A Study on the Importance of Work Experience in Developing Entrepreneurial Vision, Confidence, Decision-Making Skills, Passion, and Motivation Among Final Year Students Taking Entrepreneurship Course

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine whether work experience can develop entrepreneurial vision, confidence, decision-making skills, passion, and motivation among final year students taking entrepreneurship course. The respondents were divided into two groups; one group with work experience, and another group with no work experience. This is a descriptive study that used a quantitative approach, whereby the questionnaire was chosen as the research instrument utilising the Likert scale. The collected data were analysed using the SPSS software, version 21. This study involved 134 respondents, who were selected using the simple random sampling approach, from the Faculty of Accounting and Faculty of Applied Sciences. The findings showed that there were differences between students with work experience and those without work experience, in terms of self-confidence [t = -3.512, p = 0.001], and p < 0.01 based on the groups of respondents. Students with work experience showed greater self-confidence in developing entrepreneurial confidence (mean = 4.11, SD = 0.414) compared to students without work experience (mean = 3.82, SD = 0.518). In terms of entrepreneurial decision-making based on the t-test results [t = -11.597, p = 0.000], p < 0.01 of the groups of respondents, it was found that students with work experience were able to make the right decisions related to business issues (mean = 4.69, SD = 0.467) compared to those without work experience (mean = 3.53, SD = 0.612). The results of the t-test [t = -3.681, p = 0.000], p < 0.01 based on the groups of respondents also showed that students with work experience were more capable of developing entrepreneurial motivation (mean = 4.06, SD = 0.326) compared to students without work experience (mean = 3.76, SD = 0.513). Therefore, based on these results, work experience is important in building self-confidence, in helping an individual make the right decisions, as well as developing entrepreneurial motivation to minimise the risks that exist in a business.