The identification of entrepreneurial competencies associated with successful self-employment in trade-related occupations in the Province of New Brunswick

Abstract

The objective of this two phase study was to provide a description of the entrepreneurial competencies that are considered necessary for individuals seeking careers in self-employment in trade and service-related occupations. A secondary objective of the study sought to provide a description of how vocational education serves to contribute to entrepreneurship. In Phase I, a sample of forty (89% of a sample of 45) self-employed businessmen in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, in automotive service, electrical installation, and construction fields participated in personal interviews to judge the usefulness of a group of 64 entrepreneurial competencies and to supply additional comments pertaining to the maintenance of a successful business enterprise. In the second phase, 12 (85% return) from a population of 15 vocational-industrial educator-consultants in New Brunswick responded to a mail survey which sought their perceptions of the importance of the same group of competencies and where these competencies might be acquired in educational systems. Data gathered from the interviews were analyzed using the Spearman (rho) correlation to measure the degree of relationship between the data obtained from the samples. The Mann-Whitney U statistic was used to test the null hypothesis that there was no significant difference in ranking of the competencies between businessmen from the three occupational fields or between the rankings of businessmen and educators. The businessmen and educators differed in rankings of groups of competencies and in rakings of competencies within groups. Results indicated that educators did not view the entrepreneurial competencies to be as important as businessmen. ...