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Abstract

Abstract

The state of Qatar has embarked upon an unprecedented period of investment in human, social, economic and environmental development in line with its Qatar Vision 2030 plan. With significant investments in support of the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector, Qatar is making impressive gains towards building a knowledge economy. The College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) has developed its own Strategic Plan in line with the State's to ensure that the college is providing the best service to Qatar and its people. Within CNA-Q's School of Business Studies, the Entrepreneurial Center (EC) was created to assist with the planning and development of small businesses.

In order to better understand the requirements of budding entrepreneurs at CNA-Q, a research project was initiated to measure the Entrepreneurial Potential (EP) of students based on their attitudes towards entrepreneurship and the constituent elements of achievement, personal control, creativity, leadership, intuition and risk taking. The project also gathered data about gender, sponsorship, age, program-of-study, country of citizenship, postgraduate intentions and extra-curricular activities in order to understand any demographic or behavioral characteristics that may be important.

In this cross-sectional, quantitative study, a sample of over 400 diverse students from various faculties at CNA-Q was surveyed. Results showed that students at CNA-Q register relatively high EP in general but lower in the areas of intuition and personal control. There were differences observed in various groups as well. Non-sponsored students scored higher in EP than sponsored students, male students scored higher than female students and business & information technology students scored higher than average. Students who participate in extra-curricular activities scored higher than those who do not and a large percentage of students intend to continue their education while very few intend to start their own businesses after graduation.

The results indicate that if CNA-Q wants to increase EP in students, among other things, the school needs to adapt curriculum to improve students’ intuition and personal control as well as encourage students to take part in more extracurricular activities. CNA-Q should also pursue further research to better understand why so few students have entrepreneurial intentions.

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/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2011.AHP16
2011-11-20
2024-03-29
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