The Quality Of Entrepreneurship Education And The Intention To Continue Education Slovenia

Description
Within this particular criteria in regard to the quality of entrepreneurship education and the intention to continue education slovenia.

The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education
and the Intention to Continue Education:
Slovenia and Romania
Boštjan Anton? ci? c
Cezar Scarlat
Barbara Hvali? c Erzeti? c
Entrepreneurship and management education is important in develop-
ing knowledge and skills of entrepreneurs. In this paper, entrepreneur-
ship education satisfaction and quality are compared between two
countries: Slovenia and Romania, and the relationship between edu-
cation quality and education continuation is assessed in both coun-
tries. Multi-itemmeasures were used, questionnaire data were obtained
in both countries, measurement scales were tested, and di?erences be-
tween the two countries were assessed by comparing means and regres-
sion analysis coe?cients. We found that education content and pro-
cess quality and education satisfaction of participants tend to be the
strongest predictors of a subsequent decision to continue education in
both countries. Room and equipment adequacy may also be impor-
tant, but our ?ndings showed this result only for Romania. Some other
?ndings and recommendations are also presented.
Key Words: entrepreneurship, education, quality
)vi Classi?cation: xIo, xI,
Introduction
The development of knowledge and skills of entrepreneurs can be to a
large extent dependent on entrepreneurship and management educa-
tion. In our time, characterized by the processes of globalization, the
rise of information and communication technology, and continuously
Dr Boštjan Anton?ci?c is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the
Faculty of Management Koper, University of Primorska, Slovenia.
Dr Cezar Scarlat is Professor at the Department of Industrial
Management, University Politechnica of Bucharest, Romania.
Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c is the cvo of Etna, d. o. o., Nova Gorica,
Slovenia.
This paper is based on a presentation originally given at the
?th International Conference of the Faculty of Management Koper
in Portorož, Slovenia, ??–?? November ????.
Managing Global Transitions , ): I,,–:I:
I,8 Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
changing business environments, the need for continuing education is
becoming even more important than before. Entrepreneurial training
signi?cantly and positively impacts participants’ perceptions of their
abilities to pursue and grow new ventures (Ehrlich et al. oo). Knowl-
edge and skills acquired in entrepreneurship education can serve as a
motivational drive for creation of new ventures (Cho I,,8). Education
and training can lead to development and improvement in some ele-
ments of entrepreneurship (Henry et al. o,). Educational programs
can be important for the development of entrepreneurial talent within
the population (Rushing I,,o). Education of entrepreneurs is becom-
ing increasingly needed for assuring a higher probability of new venture
success (Postigo et al. o,). When deciding whether or not to continue
education, entrepreneurs may make their decisions depending on the
basis of their satisfaction or quality perception of past education. For en-
trepreneurship education success it is crucial to emphasize continuous
improvement in education quality (Han and Lee I,,8). In this paper, we
compare entrepreneurship education satisfaction and quality between
two countries: Slovenia and Romania, and assess the relationship be-
tween education quality and education continuation in both countries.
Entrepreneurship education quality and continuation in countries with
a shorter entrepreneurial tradition and lower levels of entrepreneurship-
oriented culture, such as Slovenia and Romania, may have a stronger
potential new venture creation impact than in countries with longer en-
trepreneurial traditions, such as the us or Western European countries,
as suggested by Lee et al. oo,) in their comparative study of the impact
of entrepreneurship education in Korea and the us.
The focus of the paper is, hence, entrepreneurship education, which
can be de?ned as structured, formal conveyance of entrepreneurial
knowledge; entrepreneurial knowledge meaning the concepts, skills, and
mentality individual business owners use during the course of starting
and developing their growth-oriented businesses; and entrepreneurial
learning meaning the active and cognitive processes individuals employ
as they acquire, retain and use entrepreneurial knowledge (Young I,,,).
Entrepreneurs, to be able to solve emerging problems and to increase
business results of their enterprises, need to learn continuously through
self-directed learning as well as through formal education and train-
ing. However, in order to make the decision to continue education, en-
trepreneurs may ?rst rethink their past experiences with entrepreneur-
ship education.
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education I,,
Education Satisfaction, Quality, and Continuation
Overall satisfaction is de?ned as an emotional reaction to a product
or service experience (Spreng et al. I,,o), while quality means meeting
the customer requirements (Oakland I,,,). In the context of services of
management or entrepreneurship education participants may evaluate
the educational experience (I) in general terms, by their overall satisfac-
tion and in terms of their assessment on how good their overall require-
ments have been met, and ) in speci?c terms, by evaluating di?erent
elements of education quality such as the lecturer, the content, the pro-
cess, and the facility.
In spite of very di?erent traditions and structures of adult and contin-
uing education in the world, it seems to be a common tendency that
the relation between adult education and work and the labor market
is becoming very important. All countries have very large adult educa-
tion needs, extending to all ?elds of adult education – general and voca-
tional, formal and non-formal. Although state and social partners’ prior-
ity themes include education for the labor market and education related
to employment and vocational training, the state should include among
its priorities the study of system and policy and of educational needs,
and updating of adult education (Jelenc I,,o, ¡¡,).
Entrepreneurs acquire knowledge by engaging in formal education
and by taking part in courses related to di?erent ?elds of interest, which
are important for managing the business. The success factors include
perseverance (building con?dence and self-esteem), commitment to the
enterprise, and a positive attitude and approach. Developers of quali?ca-
tions and training programs for post-secondary education and training
of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs should (Labuschagne et al.
oI, I,): (I) identify and integrate the outcomes from existing subjects
in the ?eld of economic and management sciences that relate to the suc-
cess factors of entrepreneurs; and ) supplement these outcomes with
case studies, experiential exercises and practical activities that will en-
able learners to integrate the knowledge and skills obtained in such train-
ing of entrepreneurs, and to apply these skills and knowledge in an en-
trepreneurial environment. The content-related techniques or method-
ologies that in?uence the success of entrepreneurship training are case
studies, simulations and business plan executions. Materials such as a
study guide, time schedules and facilitator guidelines that could improve
the evaluation are used, since they make more information available to
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
o Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
the evaluator. The evaluator must be knowledgeable about the ?eld and
have experience in business and training entrepreneurship (Pretorius
oI, I¡).
The majority of researches have explored the contents of education –
what entrepreneurs need in order to be successful – but training orga-
nizations want to know answers to questions about the quality of their
training programs as perceived by their clients. If the results of such eval-
uations are disappointing, the training organization can modify its pol-
icy and programs. The main method for collecting the data is a closed
questionnaire sent or distributed to the participants of training. Mulder
ooI, ,:,), for example, prepares a questionnaire that consists of eight
blocks of questions. Within the group of general questions one is about
the general satisfaction with the training project as a whole. Questions
about the objectives of the training project include some about the level
to which certain objectives are of importance within the project. These
objectives-related questions are aimed at: (I) attaining a learning result
(knowledge, skills, attitudes); ) improving a changed work behavior in
the work situation; and (,) supporting the change of the organization;
(¡) other factors are personal factors, training program factors, organi-
zational factors and transfer conditions.
Other scholars have also addressed di?erent dimensions important for
the evaluation of education quality. In the study by Hill, Lomas, and
MacGregor oo,, Io–I8) four themes emerged in relation to what stu-
dents perceived quality education to be. In the order of importance to
the student group, these themes are: (I) quality of the lecturer (delivery
in the classroom, feedback to students during the session and in assign-
ments, relationship with students in the classroom); ) student engage-
ment with learning (the students valued a curriculum that was related to
their worlds but broadened their horizons); (,) social/emotional support
systems (the students found support from college support systems, their
peers and families); and (¡) resources of library and i1. In the study by
Louw et al. ooI, ¡¡) the quality of xn. program loaded on ?ve factors:
(I) value of the xn. program and the personal expectations of graduates
(six items); ) coursework material (four items); (,) quality of lecturers
(three items); (¡) learning methods (three items); and (,) interpersonal
and leadership skills (two items). In sum, education may be evaluated
in terms of satisfaction and perceived quality of the lecturer, education
content, environment, materials, methods, learning processes, and re-
sults (knowledge acquisition, skill training).
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education I
Loyalty means a positive evaluation as well as non-randomcontinuous
purchases, usually of product brands (Mowen I,,,). Oliva et al. (I,,
tried to explain why investments in a service fail. In their study they sup-
ported the predictions that the satisfaction-loyalty relationship could be
linear and non-linear, depending on the customer involvement. Despite
the possibility of non-linearity, in entrepreneurship education research
generally positive relationships between education satisfaction and con-
tinuation (loyalty) were found (Anton? ci? c and Hvali? c Erzeti? c oI, o,;
Anton? ci? c et al. o,). Besides the above mentioned ?ndings from Slove-
nia, notable entrepreneurship research works were completed also in Ro-
mania, mostly on entrepreneurial education (Scarlat oI, o,; Scarlat
and Simion o,).
In this paper we explore similarities and di?erences between Slove-
nia and Romania in entrepreneurship education satisfaction/quality and
loyalty, as well as in testing the hypothesis of the positive relationship
between education satisfaction/quality and education continuation.
Methods
In this section methodology (variables and measurement, sample and
data collection, and analysis) is presented.
v.vi.nivs .xu xv.suvvxvx1
Independent variables are satisfaction and perceived quality of educa-
tion. First, satisfaction level was not assumed to be unidimensional as
proposed by Westbrook (I,8o), who used only one ?ve-point Delighted–
Terrible Scale. Anton? ci? c and Hvali? c Erzeti? c ooI) discovered that mea-
suring satisfaction with entrepreneurship education on a single six-point
scale ranging from ‘very satis?ed’ to ‘very unsatis?ed’ results in a very
skewed answer distribution, which may not be usable for analysis with
continuous variables. Therefore, satisfaction was measured with eight
items on seven-point semantic di?erential scales answering a question
about the respondents’ general feeling about the education they en-
gaged in (anchors: very dissatis?ed–very satis?ed, terrible–delighted,
very dissatis?ed–not at all dissatis?ed, not at all satis?ed–very satis?ed,
unfavorable–favorable, unpleasant–pleasant, I didn’t like it at all–I like it
very much, frustrated–contented). Items were adapted from Crosby and
Stephens (I,8,), Eroglu and Machleit (I,,o), and Spreng et al. (I,,o).
Quality of education was measured with a I,-item scale that was de-
veloped as an extension of a ,-item service quality scale of Taylor and
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
: Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
Baker (I,,¡). Measurement items were added by taking into consider-
ation di?erent elements of the educational service such as overall as-
sessment of quality and ful?llment of expectations, education content,
evaluation of the lecturer, appropriateness of materials or handouts and
audiovisual aids, adequacy of room and equipment, and usefulness of
acquired knowledge.
Dependent variable – education continuation was measured as the re-
spondent’s intention to continue his or her education in the future in
terms of his or her expressed loyalty to the educational program and
provider. Five questions were adapted from Bettencourt (I,,,), and Zei-
thaml et al. (I,,o): (I) saying positive things, ) recommend to people,
who are thinking about education, (,) encourage friends and relatives
to engage in this education, (¡) consider this education provider as a
?rst choice, and (,) engage more in education from this provider in the
next years. A seven-point Likert-type scale was used with anchors from
‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’.
Control variables data were collected about the respondent’s educa-
tion type (degree, non-degree), age, gender, length of work experience,
education level, and industry of the company.
u.1. coiivc1iox .xu s.xviv
Data were collected fromSlovenian and Romanian practicing and poten-
tial entrepreneurs, as well as non-entrepreneurs, who engage in degree
and non-degree management education and training. Astructured ques-
tionnaire was distributed mainly in class to conveniently selected groups
of participants.
Answers were received from I:8 respondents from Slovenia and I,, re-
spondents from Romania. Our sample shows that ::.8% respondents in
Slovenia and o¡.,% in Romania educate themselves through the post-
graduate program. In Slovenia ¡o.:% of respondents educate themselves
through the college/university program, in Romania :,.8%. Only I.o%
of respondents in Slovenia and I.,% in Romania educate themselves
through the secondary/high school program. At the non-degree educa-
tion type I,.,% in Slovenia and :I.¡% in Romania usually participate in
workshops and seminars that last several weeks, I8.I% in Slovenia and
::.,% in Romania take one-day seminars. Percentages for Romania add
up to more than Ioo% since some participants are enrolled in more than
one type of education.
The age of respondents is mostly spread between twenty and ?fty
years. ,8.,% of respondents in Slovenia and ,:.,% in Romania are more
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education ,
than and up to ,o years old, ::.o% in Slovenia and :,.8% in Romania
are more than ,o and up to ¡o years old, and I:.o% in Slovenia and ,.I%
in Romania are more than ¡o and up to ,o years old. In Slovenia ¡.,% of
them are over ,o years old and :.¡% are up to years old. In Romania
only o.8% are up to years old, no one is over ,o years old.
In Slovenia, ,o.8% of respondents are female and ¡,.:% are male. In
Romania ¡,.¡% are female and ,¡.o% are male. ,,.,% of respondents
in Slovenia and ,I.,% in Romania are single. ¡o.:% of respondents in
Slovenia and :,.,%in Romania are married, of whom o.,% and o.8% are
divorced or widowed. Respondents have various professions but most of
them are economists.
The education level of the sample is as follows: in Slovenia ,o.8% of
respondents have secondary or high school diploma, ,I.,% have college
or university degree, I,.I% have vocational school. In Romania ,o.8% of
respondents have college or university degree, .,%of respondents have
post-graduate degree, and I.,% of them have secondary or high school
diploma.
The length of work experience is spread from zero to thirty years,
but most of the respondents have had work experience of ?ve years or
less: Slovenia ,o.¡%, Romania o:.,%; more than ?ve and up to ten years:
Slovenia I:.¡%, Romania :,.¡%; more than ten and up to twenty years:
Slovenia :I.,%, Romania II.,%, and more than twenty and up to thirty
years: Slovenia I:.¡% and Romania :.,% of respondents.
The sample consists of Io.,% practicing entrepreneurs in Slovenia and
.,% in Romania. I8.o% of respondents in Slovenia and ,o.I% in Ro-
mania will start-up their own business, ¡8.¡% in Slovenia and ,,.o% in
Romania will maybe establish their own business. I,.¡% of respondents
in Slovenia and ¡.I% in Romania do not intend to establish their own
business. Most of practicing entrepreneurs in Slovenia (Io.,% of respon-
dents) have had their own business more than ?ve and up to ten years (in
Romania ,.,%), most of practicing entrepreneurs in Romania (,.¡% of
respondents) have had their own business more than two and up to ?ve
years (in Slovenia o.o%), and the same percentage in Romania (,.¡%)
have had their own business less than one year (in Slovenia ,.:%). Most
of the potential (prospective) entrepreneurs (in Slovenia o.,%and in Ro-
mania ,.8% of respondents) will establish their own business in less than
one year, ,.:% in Slovenia and o.o% in Romania will establish their own
business in one year, 8.,% in Slovenia and I,.,% in Romania in two to
three years.
The respondents come from di?erent industries, most of them (I,.,%
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
¡ Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
in Slovenia and I:.:% in Romania) operate in consulting and business
services; :,.8% of respondents in Romania and II.8% in Slovenia come
from customer services. As seen from this comparison of the two sam-
ples, the samples can be comparable to some degree but they do not
match perfectly.
.x.issis
The means of all items were compared between the two countries by as-
sessing their values and performing t-tests. Multi-item scales of satisfac-
tion, quality and education continuation (loyalty) were checked for their
convergent validity by using exploratory factor analysis and the Cron-
bach Alpha reliability measure. All Cronbach Alphas were very high indi-
cating very good reliablitiy: for satisfaction (8 items) – Slovenia o.,o, Ro-
mania o.,,, for continuation (loyalty) (, items) – Slovenia o.,:, Roma-
nia o.,¡, and for quality dimensions: content/process (o items) – Slove-
nia o.8,, Romania o.,¡, knowledge acquisition (, items) – Slovenia o.8,,
Romania o.8o, and room/equipment adequacy items) – correlations:
Slovenia o.,8, Romania o.8o. The education quality construct was as-
sessed for dimensionality by using exploratory factor analysis, resulting
in three distinct quality dimensions: (I) quality of education content and
process, ) quality and usefulness of acquired knowledge, and (,) quality
and adequacy of room and equipment. For satisfaction, the three qual-
ity dimensions, and education continuation construct a single item that
was computed as the mean of all items. This was done in order to re-
duce the number of variables for subsequent analysis. The key hypothesis
was tested by using regression analyses with two country-based groups
of data.
Findings
vuuc.1iox s.1isv.c1iox, qu.ii1s, .xu ios.i1s ivvvis
Mean values for all education satisfaction, quality, and loyalty items were
compared. Most of the item means were found not to be di?erent be-
tween Slovenia and Romania. T-test statistical di?erences (at a o.o, level)
were discovered only for three quality items. The item‘knowledge, which
is acquired, will be very useful in my work’ was rated higher in Slovenia
(¡.8) than in Romania (¡.. The mean of the item ‘The equipment in the
room, in which education was performed, is totally adequate’ was found
higher in Slovenia (,.o) than in Romania (¡.o). The item ‘The education
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education ,
1.niv I Regression analysis results
(I) ) (,) (¡) (,) (o) (,)
Slovenia (constant) o.:I, o.¡,¡ o.,o¡ o.oI,
Satisfaction o.::, o.o,, o.: :.,,o o.o o.¡,, :.I,o
Quality
• content and process o.,,, o.II, o.o¡8 ,.o¡: o.ooo o.¡oo :.,oo
• acquired knowledge –o.o:, o.oo, –o.o –o.,,¡ o.o,¡ o.,oI I.,I¡
• room and equipment –o.o,, o.o,, –o.oo: –I.oo, o.,I, o.,oo I.III
Romania (constant) –o.,o¡ o.,8, –I.:,¡ o.I,8
Satisfaction o.,8o o.o88 o.:,, ¡.¡o8 o.ooo o.oo: I.ooo
Quality
• content and process o.¡I8 o.Ioo o.,,, ,.,,o o.ooo o.:,8 ,.,,I
• acquired knowledge o.o,o o.oo8 o.o,, I.¡Io o.I,, o.oI: I.o,¡
• room and equipment o.I,, o.oo, o.o :.o,¡ o.oo, o.¡o: :.Io,
Note: Column headings are as follows: (I) n; ) standard error [I–: unstandardized
coe?cients]; (,) beta [standardized coe?cient]; (¡) t; (,) sig.; (o) tolerance; (,) viv
[o–, collinearity statistics]. Dependent variable: loyalty.
content was adequate’ also received a higher rate in Slovenia (,.,) than in
Romania (,.o).
When means were compared between the two country groups at the
construct and dimension level no di?erences were found, except one –
the acquired knowledge quality dimension was found higher in Slovenia
(,.o) than in Romania (¡.,).
1uv vuuc.1iox cox1ixu.1iox vvvuic1.niii1s
Results of the multiple regression analysis, which tested relationships
between education continuation (loyalty) and its predictors (educa-
tion satisfaction, and three quality dimensions), are shown in table I.
Adjusted R-squares of the multiple regression models were found high
in both countries (Slovenia o.oo, Romania o.o,) indicating that almost
two thirds of variance in loyalty can be explained by satisfaction, con-
tent/process quality, acquired knowledge quality, and room and equip-
ment adequacy. This is in support of the overall hypothesis on the rela-
tionship between satisfaction/quality and loyalty.
However, in the Slovenian sample coe?cients of only half of regres-
sion elements were found signi?cant (satisfaction: standardized coef-
?cient o., and content/process quality: st. coef. o.o,). In the Roma-
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
o Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
nian sample coe?cients of satisfaction (st. coef. o.,o), content/process
quality (o.,8), and room/equipment adequacy (o.:I) were signi?cant,
whereas the acquired knowledge quality coe?cient was low (o.o,) and
non-signi?cant. These results are also in some support of the overall hy-
pothesis on the satisfaction/quality-loyalty relationship, with a di?erence
between the two countries in the impact of room/equipment quality on
loyalty, which was found in Romania, but not in Slovenia. In both coun-
tries, content/process quality, as the most important, and satisfaction
were found the strongest predictors of education continuation (loyalty).
When unstandardized coe?cients were compared between the two
samples, we discovered that relative impacts of three predictors di?er
between the two countries (more than two standard error di?erence).
Content and process quality seems to have a stronger impact on loyalty in
Slovenia (unstandardized coe?cient o.8o) than in Romania (unst. coef.
o.¡, whereas the impact of satisfaction and room/equipment quality
can be considered stronger in Romania than in Slovenia (unst. coef.:
satisfaction – Romania o.,,, Slovenia o.::; room/equipment – Romania
o.I,, Slovenia –o.o,).
o1uvv vixuixcs
Other ?ndings based on our data are summarized as follows (see also
table :
•
Underlying reasons for engagement in education. The ?rst reason,
why entrepreneurs decide for education, is that they want to ob-
tain a higher degree: ,¡.,% in Slovenia, whereas ,o.8% of the Ro-
manian sample want to gain knowledge in a new area. The acquisi-
tion of knowledge in a new area is the second reason for Slovenian
respondents (¡o.I%); the second reason for entrepreneurs in Roma-
nia (¡I.,%) is that they want to learn how to do business in a fast
growing ?rm. This is the third reason in Slovenia ,.¡%). The third
reason in Romania is that entrepreneurs want to obtain a higher
degree (¡o.:%). This di?erence may be somewhat sample speci?c
– lower education levels of the Slovenian sample in comparison to
the Romanian one.
•
Main areas of education. Slovenian sample: ,,.8% of entrepreneurs
educate themselves in the entrepreneurship area of education, I,.,%
in marketing and sales and I8.8% in ?nance; in Romania: ,:.o% in
computing, :,.8% in marketing and sales, and I,.,% in manage-
ment.
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education ,
1.niv : Other results
Slovenia Romania
Education satisfaction
very satis?ed
satis?ed
a little satis?ed
a little unsatis?ed
unsatis?ed
Io.,%
o,.:%
I8%
,.I%
o.8%
Io.I%
o,.¡%
I,.,%
,.,%
,.I%
Education continuation
yes
probably yes
maybe
probably no
no
,,.¡%
,,.o%
,.o%
o.o%
o.o%
oI.¡%
:,.8%
Io.o%
I.,%
o.8%
Education type
degree
non-degree
o8.,%
,,.¡%
,o.:%
¡¡.,%
Reasons for education
get higher degree
renew knowledge
get knowledge in new area
learn about fast growing ?rm
be informed about news in the world
,¡.,%
o.,%
¡o.I%
:,.¡%
,.o%
¡o.:%
:8.o%
,o.8%
¡I.,%
::.o%
Reasons for education continuation
get higher degree
renew knowledge
get knowledge in new area
learn about fast growing ?rm
be informed about news in the world
¡¡.o%
::.,%
,,.¡%
,o.o%
,,.,%
¡¡.,%
,o.I%
¡,.:%
¡I.8%
:,.8%
Continued on the next page
•
Opinion about the necessity of education. oI.,% of respondents in
Slovenia and ,o.,% of respondents in Romania think that en-
trepreneurs must educate themselves more than once a year, whe-
reas ,8.I% of respondents in Slovenia and ¡o.,% of respondents in
Romania think that they must educate themselves at least once a
year.
•
Overall satisfaction with education. Io.,% of respondents in Slove-
nia and Io.I% in Romania are very satis?ed with education, o,.:%
of respondents in Slovenia and o,.¡% in Romania are satis?ed with
education, I8.o% in Slovenia and I,.,% in Romania are a little sat-
is?ed with education, ,.I% in Slovenia and ,.,% in Romania are a
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
8 Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
1.niv : (continued)
Slovenia Romania
Area of education
marketing and sales
?nance
entrepreneurship
management
computing
I,.,%
I8.8%
,,.8%
,.,%
II.,%
:,.8%
I,.o%
:.,%
I,.,%
,:.o%
Area of education – future
marketing and sales
?nance
entrepreneurship
management
computing
,,.o%
,I.,%
¡,.,%
I,.,%
.I%
,8.o%
:I.,%
I,.¡%
:,.I%
.8%
Education – necessity
more than once a year
at least once a year
not necessary
oI.,%
,8.I%
o.o%
,o.,%
¡o.,%
,.I%
little unsatis?ed, and only o.8% of respondents in Slovenia are un-
satis?ed with education whereas in Romania this percentage is ,.I%.
•
Overall education continuation. ,,.¡% of entrepreneurs in Slovenia
and oI.¡% of respondents in Romania say that they will de?nitely
continue with education, ,,.o% in Slovenia and :,.8% in Romania
say that they will probably continue with education and ,.o% of
them in Slovenia and Io.o% in Romania will maybe continue with
education. In Romania I.,% say that they will probably not con-
tinue with education.
•
Reasons for education continuation. The ?rst reason for education
continuation is getting knowledge in a new area (,,.¡% of en-
trepreneurs in Slovenia and ¡,.:% in Romania think so). ¡¡.o%
of respondents in Slovenia and ¡¡.,% in Romania will continue
with education to get a higher degree, ,,.,% in Slovenia will con-
tinue because they wish to be informed about news in the world and
¡I.8% of respondents in Romania want to learn how to do business
in a fast growing ?rm.
•
Main areas of future education. Slovenia: ¡,.,%of entrepreneurs will
educate themselves in an entrepreneurship area, ,,.o%in marketing
and sales, and ,I.,% in ?nance. Romania: ,8.o% of entrepreneurs
Managing Global Transitions
The Quality of Entrepreneurship Education ,
will educate themselves in marketing and sales, ,o.:% in an en-
trepreneurship area, and :,.I% in management.
Discussion and Conclusion
In this paper we provided evidence for the existence of positive relation-
ships between education satisfaction elements and education continu-
ation by conducting a cross-cultural study in two countries (Romania
and Slovenia). We found that education content and process quality,
and education satisfaction of participants tend to be the strongest pre-
dictors of the subsequent decision to continue education in both coun-
tries. Room and equipment adequacy may also be important, but our
?ndings showed this result only for Romania. Surprisingly, we did not
?nd support for the impact of acquired knowledge quality on education
continuation. Since the calculated correlations between acquired knowl-
edge quality and continuation were signi?cant and not very low, both in
Slovenia (o.,¡) and in Romania (o.,,), the lower regression coe?cients
than expected may be due to the fact that satisfaction and quality dimen-
sions were correlated, even though we did not encounter bigger problems
of multicollinearity in regression analyses.
An interesting ?nding of our research is that content and process
quality tends to have a stronger impact on education continuation
in Slovenia than in Romania, whereas the impact of satisfaction and
room/equipment quality may play in Romania a stronger role in the de-
cision to continue education than in Slovenia. This ?nding leads to an
important conclusion for education providers in management and en-
trepreneurship education. In order to maximize the retention of partic-
ipants and probably improve also business results, education providers
in Slovenia need to pay good attention to content/process issues such
as excellence, ful?llment of expectations of participants, well prepared
materials, and the selection of the lecturer, who needs to satisfy partic-
ipants in general, as well as convey the subject matter in an interesting
and clear way. Romanian education providers may like to consider tak-
ing a somewhat di?erent approach, that is, they need to try to satisfy
the participants in general, as well as to provide an adequate education
environment in terms of the room in which education is performed and
equipment that is used.
In this study we also provide some evidence on the cross-cultural va-
lidity and comparability of the measures of education satisfaction, qual-
ity, and continuation, while pointing out some di?erences between man-
Volume ? · Number ? · Fall ????
:Io Boštjan Anton?ci?c, Cezar Scarlat, and Barbara Hvali?c Erzeti?c
agement and education participants in the two countries. In Romania
the key reason for participants to engage in education is a will to acquire
new knowledge, while in Slovenia it tends to be a decision to obtain a
higher degree. In the decision to continue education, participants from
both countries give the leading role to new knowledge acquisition, and
also consider continuing education a necessity, which we generally con-
sider a positive sign for both countries. An interesting di?erence emerged
in the consideration of a future area of education. In Slovenia, the en-
trepreneurship area may be the most prominent (followed by marketing
and sales, and ?nance), whereas in Romania marketing and sales may be
the leading area, followed by computing and general management.
The study has some limitations. The samples used were not random
and not ideally matched across the two countries. Measures were based
on perceptions and intentions and not on actual behavior of partici-
pants, which would require a longitudinal study design.
The study was conducted in management and entrepreneurship edu-
cation in two countries; future research may further validate the results
of this study in other countries and contexts. Despite the limitations, we
provided some interesting conclusions, which are important in under-
standing the relationship between education satisfaction and quality as
predictors of education continuation, as well as in managing education
contents and processes.
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