Journal of Entrepreneurship Research

Journal of Entrepreneurship Research

Predicting Students' Entrepreneurial Skills Based on Their Technological Literacy and Instructors' Teaching Styles (Case Study: Bu-Ali Sina University)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
1 Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Debir Shahid Rajaei University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: The employment of students is a crucial issue, as their post-graduation unemployment brings about irreparable consequences in various social and economic dimensions. Many new graduates are either unemployed or struggling to find a job in which they have been trained and are interested. As such, new graduates need more than procedural knowledge to succeed in today's changing technological, political, and social conditions. Accordingly, they require a set of entrepreneurial skills influenced by technology awareness and education. Technological literacy and proper education enable students to adapt to the evolving needs of modern life. Thus, technological knowledge and awareness are key competencies for future graduates. Moreover, the most effective methods of providing entrepreneurial educational content play an important role in enhancing entrepreneurial skills. The present study aimed to predict the entrepreneurial skills of students based on their technological literacy and university instructors' teaching styles.
Methodology: The research method was descriptive and correlational. The research population included all undergraduate students of Bu-Ali Sina University in the 2020-2021 academic year, numbering 6,701 students. The statistical sample was determined using the Karjesi and Morgan table, resulting in a sample size of 364 individuals selected through a relative stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using entrepreneurial skills, technological literacy, and teaching style questionnaires. Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were employed for data analysis using SPSS22 software.
Findings: The results indicated that students' technological literacy and teachers' teaching styles had positive and significant relationships with students' entrepreneurial skills (p<0.01). Among the components of technological literacy, the greatest impact was attributed to the component of technological works, while the least impact was related to the component of understanding technology in the surrounding world. Among the dimensions of teaching style, the greatest impact was associated with the productive teaching style, while the least impact was related to the analytical teaching style.
Conclusion/ Implications: The results of the present study confirmed the role of technology awareness, technological literacy, and entrepreneurial teaching methods in increasing and improving the entrepreneurial skills of undergraduate students. The findings demonstrated that technological knowledge and proper education play a prominent role in acquiring entrepreneurial skills. By identifying the key factors that influence the development of entrepreneurial skills, this study provides valuable guidance and solutions for higher education policymakers. These findings can help improve entrepreneurial skills through productive training and teaching methods. 
Keywords

Subjects


Adewale, A., & Ibrahim, F. (2016). Entrepreneurship Intention among Students: The Antecedent Role of Culture and Entrepreneurship Training and Development. The International Journal of Management Education, 14 (2), 116–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2016.03.001
Apostolopoulos, N., Al-Dajani, H., Holt, D., Jones, P., & Newbery, R. (2018). "Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals", Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals (Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, Vol. 8), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620180000008005
Arabsheybani, K., & Akhondi, N. (2018). Validation and Verification of Factor Structure of Teaching Strenberg Intelligence questionnaire (TSI-Q) in teachers. Biquarterly Journal of Cognitive Strategies in Learning, 5(9), 49-60. https://doi.10.22084/j.psychogy.2017.10612.1349
Beresford, M. (2020). Entrepreneurship as legacy building: Reimagining the economy in post-apartheid South Africa. Economic Anthropology, 7(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12170
Bosma .N, Hessels .J, Schutjens . V, Van Praag . M, Verheul. I (2011). Entrepreneurship and Role Models.  Journal of Economic Psychology, 33 (2012), 410–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.03.004
Dash, N.R., Guraya, S.Y., Al Bataineh, M.T. (2020). Preferred teaching styles of medical faculty: an international multi-center study. BMC Medical Education, 20 (480), 2-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02358-0
Dihim, R., & Vakil Alroaia, Y. (2023). Investigating the Strategic Role of the Seven Aspects of Organizational Justice in Promoting the Entrepreneurial Skills of Human Resources, Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, 30(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.30468/jsums.2023.1522
Farhangmehr, M., Gonçalves, P., & Sarmento, M. (2016). Predicting entrepreneurial motivation among university students: The role of entrepreneurship education. Education and Training, 58(7–8), 861–881. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-01-2016-0019
Ford, J. H., Robinson, J. M., & Wise, M. E. (2016). Adaptation of the Grasha Riechman student learning style Survey and teaching style inventory to assess individual teaching and learning styles in a quality improvement collaborative. BMC Med Educ, 16(252), 23-32. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0772
Freeman, J., Park, S., & Middleton, C. (2019). Technological literacy and interrupted internet access, Information, Communication & Society, 23(13), 1947–1964. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1623901
Ghashami, M. A., & Nasiri, F. (2021). Investigating the mediating role of information literacy in the relationship between students’ Communication skills and Entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Technology of Education Journal, 15(4), 673-682. https://doi.org/10.22061/tej.2021.5407.2219
Grasha, A. F. (1996). Teaching with style: a practical guide to enhancing learning by understanding teaching and learning styles. Alliance Publishers, Cognitive styles - 1996: 372 pag.
Hagg, G., & Gabrielsson, J. (2019). A systematic literature review of the evolution of pedagogy in entrepreneurial education research. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 26(5), 829-861. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-04-2018-0272
International Technology Education Association, & Technology for All Americans Project. (1996). Technology for all Americans: A rationale and structure for the study of technology. International Technology Education Association.
Jones, P., Penaluna, A., & Pittaway, L. (2014). Entrepreneurship education: A recipe for change? International Journal of Management in Education, 12(3), 304–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2014.09.004
Kier, A. S., & McMullen, J. S. (2018). Entrepreneurial imaginativeness in new venture ideation. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), 2265–2295. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.0395
Kurczewska, A., Kyrö, P., Lagus, K., Kohonen, O. and Lindh-Knuutila, T. (2018). The interplay between cognitive, conative, and affective constructs along the entrepreneurial learning process. Education + Training, 60(7), 891-908. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-09-2016-0148
Kyndt, E., & Baert, H. (2015). Entrepreneurial competencies: Assessment and predictive value for entrepreneurship, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 90, 13-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2015.07.002
Lestari, S., & Santoso, A. (2019), “The Roles of Digital Literacy, Technology Literacy, and Human Literacy to Encourage Work Readiness of Accounting Education Students in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era” in International Conference on Economics, Education, Business and Accounting, KnE Social Sciences, 12, 513–527. https://doi.10.18502/kss.v3i11.4031
Liguori, E., Winkler, C., Vanevenhoven, J., Winkel, D., & James, M. (2019). Entrepreneurship as a career choice: intentions, attitudes, and outcome expectations. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 32(4), 311–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2019.1600857
Markauskaite, L. (2006). Towards an integrated analytical framework of information and communications technology literacy: From intended to implemented and achieved dimensions. Information Research, 11(3), 252.  http://InformationR.net/ir/11-3/paper252.html
Martin, M. (2012), Values in design and technology education: Past, present and future. In Thomas Ginner., Jonas Hallström & Magnus Hultén technology education in the 21th century. Stockholm: The Authors and LiU Electronic Press.
Mirzaei, H., Mirzaie, M., & Katebi, M. (2017). Investigating the Potential of Entrepreneurship and its Related Social Factors (Case Study: Tabriz University). Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Journal of Social Sciences, 14(1), 33-61. http://doi.org.10.22067/jss.v14i1.41906
Muehlfeld, K., Urbig, D., & Weitzel, U. (2017). Entrepreneurs’ Exploratory Perseverance in Learning Settings. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(4), 533-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/etp.12224
Olutuase, S.O., Brijlal, P., & Yan, B. (2023) Model for stimulating entrepreneurial skills through entrepreneurship education in an African context, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 35 (2), 263-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2020.1786645
Palos, R., & Maricutoiu, L. P. (2013). Teaching for Successful Intelligence Questionnaire (TSI-Q)-a new instrument developed for assessing teaching style. Journal of Educational Sciences and Psychology, 3(1), 159 - 178. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramona-Palos/publication/311953346
Parvin, L., Rahman, M. W., & Jia, J. (2012). Determinates of women micro-entrepreneurship development: an empirical investigation in rural Bangladesh. International journal of Economics and Finance4(5), 254-260. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijef.v4n5p254
Peschl, H., Deng, C., Larson, N. (2021). Entrepreneurial thinking: A signature pedagogy for an uncertain 21st century. The International Journal of Management Education,19(1), 10042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2020.100427
Ratten, V., &  Jones, P. (2018). Transformational Entrepreneurship. Edition 1st Edition, First Published, Routledge, 2018, Pages 17-39. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351051347
Samuel O. Olutuase, Pradeep Brijlal & Bingwen Yan (2023) Model for stimulating entrepreneurial skills through entrepreneurship education in an African context, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 35:2, 263-283. https://doi.10.1080/08276331.2020.1786645
Saptono, A., Wibowo, A., Narmaditya, B. S., Karyaningsih, R. P. D., Yanto, H., & Cheng, M. (2020). Does entrepreneurial education matter for Indonesian students’ entrepreneurial preparation: The mediating role of entrepreneurial mindset and knowledge. Cogent Education, 7(1), 1836728. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2020.1836728
Seow, R. Y. C. (2022). Personality Traits of Traditional Entrepreneur and Digital  ntrepreneur: A Systematic Literature Review. ASEAN Entrepreneurship Journal, 8(2), 55–70. https://aej.uitm.edu.my/view-paper.php?paper=20220762e352ed1998f
Seraji, F., & Khavari, S. (2017). Teachers and students’ technological literacy: the analyzes of two generation differences. Two Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Sociological Research, 5(9), 31-52. http://doi.org.10.22084/csr.2016.1806
Smith, W. L., Schallenkamp, K., & Eichholz, D. E. (2007). Entrepreneurial skills assessment: an exploratorstudy. International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 4(2), 179-201. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMED.2007.011791
Sternberg, R. J. (2019). A theory of adaptive intelligence and its relation to general intelligence. Journal of Intelligence, 7(4, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence7040023
Sternberg, R. J. (2020). The augmented theory of successful intelligence. In Cambridge handbook of intelligence, 2nd ed. Edited by Robert J. Sternberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2, 679-708. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770422.029
Sternberg, R. J., Nokes, P. K., Geissler, W., Prince, R., Okatcha, F., Bundy, D. A., & Elena L. Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). The relationship between academic and practical intelligence: A case study in Kenya. Intelligence, 29(5), 401–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-2896(01)00065-4
Terry, J., Davies, A., Williams, C., Tait, S., & Condon, L. (2019). Improving the digital literacy competence of nursing and midwifery students: A qualitative study of the experiences of NICE student champions. Nurse Education in Practice, 34, 192–198. http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=emexa&AN=626343128.
Torkashvand, A., & Seraji, F. (2021). The role of technological literacy on Entrepreneurial intention in engineer students: findings of a mixed method research. Curriculum Planning Knowledge & Research in Educational Sciences, 17(67), 72-89.  https://sid.ir/paper/392068/en
Walsh, M. (2017). Multiliteracies, multimodality, new literacies and what do these mean for literacy education? in Marion Milton (ed.) Inclusive Principles and Practices in Literacy Education (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, 11(2), 19–33. https://doi.10.18502/kss.v3i114031
Wardana, L. W., Handayati, P.,  Narmaditya, B. S. (2020)‏. Determinant Factors of Young People in Preparing for Entrepreneurship: Lesson from Indonesia. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7 (8), 555-565.  https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no8.555
Wu, Y. C J., Wu, T., & Li, Y. (2017). Impact of using classroom response systems on students' entrepreneurship learning experience. Computers in Human Behavior, 3(2), 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.013

  • Receive Date 28 August 2024
  • Revise Date 17 December 2024
  • Accept Date 19 December 2024