A Comparative Study of Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship between Polish and British Students
Summary (2 min read)
Introduction
- Background Entrepreneurship continues to gain momentum as a significant and relevant field of research.
- Policy makers in the rush to stimulate entrepreneurship in various countries, often rely on the success stories and prescriptions documented in the entrepreneurship literature in which most studies are set in the United States.
- The article present exploratory study addresses the subject of cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards entrepreneurship by focusing attention on two particular types of cultures of entrepreneurship British and Polish.
- The quantitative research was conducted in May 2014 among 153 Polish and 94 British graduate and postgraduate management students .
Key findings
- The findings have some distinctive implications for government, policy makers and educators through determining the attitudes towards entrepreneurship among students.
- While entrepreneurship is one of the most studied topics in economics and business research, findings have not been consistent regarding the attitudes towards and perceptions of entrepreneurship in different cultural and economic contexts.
- Entrepreneurship continues to gain momentum as a significant and relevant field of research.
- Given that most of the social science research in general, and entrepreneurship research in particular, has been generated in the U.S. and transferability to contexts where the task and psychic environments may be vastly different remains in question [Thomas, Shenkar, Clarke 1994, pp. 675–686].
- International comparative studies of attitudes towards entrepreneurship are still quite rare.
Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurs have already been described as the makers of new worlds [Czarniawaka & Wolff 1991], innovators and catalysts of change who continuously do things that have not been done before and who do not fit established patterns [Schumpeter 1965].
- At the same time the concepts of entrepreneurship have been changing.
- The high indication of power distance score of a culture defines this culture as hierarchically structured and authority accepting.
- 98 Hayton, George, and Zahra [2002] stress that cultural values serve as a filter for the degree to which a society considers certain entrepreneurial behaviors as desirable.
Methodology
- Empirical illustration of the approach of Polish and British students to the issues of entrepreneurship was based on quantitative research carried out in Poland and the UK among Polish and British students.
- It should be noted that this is the pilot study and the results cannot be generalized.
- The sample from Poland (Warszawa, Łódź, Kraków, Poznań) consisted of 153 graduate and postgraduate students, the sample from the UK (London, Leeds, Edinburgh), consisted of 94 graduate and postgraduate students.
Discussion
- Few coll1eges and universities can fully prepare students for real-world challenges.
- The ease of doing business index is an index created by the World Bank.
- Whether both groups consider entrepreneurship to be highly desirable career alternative for people with their education.
- It is clearly visible that both groups differ considerably.
- The findings have some distinctive implications for Polish government, policy makers and educators through determining the attitudes towards entrepreneurship among Polish students.
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References
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"A Comparative Study of Attitudes to..." refers background in this paper
...Numerous researchers acknowledge the importance of the cultural context for career decisions [e.g. Lent, Brown & Hackett 2000; Flores, Robitschek, Celebi, Andersen & Hoang 2010; Leong 2010]....
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17 citations
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"A Comparative Study of Attitudes to..." refers background in this paper
...In Polish society where pessimism is a bit high [Gładziuk 2014], there is a tendency to get discouraged or rather not encouraged to venture into business because of fear of failing, especially when the risk is high....
[...]
...In Polish society where pessimism is a bit high [Gładziuk 2014], there is a tendency to get discouraged or rather not encouraged to venture into business because of fear of failing, especially when the risk is high....
[...]
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Q2. What are the contributions in this paper?
The article present exploratory study addresses the subject of cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards entrepreneurship by focusing attention on two particular types of cultures of entrepreneurship British and Polish.