Thesis (D. Min.)--The King's Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University (Macquarie Graduate School of Management), 2006. / Bibliography: leaves 243-283.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1992. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Francis A. Ianni. Dissertation Committee: John Delaney. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-217).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [381]-407).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 508-521). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Entrepreneurship as a source of economic growth and competitiveness as well as job creation and the advancement of social interests is well documented. Despite these important contributions to the economies of countries, a shortage of entrepreneurial activity exists across borders and specifically in developing countries such as South Africa. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception and image of an entrepreneur in the eyes of various stakeholders. The reasoning behind this was that if the image of an entrepreneur could be determined, one could establish whether the image positively or negatively influences entrepreneurial intentions as well as potential future entrepreneurial activity. More specifically, the primary objective was to identify the perception and image that potential entrepreneurs (students) and existing entrepreneurs (small business owners) have of an entrepreneur. In the body of knowledge or general literature on entrepreneurship, the most commonly discussed topics are the nature and importance of entrepreneurship, the attributes (personality traits, characteristics and skills) associated with an entrepreneur, various push and pull factors, various rewards and drawbacks of such a career and the challenges entrepreneurs face. It is these aspects of entrepreneurship that stakeholders will most likely have been exposed to, and that most possibly have influenced their perception and image of an entrepreneur. The aforementioned aspects provided an overview of the theoretical body of knowledge on which the perception and image of an entrepreneur is based. The present study adopted a qualitative research paradigm with a phenomenological approach to achieve the research objectives of the study. Within this context, the study made use of a qualitative method for data collection and a quantitative method for data analysis. As such, a mixed methods approach was adopted. More specifically, a qualitative dominant mixed research method was implemented. A continuous word association test, which is a projective technique, was adopted as the qualitative means of data collection. This test involved asking participants to recall the words that come to mind when presented with the word “entrepreneur”. This method was selected because of its ability to reveal both affective and cognitive associations with the concept “entrepreneur”. A quantitative summative (manifest) content analysis was used as the quantitative research method for analysing the data. The continuous word association test was conducted among three sample groups, namely students prior to commencing, and students after completing a module in entrepreneurship, and small business owners. Student and small business owner participants were asked to write down as many words or phrases as possible that came to mind when they thought of the word “entrepreneur”, which was the stimulus word, within a ten-minute period. These responses were then collated and coded by developing a coding framework based on brand image and entrepreneurship literature. In studies on brand image, the components of image are considered to be tristructured in nature, consisting of cognitive (what the individual knows), affective (how the individual feels) and holistic (overall symbolism, combination of affective and cognitive) evaluations. The words generated by the participants in this study were broadly coded according to these categories and further subcategorised by searching for themes within the broad categories, which was facilitated and guided by an in-depth investigation of the entrepreneurship literature. The findings of this study show that the words generated by all three groups of participants were mostly of a cognitive nature, followed by words of a general or affective nature. As such, the vast majority of words generated by all three groups related to what the participants knew about an entrepreneur (cognitive) versus how they felt about one (affective), and were grounded in the management or entrepreneurship literature. When comparing the top ten words most frequently associated with the term “entrepreneur” by the three groups of participants, the attribute risk-taker was the most frequently recalled word among all three groups. Students prior to undertaking the entrepreneurship module associated an entrepreneur with being creative and a risk-taker, having a business enterprise and being involved in the selling of goods and services. Students after completing the module in entrepreneurship associated an entrepreneur with being profit-orientated, a risk-taker, innovative and original, and being opportunistic. Small business owners, on the other hand, associated an entrepreneur with being a risk-taker, innovative and original, goal- and achievement-orientated and profit-orientated. The findings show that all groups of participants associated an entrepreneur principally with certain attributes rather than with learned skills and competencies, and that all groups had a more positive than negative image of an entrepreneur. It was also found that exposure to entrepreneurship literature has an influence on the perception and image that students have of an entrepreneur. Because the words recalled by students after completing the entrepreneurship module were more in line with those recalled by small business owners, than with those recalled by students before starting the module, it can be suggested that entrepreneurship literature contributes to a more realistic image of an entrepreneur among students. This study has contributed to the field of entrepreneurship research by adopting a qualitative dominant research paradigm in conjunction with quantitative research methods to explore the complexity of the term “entrepreneur”. Furthermore, this study has been able to establish how individuals feel about entrepreneurship, in terms of being either positive or negative, by adding an affective aspect to the cognitive aspect of entrepreneurial decision-making. By conducting a continuous word association test among students prior to beginning and after completing a module in entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial knowledge of students before being exposed to entrepreneurship literature was established, and subsequently the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship module determined. It is hoped that the findings of this study have added value to the entrepreneurship body of knowledge and can be used in future studies as a tool to address the problem of low entrepreneurial intention and activity among South Africans. Furthermore, it is hoped that by creating a positive image of an entrepreneur, entrepreneurship as a desirable career choice can be promoted and an entrepreneurial culture developed within communities and broader society.

published_or_final_version / Economics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

M. Tech. Business Administration / Provision of grants by financial institutions, government units and state owned agencies is of paramount importance in the development of entrepreneurs to the level of self-sustainability. Grants should be given on merit and also according to the needs of entrepreneurs; this can be established by means of feasibility studies done by entrepreneurs and effective funding models. Gert Sibande District is a municipality within the Mpumalanga Province which can be categorised as one of the areas that has previously disadvantaged individuals and most of the areas are rural, semi-rural and declared poverty pocket areas by the Provincial Government. This study was undertaken to analyse the impact of grants on the effective development of entrepreneurs and their sustainability in Gert Sibande District of Mpumalanga Province. The capability of the entrepreneurs and the roles of the support structures in addressing this problem were explored.

From Integrative Summary: There has been a growing interest in successful entrepreneurs. Research on entrepreneurship has focused on the identification of personality variables that would assist in the prediction of entrepreneurial success. The present study moves away from attempting to predict entrepreneurial success and instead focuses on exploring and describing the personality of a successful entrepreneur. A psychobiographical case study was adopted by the researcher to explore and describe the extent to which Steve Jobs demonstrated the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007). A personality trait approach to entrepreneurship was adopted in the study. The study also attempted to explore the socio-cultural and economic context within which Jobs practised his entrepreneurial activities. Jobs was a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Apple and founded NeXT and Pixar, which were all companies that transformed various technological industries. His entrepreneurial orientation allowed him to produce innovative products that transformed society in various sectors which included personal computing, mobile phones, music, retail stores and films (Isaacson, 2011). A qualitative approach was adopted in the study. The data collection and analysis was guided by the three linked sub-processes proposed by Miles and Huberman (2002) which involved data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification. The findings of this study showed that Jobs demonstrated, at varying levels, all the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007) which included a need of achievement, risk-taking, innovativeness, autonomy, locus of control and self-efficacy. The researcher however noted that the desire for autonomy, risk-taking, innovativeness and self-efficacy were the most dominant characteristics driving his entrepreneurial orientation. The research thesis adopted the structure of a teaching case which can be used to explore and discuss the personality trait perspective to entrepreneurship in a classroom setting. The findings of the study can be recognised as positively contributing to the growing field of psychobiographical research on exceptional individuals, including entrepreneurs. The study can be considered as a foundation for future studies which will add to the body of knowledge relating to entrepreneurship and personality.

M.Ed. / This study is a result of the commitment of the Eastern Cape Technikon to provide training, research and development in skills needed by the communities it serves. The Eastern Cape Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre (ECTEC) was established in association with the Enterprising Edge and Niagara College. Consequently, a curriculum was made available in order to support the small, medium, and micro entrepreneurs (SMMEs) in Butterworth by educating and training them so that they could run their businesses successfully. Some of the issues that have arisen concerning this intervention, included whether an investigation into the educational and training needs of SMMEs had been done, as well as whether the proposed education and training programme would meet the needs of the intended SMME The aim of this research is to identify and describe the educational and training needs of SMMEs in Butterworth, by conducting a needs assessment. This needs assessment attempts to understand and explain what SMMEs perceive to be their educational and training needs. The sample was composed of SMMEs who are registered learners at the ECTEC. Questionnaires as well as semi—structured interviews were used for data collection. The questionnaire items were summarised and presented in the form of tables. The interview data was then analysed by means of a constant comparative method. The findings of this study show that the educational and training needs of SMMEs are related to issues like accessing finance, keeping proper records of transactions and preparation of books of business, namely, the balance sheet, income as well as cash flow statements. SMMEs also need to know how to undertake the marketing function of their businesses so that they can identify and reach their customers. Finally, SMMEs need to know how to prepare and analyse business plans. These needs should, as far as possible, be considered when designing or modifying the education and training programmes of the SMMEs in order to ensure that training addresses these needs. It is hoped that this study will help to make the course relevant, useful and applicable to the SMMEs in Butterworth and those studying at the ECTEC.