CORPORATE ENTREPRENEUR’S PERCEPTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND COMMUNICATION COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined corporate entrepreneur’s perception of knowledge and communication competencies required of business education graduates for entrepreneurial development in Anambra State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. An analytic descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of 227 registered small scale and medium scale entrepreneurs with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Awka, Anambra State. A validated 4-point scale questionnaire containing 12 items was used for data collection. Internal consistency of the instrument was determined by administering it to 20 small scale and medium scale entrepreneurs in Imo State. Cronbach Alpha was used to obtain reliability coefficient of 0.79. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and determine the homogeneity or otherwise of the respondents’ means while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that corporate entrepreneurs perceived that out of twelve knowledge competencies needed of business education graduates for effective entrepreneurial development only one was highly needed, that is the ability to know the best way to choose competent employee. Whereas all the communication competencies for effective entrepreneurial development were needed, but ability to sort and prioritize e-mails based on deadlines was the only one highly needed. The study concluded that business education is a skill-based course which inculcates entrepreneurial skills in the recipients and it has the potentials of promoting entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. The study recommended among others that the existing business education curriculum should be reviewed to integrate knowledge, innovation, communication, information, accounting/financial and general business competencies to equip graduates of business education with the necessary skills to establish their own business and become successful entrepreneurs.