Abstract

1. A Factors Analysis on the Requirements of Entrepreneurs from the Graduates of Bachelor of Science T. Pinyoa aFaculty of Science and Technology, SuanSunandhaRajabhat University, Bangkok, 10300, Thailand Abstract This research was aimed to examine the requirement factors of entrepreneurs from graduates of Bachelor of Science and to compare those requirements based on demographic characteristics of entrepreneurs. The sample of this study was 1,200 entrepreneurs in Bangkok vicinity. A survey questionnaire was utilized to collect data. Statistic analysis included percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Survey factors were analyzed by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Barlett's test of Sphericity. In addition, factor analysis was conducted by applying orthogonal rotation with Varimax Rotation. The findings included: 1) the requirement factors of entrepreneurs can be classified in to six categories: operational leadership, ethical standards, human relations, information and technology, basic knowledge and skills, and integrity & morality. 2) The “high” level of requirement needs from highest to lowest were as follows: Integrity and morality, ethical standards, operational leadership, information and technology, basic knowledge and skills, and human relations respectively. Introduction Because of the fast pace of change in social and economics, most firms are faced with a high competitive level in this knowledge based economy. It is imperative that each firm focuses more on human capital management than in the past. This greater focus on human capital will create more value added wealth for the firm and increase the level of competitive advantage (Office of the Civil Officials, 2010). Therefore, education institutions need to produce the graduates that fit with the demand of business sector. Moreover, the findings of a satisfaction survey of business sector who hired new graduates in 2009 revealed that the satisfaction factors from high to low included: Integrity, Ethics, Basic Knowledge, and Specific Field Knowledge. From another point of view, a satisfaction survey of new graduates found that the satisfaction factors from high to low were Professors and Lecturers, Curriculum Management, Place of Study, and Learning Materials. The Higher Education Committee has stated that the standard of education must include five important areas: Ethics and Morals, Knowledge, Cognitive Skills, Interpersonal Skills and Responsibility, Numerical Communication, and Information Technology Skills. The Research Objectives The research objectives were to find the factor requirements that entrepreneurs need from the new graduates of Bachelor of Science. Research Methodology 1. This is a survey research. The population defined in this research included all entrepreneurs who had a potential to employ new graduates with a Bachelor of Science. A total of 1,200 respondents were used as sample size for this research which concurred with Fan, (2001) who suggested that there should be 10-20 samples for each variable. Simple random sampling method was utilized to get the sample group. 2. The research tool was the questionnaire which consisted of two parts. Part one is was five questions concerning the demographics of the respondents. Part two consisted of 52 questions concerning the requirement level for each factor that entrepreneurs thought was important measured with a Likert scale according 3. The content validity was checked by five experts in the field of statistics and science research. In addition the reliability was tested by using 30 pilot study and found that the confidence level to be 0.98. 4. The data analysis was performed by using statistic package programs as follows. 4.1 The distribution of the sample according to demographic differences and the requirement factors of the entrepreneurs were done by mean and standard deviation. 4.2 The factor exploratory was done by Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and using orthogonal rotation with varimax. The Eigen value was more than one and the factor loading for each variable which had a value of 0.5. • Findings • 1. The majority of the respondents were male being less than 30 years old and held undergraduate degree or equivalent. Most of the entrepreneurs were working in the private sector. The average age was 36.29 and the oldest entrepreneur had the age of 88 and the youngest entrepreneur had the age of 18 years old. • 2. To check the suitability of 53 variables to group the variables by using Kasier-Meyer-Olkin (KMO and Bartlett’s Test of Spericity) and found that the KMO value was 0.975 which indicates that these groups of information are suitable for using factor analysis. In addition, the Chi-Square value was 341010.81 which indicate that all 53 variables were related. • 3. Factor analysis was performed by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in order to find the common factor. The technique of Principle Components Factoring was utilized with orthogonal rotation varimax. There were three criteria: 1) The Eigen value must be more than one. 2) Each factor must have at least 3 variables. 3) Each of factor loading must have the value more than 0.50. The findings revealed six factors according to their importance: operational leadership, ethical standards, human relations, information and technology, knowledge and basic skills, and integrity and morals. Illustrated in TABLE 1, these factors can explain up to 55.41 percent of the quality requirements of the graduate of Bachelor of Science. • TABLE 1. Eigen values • 4. The findings also revealed that each level of the requirements from the entrepreneurs was in the “high” level. The factors can be ranked according to their importance: Integrity and morals, ethical standards, operational leadership, information and technology, knowledge and basic skills, and human relations. • Discussion • 1. The findings have revealed the following factors from the most to the least imporance: operational leadership, ethical standard, human relations, information and technology, knowledge and basic skills, and integrity and morals. These finding concurred with the 10th National Strategy of Economics Development (2007-2011) which focused on quality development of human resources by enhancing leadership and integrity. The development of leadership and integrity should create will the self-immunity for the learners. The findings also agreed with the 11th National Strategy of Economics Development (2012-16) which focused on the life time learning with an emphasis on the integrity, ethical standards, and morals. A stronger society will be able to support more human resources development. Moreover, there are four main factors to prepare man for the job market which are information, knowledge, learning resource, and life time learning. • 2. For the factors that are required by the entrepreneurs, it also concurred with the concept of long term plan of human resource development which is the 15 years plan which focuses on the ability to communicate, teamwork, problem solving skill, risk taking, self-responsibility, and integrity. The only one skill or one field of knowledge is not enough for the people who want to work in the fast moving globalization. • Recommendations • 1. To develop the curriculum of the Bachelor of Science to be more multi-discipline and encourage students to learn and practice multi-skills rather than one main skill. • 2. The curriculum must be designed with the requirement of the entrepreneurs and other who will hire the graduates in the near future. • 3. To combine the factors that are required by entrepreneurs with the standard of quality designed by the government officials.