Abstract
M.Com. (Business Management)
Since the realisation of South Africa’s democracy in 1994, many would have thought that with the entire population actively participating, the economy would have gone from strength to strength. However, literature shows that, in the past 24 years the formal sector has faced difficulties in absorbing the yearly growth of job seekers in the market which has led to high unemployment rates. Entrepreneurship, through successful business venturing, plays a pivotal role in a nation’s endeavour to create jobs and boost the economy. Global Entrepreneurships Monitor (GEM) reports state that South Africa’s early stage total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) is lower than most countries that are at comparable levels of development. The idea is that if more people, with particular reference to high school learners, receive practical entrepreneurship education, South Africa’s entrepreneurial activity would drastically be increased.
The main objective of this study is to assess the level of the entrepreneurial mindset of high school learners in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The study concluded that the entrepreneurial mindset is made up of two sub-constructs: entrepreneurial traits and entrepreneurial skills. Secondary aims were to analyse the correlation between entrepreneurial traits and the entrepreneurial mindset; analyse the relationships between the learner’s future intentions and their entrepreneurial mindset; the relationship between gender and the entrepreneurial mindset; the relationship between parents who have their own businesses and the entrepreneurial mindset; and the relationship between a learner’s favourite subject and the entrepreneurial mindset.
The study included questionnaires submitted anonymously to 320 learners from 10 high schools in Gauteng. The study indicates that the level of entrepreneurial mindset of learners in Gauteng is relatively high with a mean score of 3.5979 (out of five). In addition to this, there is a correlation between entrepreneurial traits and entrepreneurial skills; which means any intervention regarding each sub-factor will raise or drop the entrepreneurial mindset as a whole. Furthermore, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference between: Gender and Entrepreneurial traits; Favourite Subject and Entrepreneurial Traits; Favourite Subject and Entrepreneurial Skills; Parents Owning Business and Entrepreneurial Traits; Parents Owning Business and Entrepreneurial Skills; Future Intentions and Entrepreneurial Traits; Future Intentions and...