Dhaka
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES AMONG MALAYSIAN MICRO – ENTREPRENEURS : A CROSS - INDUSTRY AND CROSS – STATE COMPARISON
Presenter: Abdullah Al Mamun, PhD Senior Lecturer, FKP, UMK
[email protected]
P. Yukthamarani Permarupan Abdullah Al Mamun Rajennd A/L Muniady UniversiL Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia Roselina Ahmad Saufi UniversiL Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
Background • Competence is described as “a work related concept which refers to areas of work at which a person is competent” (Woodruffe, 1990). However, there is some confusion regarding the term and several researchers have labelled competence as skills and knowledge (Hayton and McEvoy, 2006), while others refer to it as a modern word replacing “ability” (Bridge, et al, 2009). It is noted that in entrepreneurship literature, the competency approach is underdeveloped compared to the traits approach (Kobia and Sikalieh, 2010). • The parLcipaLon of women entrepreneurs are rapidly increasing over last few decades and studies reported posiLve contribuLon to the world economy (Debroux, 2010).
SMEs in Malaysia • Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent the majority of business establishments in Malaysia. They represent 97.3% of the total business establishments, which is a total of 645,136 SMEs. Malaysian SMEs are divided into five sectors, namely agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construcLon, and services. • In terms of distribuLon of SMEs by state, Selangor has the highest percentage of SMEs at 19.5%, followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Johor at 13.1% and 10.7%, respecLvely. The Federal Territory of Putrajaya is noted as having the smallest percentage of SMEs at 0.1% followed by the Federal Territory of Labuan and the state of Perlis at 0.3% and 0.8%, respecLvely (Department of StaLsLcs, 2011).
Conceptual Competencies • Conceptual competencies can be defined as a high level of conceptual acLviLes in relaLon to an entrepreneur’s behaviours such as a short-term perspecLve, resolving instant events, or requiring intuiLve responses (Man, Lau, and Chan, 2002). This competency at Lmes requires deviaLng from the standard procedure of doing something (Michalko, 2000). • Prior research suggests that risk-taking, innovaLveness, and decision making skills are among the conceptual competencies of entrepreneurs (Man, Lau, and Chan, 2002). Entrepreneurs have suggested that they realize the importance of idea development and decision making for their ventures.
Entrepreneurial Competencies • Conceptual competency represents entrepreneurs’ ability to creaLvely think of something, which can be related to new thinking pakerns and the possibility of coming up with new concepts and ideas. • Organizing competencies refer to entrepreneurs abiliLes required to take up a variety of tasks and handle different funcLonal areas which demand the ability to plan and organize various resources in the organizaLon • Commitment competencies refer to the basic characterisLcs of successful entrepreneurs including diligence, commitment, determinaLon, dedicaLon, iniLaLve, and proacLve orientaLon.
Type of Study
A Cross-SecLonal Study
Philosophical Approach PosiLvism – QuanLtaLve AnalyLcal Method to address issues Research Design
QuanLtaLve approach
Sampling Frame
Listed 111,571 women micro-entrepreneurs in Malaysia (SME Corp)
Sample Size and Power 417 women micro-entrepreneurs from Penang, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Analysis Kelantan, Terengganu Sampling Type
StraLfied Random Sampling
Unit of Analysis
Individuals
Instrument
QuesLonnaire (five-point Likert Scale) based on subjecLve/perceptual measure of the variables.
Data CollecLon Method Structured Interview Types of Data
Primary Data
Data Analyses
Exploratory Data Analysis was conducted to meet the preliminary assumpLons, reliability and SEM
Data Analysis Tools
Used SPSS and Smart PLS
Validity and Reliably Analysis
Variables Conceptual
Number of Items 5
Cronbach’s alpha 0.899
Organizing
4
0.906
Commitment
4
0.925
Strategic
5
0.922
CONCLUSION • Findinf=gs of this study shows that the distribuLon of entrepreneurial competency and its components is not the same across the states of Malaysia except for strategic competencies. It was also noted that the east coast states such as Kelantan and Terengganu were reported to have a lower level of entrepreneurial competency compared to other states. As for the distribuLon of entrepreneurial competency across industries in Malaysia, it was found that only strategic competencies are the same across the industries. • The reasons for the unequal distribuLon of entrepreneurial competency across states and industries are not determined in this research. Since entrepreneurial competency is related to firm performance, entrepreneurship programs such as effecLve training and development, as suggested by Inyang and Enuoh (2009), are recommended to increase the level of entrepreneurial competency among the entrepreneurs.
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