and programmes since the majority lacked knowledge on such

information (Section 4.1.7).

Secondly, students advocated for the inclusion of the requirements and procedures of registering

a business in the Zimbabwean context, because the current Business Studies Syllabus only

provides a general overview on the topic. The need to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in
59
schools was also suggested. Another aspect was the need to equip youths with skills and

knowledge of establishing and running through conducting entrepreneurial workshops.

The students also called for the improvement in the ease of doing business, by reducing the price

of land for youths who want to start own businesses, making loans easily available at reasonable

interest rates and simplifying company registration requirements and procedures. Most of the

suggestions highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship education and training and the need

to create conducive or an enabling business environment as they have the potential to encourage

youths to develop positive entrepreneurial attitudes and turn the attitudes into entrepreneurial

behaviours (Herrington and Wood, 2003 and C E E, 2004). Students suggestion on the need to

ease the way of doing business in the country supported literature, which pointed out that the

business environment in Zimbabwe was discouraging as the country is ranked 180 out of 189

economies on the ease of starting a business (Doing Business, 2015).

4.6 Summary

This chapter presented, analysed and discussed the data obtained from questionnaires and

interviews. The results were both quantitative and qualitative and were presented in form of

tables, charts as well as graphs. The researcher made use of descriptive statistics to describe and

examine collected data. The next chapter looked at the research summary, conclusions and

recommendations for further study.

60
CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

The previous chapter focused on the presentation, interpretation, analysis and discussion of the

data. This chapter summarized the whole research and gave conclusions and recommendations

on the attitudes, and perceptions of secondary school students towards entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education. Recommendations for further studies were also given.

5.2 Summary

The main objective of the study was to establish the attitudes and perceptions of secondary

school students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. In pursuance of the

main objective, four research questions were formulated to guide the study and these were:

a) What is the governments policy on VocTec (practical) subjects?

b) How do students perceive entrepreneurs?
c) What factors influence entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and perceptions?
d) What should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education?

The research was rooted in and informed by Ajzens (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)

premised on the position that much human behaviour is planned, and influenced by three
61
attitudes, namely the attitude towards the behaviour, the subjective norms regarding the

behaviour and perceived control over performance of the behaviour. Literature related to the

research topic was reviewed and covered issues such as the history of entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education, vocational and technical education in Zimbabwe, and factors

influencing entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and perceptions.

The study used a Descriptive Case Study design and the study was conducted at Hartzell High

School in Mutasa District of Manicaland Province. The research instruments used included

document study (analysis), questionnaire and interview guide. The researcher personally

administered the instruments so as to ensure effective data collection. A sample of 60 Form Five

and Six Commercial students took part in the study and was drawn from a population of 78

students, using the stratified random sampling method. All the research participants were issued

questionnaires containing both open-ended and closed questions and were also interviewed in

groups ranging from 6-8 participants per group. The research instruments gathered both

quantitative and qualitative data which were presented in form of tables, charts as well as

graphs, before analysis and discussion using descriptive statistics. Generally, the study as whole

was a resounding success, despite facing challenges such as inadequate financial resources,

pressure of work and pressing family commitments. The results of the study revealed students

positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.

5.3 Conclusions

Having analyzed the findings, the study made a number of conclusions. Firstly, the study

revealed that students had knowledge of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship since they

were able to define the aforementioned terms. Students attitudes and perceptions towards

entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education were highly positive as the majority expressed

the intention to establish their own businesses in future and also expressed satisfaction with self-

employment as a career option. Students were also of the conviction that they will be more

62
prestigious and will earn a lot of money through running their own businesses than working for

others. Thus, the majority of the research respondents were Opportunity or Pulled entrepreneurs

since they desired to engage in entrepreneurship driven by the need to exploit opportunities

rather than taking it as a last resort. As far as the factors that would discourage students from

establishing their own businesses, lack of capital and unfavourable business environment were

cited most.

The respondents also indicated that the current crop of entrepreneurs is contributing positively to

the growth of the Zimbabwean economy. Additionally, the study depicted students positive

perception of entrepreneurship education as they all agreed that people who start businesses

should have entrepreneurship knowledge and skills and that the introduction of entrepreneurship

as a subject is critical in Zimbabwean secondary schools. However, more than half of the

students were against the idea of making entrepreneurship a compulsory subject arguing that

subjects should not be forced on students, despite the governments policy position that every

student should study at least one practical subject and the intentions to introduce a new

curriculum in 2016 with biased towards VocTec subjects as a means of preparing students for

entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, the study revealed that the students were benefiting from their subject

combinations as the subjects were helping in the acquisition of skills and knowledge needed in

establishing their own businesses and the development of positive entrepreneurial mind sets.

Students also indicated that the Zimbabwean curriculum was on the average side as far as the

promotion of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education and so was the general

environment in the promotion of entrepreneurship. The students position on the curriculum

concurred with the reviewed literature, which labelled the curriculum outdated; hence the

governments revived stance to make VocTec subjects compulsory, including entrepreneurship

education.

63
The study further indicated that students lacked knowledge of the procedures and requirements

of registering a business in Zimbabwean context and where and how to access assistance if need

be. Nevertheless, students attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education were highly positive, and if they are tapped at a tender stage, the

nation can go a long way in growing its economy and reduce unemployment among youth

graduates.

5.4 Recommendations

Recommendations were made to the following stakeholders:

A. Hartzell High School Administration

a) The school administration should invite influential and successful business people to the

school to motivate and inspire students to engage in entrepreneurship.

b) The school administration should also widen the school curriculum by introducing other

commercial subjects that are not being offered at the school such as O Level Business

Studies, so as to equip students for entrepreneurship at grass roots level.

B. Curriculum Developers

There is need for the inclusion of requirements and procedures of registering businesses

from the Zimbabwean context in the Business Studies National syllabus, instead of the

general overview that currently exists.

C. Government
a) The government through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education needs to

introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in secondary schools and other institutions of

learning as a means of promoting entrepreneurship.

b) The government should disseminate and make entrepreneurship related information

available to students including its entrepreneurial policies and programmes and where

students can access information and help needed if they want to start their own businesses.
c) There is need to craft policies that would make land cheap for youths and guarantee

property rights through the support of the judicial system.

d) The need to improve on the easy of doing business and the general business environment so

as to encourage more people to engage in entrepreneurship.

64
e) Conducting entrepreneurship related workshops with youths, at school level in order to

equip them with the skills of running businesses, know their concerns and capture their

inputs into national economic policies and programmes.

f) Crafting of a deliberate policy that will lower interest rates for youths who want to establish

businesses is needed as a means of incentivizing and luring more participants in the field of

entrepreneurship.

5.5 Recommendations for Further Studies

This study was conducted on a small scale as one school one was studied and only Form 5 and

Form 6 commercial students participated. Therefore, going forward, there is need to conduct

research on a larger scale involving all schools and all students in Zimbabwean secondary

schools in order to establish students attitudes and perception on entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurship education at national level.

65
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APPENDIX (I): QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

I am Bachelors Degree student in the Department of Adult Education at the Midlands State
University. I am conducting an academic research which seeks to investigate the attitudes,
intentions and perceptions of high school students towards entrepreneurship and
entrepreneurship education. I therefore, kindly ask you to spare your valuable time and respond
to the questions contained therein. Be assured that the information collected for this study shall
be used for academic purposes only and your responses shall remain anonymous and
confidential.
INSTRUCTIONS
a) Do not write your name on the questionnaire and please honestly attempt all the
questions.
b) Select an option by marking with an (X) in the correct box and write your narrative
answers in the space provided below each question.

Section A: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Male Female 1. Gender
2. Form
Form 5 From 6
3. Indicate your age (years)

Section B: ATTITUDES AND INTENTIONS TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. Do you know the meaning of the Yes No term entrepreneur and

entrepreneurship?
If YES, briefly define:
i. Entrepreneur...........................................................................................................
...
......
ii. Entrepreneurship........
...........................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
2. Do you have any intention of Yes No starting your own business
sometime in future?
75
Give reasons for your answer.................................
.
.........
3. Do you think running your own business is more prestigious than working for others?

Yes No

4. Do you think running your own business will earn you more money than working for others?

Yes No

5. What do you consider to be the main motivating factor (reason) for people starting their own
businesses?
to be ones own boss to earn a lot of money to be more respectable in society
to use ones skills & abilities to put oneself to test to build something for the family

6. What is the major reason (factor) that would discourage you from starting a business?
Lack of skills Problems with managing it Like to work for others
Not enough capital It is too risky Unfavourable business environment

7. Will you be personally Yes No satisfied with self-employment?

Section C: PERCEPTIONS & KNOWLEDGE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

1. Are Born Made Both entrepreneurs born or made?
Explain your answer

...................
2. How do you rate the contribution of entrepreneurs to the economic growth of your country?
Excellent Good Average Poor Very poor

3. Do you agree that people who start businesses should have

Yes No
entrepreneurship knowledge and skills?
Explain your answer
.
..
...............
4. Is it important to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject in
Yes No
Zimbabwean secondary schools?

76
5. Do you think Entrepreneurship as subject should be made
Yes No
compulsory in secondary schools regardless of students career
intentions?
Explain your answer
.
..
....
..................
6. Is your subject combination equipping you with the skills
Yes No
and knowledge needed to start a business in future?
7. Does your school environment Yes No promote students entrepreneurial
activities?
Explain your answer...........................................
...
...
8. How do you rate the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean curriculum, as a whole towards the
promotion of entrepreneurship?
Excellent Good Average Poor Very poor

9. Are you aware of the procedures and requirements of registering

Yes No
a new business venture in Zimbabwe?
10. Do you know where to get assistance and information when you want to start own business.
Yes No
11. Are you aware of the programmes and help the government
Yes No
provides to people who want to start their own businesses?
12. Does the environment in Zimbabwe promote entrepreneurship? Yes No
Explain your answer
......................................................................................................................................................
..

13. Which of the following characteristics best describe an entrepreneur?

risk taker goal driven patient visionary innovative adaptive
opportunity obsessed determination & perseverance positive mental attitude

Section D: GENERAL QUESTIONS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP RELATED ISSUES

1. Do you come from a Yes No family that owns a business?
2. Do your parents have an influence Yes No on your entrepreneurial
intentions?
If YES explain how......

77
..
...........
3. Do you think gender has an effect on entrepreneurial intentions? Yes No
Explain your answer

............
4. What do you think should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship
education in secondary schools?

..
Thank you for your co-operation
APPENDIX (II): INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. What is your understanding of the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship?

2. Do you have any intention to establish your own business sometime in future? (explain

why)
3. What do you consider to be the main motivating factor (reason) for people starting their

own businesses?
4. What is the major reason that would discourage you from starting a business?
5. Do you think Entrepreneurship as subject should be made compulsory in secondary schools

regardless of students career intentions? ( explain why)

6. Does your school environment promote students entrepreneurial activities? (explain)
7. Does the environment in Zimbabwe promote entrepreneurship? (give reasons)
8. Do you think gender has an effect on entrepreneurial intentions? (explain why)
9. What do you think should be done to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship

education?

78
APPENDIX (III): DOCUMENT ANALYSIS GUIDE

In the process of gathering data on attitudes, intentions and perceptions of secondary school

students towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, the researcher will go

through the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC) Advanced Level National

syllabus for Accounting, Business Studies and Economics. These are the commercial subjects

being offered at Hartzell high school at advanced level A Level.

The researcher will go through these syllabuses to identify the nature of skills, topics and

concepts contained therein in relation to entrepreneurship. Specific issues to look into will

include:

a) definitions of entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education

b) forms or types of business ventures to chose from
c) challenges and solutions to problems faced by entrepreneurs
d) the significance of entrepreneurs in the economy
e) legal forms of doing business acceptable in Zimbabwe
f) government role in the promotion of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education
g) procedures of registering businesses in Zimbabwe

The main objective for analyzing documents is to see their contents are related to the concept of

entrepreneurship and also to identify conflicting areas with literature reviewed on the topic

under study.

79
APPENDIX (IV): RELEASE LETTER

80
APPENDIX (V): LETTER OF INFORMED CONSERNT

Hartzell High School

P.O. Box 7070

The Head

Hartzell high school

P.O. Box 7070

Mutare

29 October 2015

Dear Sir

Ref: REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO CARRY OUT AN ACADEMIC RESEARCH

I Chipunza Shingirai, a Bachelors Degree student in the Department of Adult Education at the
Midlands State University do hereby request for permission to conduct an academic research
focusing on the attitudes, intentions and perceptions of high school students towards
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The research seeks to use Form 5 and 6
Commercial students as participants who will respond to a questionnaire and group interview
lasting for approximately 20-30 minutes.
As a means of respecting and upholding the rights of the participants, I pledge to inform the
participants of the objectives of the study, data collection devices to be used and that
participation in the study is voluntary, so is withdrawal. Confidentiality and anonymity of
participants will be upheld and the information they will provide will be used for academic
purposes only. The participants are not entitled to any incentives in cash or kind for their
involvement in the study as participation is absolutely voluntary. In as much as participants are
expected to respond to all questions asked, they also have the liberty not to respond to questions
they feel uncomfortable with.
Appended are copies of the students questionnaire and interview guides for your perusal.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully
.
Chipunza Shingirai (Mr)

81
APPENDIX (VI): PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH

82