Keywords

Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp, Participant Feedback.

Introduction

Participant feedback on Entrepreneurship development programs is an important tool for evaluation of training effort and helps in implementing corrective measures for improving the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education.

To promote and strengthen Science & Technology entrepreneurship, the national science & technology entrepreneurship development board (NSTEDB), department of Science & Technology sponsors a number of entrepreneurship training programs. A 3 day Entrepreneurship awareness program (EAC) is one among them which are conducted in science & technical institutions. These programs are implemented by Entrepreneurship development institute of India (EDII) under DST-NIMAT project.

Dayananda Sagar institutions regularly conduct these Entrepreneurship awareness programs and this study is based on the feedback of participants from two such EACs conducted during 2018-1019.

Literature Review

The importance of Entrepreneurship education has been widely discussed. Claire M. Leitch, Richard T. Harrison (1999) has worked on a process model for entrepreneurship education and development. Ove C. Hansemark (1998) has studied the effects of an entrepreneurship programme on Need for Achievement and Locus of Control of reinforcement. L. Louw, S.M. van Eeden, J.K. Bosch, D.J.L. Venter (2003) have studied Entrepreneurial traits of undergraduate students at selected South African tertiary institutions. Nicole E. Peterman and Jessica Kennedy, (2003) have studied Enterprise Education and its role in influencing Students' Perceptions of Entrepreneurship. Davide Moro, Alberto Poli, Chiara Bernard (2004) have discussed on Training the future entrepreneur. Christopher J Creed, Eric M Suuberg and Gregory P Crawford (2005) have worked on Engineering Entrepreneurship, and discussed an Example of a Paradigm Shift in Engineering Education. Andy Adcroft, Spinder Dhaliwal and Robert Willis, (2006) have questioned, Is there really a value in entrepreneurship education?

In the Indian context, Dr. M. K. Sridhar, (2003) has conducted a study on Entrepreneurship awareness among student and non-student youth of Bangalore and Dharwad districts of Karnataka. Narendra C. Bhandari, (2006) has worked on Intention for Entrepreneurship among Students in India.

Research Objective

From the research literature above, it is evident that entrepreneurship education has a positive effect in motivating students for startup initiatives and that the effectiveness of training programs may be improved by good participant feedback and suggestions. There have been indications of non-influence of demographics on soft skills among students (Vasantha Kumara, Sahasranam, 2008, 2009). The objective of this research is to examine the influence of class of students on their feedback suggestions. Hence the research proposition is that the class of students does not influence their feedback on entrepreneurship development programs.

Methodology

Participant feedback survey was conducted on a convenient random sample of 77 student participants (36 engineering students and 41 diploma students) during the Entrepreneurship awareness camps conducted during 2018-2019 at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore. The feedback survey form included statements of indicators on duration, usefulness, expectations and planning of the camps.

Analysis and Discussion

Using Visual PLS software (Jen-Ruie Fu, 2006), the responses on the statements of indicators in the feedback survey form were factor analysed as shown in tables 2, 3 & 4. Composite reliability, Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Cronbach Alpha were determined for each indicator as shown in the table 5. Composite reliability above the 0.70 threshold and an extracted variance above the 0.50 threshold are recommended by Hair et al. (1998) and hence the reliability of the feedback survey instrument was established.

Table 2 Factor Analysis- Diploma Students
Indicator	Mean	Stdev	Loading	Residual	Weight
Duration	2.04878	0.497555	0.5062	0.7438	0.2141
Usefulness	1.219512	0.419058	0.7098	0.4961	0.3002
Expectations	1.317073	0.471117	0.8968	0.1957	0.3793
Planning	1.682927	0.788639	0.8946	0.1997	0.3783

Table 3 Factor Analysis-Engineering Students
Indicator	Mean	Stdev	Loading	Residual	Weight
Duration	1.888889	0.39841	0.4718	0.7774	0.2806
Usefulness	1.444444	0.503953	0.7823	0.3881	0.4652
Expectations	1.444444	0.503953	0.6651	0.5577	0.3955
Planning	2.194444	0.709907	0.6361	0.5954	0.3783

Table 4 Factor Analysis- All Students
Indicator	Mean	Stdev	Loading	Residual	Weight
Duration	1.974026	0.458086	0.3879	0.8495	0.1917
Usefulness	1.324675	0.471324	0.7448	0.4453	0.368
Expectations	1.376623	0.487717	0.8122	0.3403	0.4013
Planning	1.922078	0.79084	0.8119	0.3408	0.4011

Table 5  Validity and Reliability Analysis
Class	Composite Reliability	AVE	Cronbach Alpha
Diploma	0.846879	0.591166	0.740804
Engineering	0.737957	0.420375	0.517628
All students	0.793658	0.506018	0.644399

The hypothesis of independence between diploma and engineering students was examined for all indicators of feedback using chi-square tests of cross table relationships as shown in the table 6.

Table 6 Chi-Square Tests for Cross Table Relationships
INDICATORS		DURATION			USEFULLNES		EXPECTATIONS		PLANNING
CLASS	SAMPLE	A	B	C	A	B	A	B	A	B	C
DIPLOMA	41	4	31	6	32	9	28	13	21	12	8
ENGG	36	5	30	1	20	16	20	16	5	20	11
Chi-square		3.388			4.423		1.324		12.045
Correlation		0.205			0.233		0.130		0.368
P-Value		0.184			0.035		0.25		0.002
Evidence against the hypothesis of independence		No Evidence			Moderate evidence		No Evidence		Very Strong Evidence

Summary of Findings and Conclusion

This study analysed the participant feedback on Entrepreneurship awareness camps. After establishing the validity and reliability of the feedback items, the hypothesis of independence between diploma and engineering students was examined for all indicators of feedback using chi-square tests of cross table relationships. It was observed that except planning of the camp there was no significant difference in feedback given by Engineering and diploma participants. This study helps in better design of the camps.

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Received: 02-Dec-2024, Manuscript No. AJEE-25-15899; Editor assigned: 03-Dec-2024, PreQC No. AJEE-25-15899 (PQ); Reviewed: 10-Dec-2024, QC No. AJEE-25-15899 ; Revised: 24-Dec-2024, Manuscript No.AJEE-25-15899 (R); Published: 30-Dec-2024