The Role of Curricula in Social and Behavioral Sciences in Developing General Entrepreneurial Abilities of Undergraduate Students in Shahid Beheshti University

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M.A., Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of curricula in social sciences and behavioral sciences in developing the general entrepreneurial skills of students of Shahid Beheshti University. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method. The statistical population of the study included all students of Shahid Beheshti University, from whom 220 individuals were selected through stratified random sampling. The results show that physical education curriculum did not perform well in two components: "individual and technical" capabilities and "managerial capabilities" component in relation to the two components of "individual and technical" entrepreneurship has not worked well and the role of psychology curriculum In the component of "managerial capabilities" it has not been desirable and in the two components of "individual and technical" it has not been desirable and there has not been much difference between other disciplines.
Introduction
Given the increasing competition in the world, the intensification of economic activities at the community level, and the move towards a knowledge-based economy, it is believed that tomorrow's global markets belong to organizations that value entrepreneurial risk-taking and strive to achieve it. Due to rapid economic, industrial and cultural developments in recent decades, and Iran’s need to strengthen knowledge-based structures and wealth creation through knowledge, one of the main duties of universities is to focus on training necessary skills of entrepreneurship to their students to help them start a business. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs have a significant share in the economic development of the country (Mohseni, 1397: 188). Artes et al. (2017) concluded that entrepreneurship and employability in higher education requires an emphasis on capabilities such as "planning, communication skills, and teamwork". Volp (2018) mentions that curricula have not been successful in developing the technical capabilities of entrepreneurship, such as "problem solving, team work, and technological skills". Employment is a problem for university graduates as they are unable to create business or employment opportunities for themselves. One of the appropriate solutions to solve this problem is to empower them. Entrepreneurship capabilities during university education refers to the skills required for entrepreneurship, which Hestridge and Peters (2011) categorize in three dimensions: individual, managerial and technical. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to answer the question to what extent curricula of social and behavioral sciences cultivate general entrepreneurial skills.
Methodology
The present research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey research in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the study included all undergraduate students of social sciences and behavioral sciences of Shahid Beheshti University in 2014 (n=368). Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with two parts: a) demographic characteristics of students based on field of study, and b) the role of curricula in developing general entrepreneurial skills in three components of "individual, managerial and technical" skills with 26 items. Thirteen items pertained to individual capabilities, five items to managerial capabilities and eight items to technical capabilities, which were categorized thematically. The questionnaire was scored based on a Likert scale. The face and content validities of the questionnaire were confirmed by five professors in this field and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.87. Finally, in order to statistically analyze the data, Kalmogorov-Smirnov test, one-sample t-test, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Scheffe’s post hoc test were used.
Research Findings
Demographic characteristics including gender and field of study were examined. The results showed that about 54% were female and 46% were male. As per field of study, 10.5% studied physical education, 15.5% psychology, 31.2% economics, 7.3% political sciences and 35.5% management. One-sample t-test was used to examine the main research question: "To what extent do curricula in social and behavioral sciences cultivate general entrepreneurial skills?". In order to judge the role of curricula in social sciences and behavioral sciences in developing general entrepreneurial skills, one-sample t-test was used. Based on the above data, the mean score assigned by the sample to the role of curricula in social and behavioral sciences was 2.54 for individual entrepreneurial skills, 2.51 for technical capabilities,  and 2.77 for general entrepreneurial skills. Since the mean scores are lower than the theoretical mean of 3, it can be said that in the study population’s view, the score of the category under study is lower than average. In addition, considering the value of t and p = 0.001, it can be stated with 99% confidence that this result is significant and generalizable to the society. Therefore, it can be concluded that curricula in social and behavioral sciences pay little attention to the development of individual, technical and general capabilities of entrepreneurship.
Conclusion and Discussion
The results indicate that the role of physical education curriculum in the two components of "individual and technical capabilities of entrepreneurship" and in the component of cultivating "managerial capabilities" in relation to the two components of "individual and technical" entrepreneurship has not been very favorable and the role The psychology curriculum has not performed well in the "managerial capabilities" component and in the "individual and technical" components, and there is little difference between the other disciplines in the desirability of the role of the curriculum in developing general entrepreneurial capabilities, including "individual capabilities." , "Managerial and technical", not observed. Therefore, it is suggested that: The country's higher education system take effective steps to cultivate general entrepreneurial capabilities in the fields of social sciences and behavior through education related to these areas in the university education system.

Keywords

References

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