New firm emergence: the significance of social embeddedness and resource bootstrapping to the process of nascent firm emergence

Firm founding is an evolutionary process. Part of this process involves undertaking a series of gestation activities. Start-ups undertaking these activities are referred to as firms in gestation and the process is termed nascent entrepreneurship. Empirical evidence shows that more than half of firms in gestation do not survive the first eighteen months. One of the reasons given for this high failure rate is that firms in gestation are subject to what Stinchcombe (1965) called liability of newness because, as new creations, they lack evaluative performance history. One of the consequences of this liability of newness is that new firms are faced with institutional barriers to the human, social, and financial capital resources necessary to progress to emergence. This study proposed that in the face of these barriers, successful emergence will be identified with (a) social embeddedness, i.e., efforts to endear the new venture in its organizational field to those who will determine the venture’s socio-political legitimacy – and with that legitimacy comes resources and markets and/or (b) creative resource bootstrapping, i.e., creativity in locating resources where there are none. The sample for the study was taken from a bank of volunteer panelists maintained by SurveyResponse, a project at Syracuse University that serves as a medium for facilitating academic online research. The data collection instrument was a web based questionnaire. The study found that both social embeddedness and resource bootstrapping are significant predictors of gestation activities performance which, in turn, mediates the relationship of these variables with progress to emergence. The study recommends that more attention needs to be given to the importance of social embeddedness in entrepreneurial idea exploitation models. Past research has focused more on resource bootstrapping at the expense of social relations

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Using a teaching model framework, we systematically review empirical evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) in higher education on a range of entrepreneurial outcomes, analyzing 159 published articles from 2004 to 2016. The teaching model framework allows us for the first time to start rigorously examining relationships between pedagogical methods and specific outcomes. Reconfirming past reviews and meta-analyses, we find that EE impact research still predominantly focuses on short-term and subjective outcome measures and tends to severely underdescribe the actual pedagogies being tested. Moreover, we use our review to provide an up-to-date and empirically rooted call for less obvious, yet greatly promising, new or underemphasized directions for future research on the impact of university-based entrepreneurship education. This includes, for example, the use of novel impact indicators related to emotion and mind-set, focus on the impact indicators related to the intention-to-behavior transition, and exploring the reasons for some contradictory findings in impact studies including person-, context-, and pedagogical model-specific moderator

The Knowledge and Views of Teachers in Government Educational Institutions in Kampala District on the Proposed Social Health Insurance Scheme in Uganda

The government of Uganda intends to introduce Social Health Insurance (SHI), starting with formal employees in the public and private sectors. For its successful implementation, key stakeholders need to be brought on board at the planning and design stage of the scheme. They need to understand and accept the principles, rationale and procedures of the scheme. Teachers, though low earners in the Ugandan setting, are the majority cadre of formal employees and thus key stakeholders in the proposed SHI scheme in Uganda. This study set out to find their knowledge and attitudes about the proposed scheme, just before the scheme started in July 2007. It was conducted on teachers in government educational institutions of the urban Kampala District, including primary and secondary schools and three universities. It was found that almost 60% of the teachers were ignorant about the proposed policy and the rest had scanty and often incorrect information. They did not want extra deductions from their meager salaries of between US$ 100 - 200 per month and the majority preferred single annual contributions, not monthly deductions. They felt they had been neither sufficiently educated nor consulted about the scheme. They were wary of a possibility of management of the scheme by the government and had no confidence in a government mechanism, due to recent history of corruption and mismanagement of public funds. They expected to get a wide benefit package for their entire families, which was beyond what is in the proposed scheme. The paper recommends intensified education about the proposed scheme for key stakeholders such as teachers, and their involvement in the design of their scheme, passing through their professional associations. It also recommends that government engages in confidence-building activities with the stakeholders of the scheme, to ensure acceptability of a government-mooted programme

THE IMPACT OF COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDES AND INTENTION TO START A BUSINESS IN UGANDA

This paper reports results of a longitudinal quasi-experimental study that focused on the impact of entrepreneurial education and societal subjective norms on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of university students in Uganda to start a business. Data were collected in two waves: wave one before the entrepreneurship course and wave two after the entrepreneurship course — four months later. The sample composed of college students. Analyses included tests of significance of changes in the attitudes and intentions of students after the entrepreneurship course, the mediating role of attitudes and moderating role of employment expectations. The results show small but significant changes in attitudes and a significant mediating role of attitudes — perceived feasibility, perceived desirability and self-efficacy, but non-significant moderating influence of employment expectations. The findings offer lessons for policy makers and more questions for researchers.Entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurial attitudes, social subjective norms

Uganda and Entrepreneurship Education

Economic systems, especially capitalism, must stand on a foundation of morality and justice for the rich and poor alike if it is to be sustainable over time. The idea is to create sustainable forms of economic systems that will produce long-term value for all stakeholders of the community in a fair manner. This book highlights that pure capitalism may not be suitable for all nations and cultures as there are diverse expectations and economic infrastructures. This book provides relevant cross-cultural knowledge, written by natives and experts on each country, for students, academicians, entrepreneurs, and policy makers by covering capitalism challenges such as corruption from the following nations in four different continents of Asia, Africa, North America and South America: 1. Afghanistan 2. China 3. Cuba 4. Ghana 5. Haiti 6. India 7. Jamaica 8. Japan 9. Nigeria 10. Pakistan 11. Singapore 12. Thailand 13. USA 14. Uganda 15. Vietnam 16. Venezuela This book serves as a tool for business success, social responsibility, and organizational sustainability. It is a good read for business and economic students and managers in both the public and private sectors.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facbooks/1120/thumbnail.jp

The Influence of Contextual Factors on Teachers\u27 Entrepreneurial Intentions in Uganda: The Moderating Role of Cultural and Institutional Dimensions

The entrepreneurship teacher is a key factor in the promotion of entrepreneurship education, and hence should practice what he/she teaches by, at minimum, exhibiting a positive attitude towards the practice of entrepreneurship, or where possible by setting up a business. This paper investigates whether there are significant differences between secondary school teachers of entrepreneurship education who have set up a business and those who have not, in terms of personal attributes, skills, innovativeness and locus of control. Further, based on the theory of planned behavior, the study examines the extent to which contextual factors (institutions and culture) influence the entrepreneurial intentions of the teachers who have not yet set up a business. The study utilizes a survey research design to collect data from a sample of secondary school teachers (N=270) who were attending a refresher course from the four regions of the country. Likert scale questionnaire items for the various dimensions were obtained from published studies. Independent sample t tests and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that teachers who have set up a business score higher in terms of creativity and enthusiasm to set up new projects. Further, institutions and cultural dimensions (uncertainity avoidance) have a negative moderating effect on perceived behavioral control for teachers who have not yet set up a business

Tree species composition, structure and utilisation in Maruzi Hills Forest Reserve in Uganda

The study investigated the tree species composition, vegetation structure and harvesting pattern to guide management of the Maruzi Hills Forest Reserve. Stratified random sampling was used to site six (100 m × 100 m) permanent sample plots in the woodland, bushland and grassland vegetation types identified in the reserve. Rényi diversity profiles indicated that bushland vegetation had a lower Shannon diversity index (H = 2.054) than grassland (H = 2.38) and woodland vegetation (H = 2.319). Grassland and woodland vegetation also had lower proportions of the dominant species (α∞ = 1.15 and 1.66, respectively) than bushland vegetation (α∞ = 3.25). However, the mean stem density of the woodland, bushland and grassland vegetation was 214 stems ha-1, 191 stems ha-1 and 114 stems ha-1, respectively. Bray-Curtis and Jaccard ecological distance matrices showed that, although the three vegetation types shared some common species, the ecological distances were relatively high suggesting significant species composition variation between the vegetation types, particularly between the bushland and the other vegetation types. The species with the highest proportional abundance in the survey were Combretum molle (23%), Acacia hockii (17.7%), Combretum collinum (16.1%), Grewia mollis (6.5%) and Lannea barteri (6.5%). Diameter size-class distribution of woody perennials and tree stumps indicated higher frequencies of the smaller-diameter size classes. The stump records were indicative of charcoal burning and firewood collection as major causes of tree/shrub harvesting. The Maruzi Hills woodland conservation strategy should consider the differences in species composition between vegetation types if the highest number of species is to be conserved. Keywords: diameter class distribution, species diversity, stump characteristicsSouthern Forests 2010, 72(2): 112–11

Traditional uses of indigenous tree species

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