TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE I
APPROVAL PAGE II
CERTIFICATION III
DEDICATION IV
ACKNOWLEDGMENT V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLE X
ABSTRACT XI
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 7
Purpose of the Study 7
Significance of the Study 8
Research Question 9
Hypotheses 10
Scope of the Study 11
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
- Conceptual framework 12
- Entrepreneurial 13
- Concept of automobile technology 20
- Technical skills in Automobile Technology. 27
- Managerial skills in Automobile Technology. 43
- Financial skills in Automobile Technology. 45
- Computer skills in Automobile Technology. 50
2. Theoretical Framework 55
- Mcclelland Theory of Entrepreneurship 57
- Markcasson’s Economic Theory 58
- Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Self –Actualization Needs 58
- Theory of equilibrium destruction by Schumpeter 59
3. Review of Related Empirical Studies 59
4. Summary of Review of Related Literature 62
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Design of the Study 64
Area of the Study 65
Population for the Study 65
Sample and sampling techniques 66 Instrument for Data Collection 66
Validation of Instrument 67
Reliability of the Instrument 68
Method of Data Collection 68
Method of Data Analysis 69
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 71
Researcher Question 1 and Hypothesis 1 71
Researcher Question 2 and Hypothesis 2 82
Researcher Question 3 and Hypothesis 3 85
Researcher Question 4 and Hypothesis 4 87
Finding of the Study 90
Discussion of Findings 91
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATION
Restatement of the Problem 96
Description of procedure used 96
Major Findings of the study 97
Conclusion 97
Implications of the Study 98
Recommendations 99
Limitations of the Study 100
Suggestions for Further Research 100
REFERENCES 100
APPENDICES 106
Request for Face-Validation of Research Instrument 106
Introduction Letter to the Respondent 107
Questionnaire 108
Population Distribution Table 120
Questionnaire Administration and Retrieval 121 Interpretation of the mean scores using real limits of numbers 122
Reliability formular by Kudar-Richardson 123
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page No
1. Population Distribution of the Respondents 65
2. Questionnaire Administration and Retrieval 69
3. Interpretation of the mean scores using real limits of numbers 69
4. Mean and t-test analysis of the Responses of the Respondents on the Technical skills improvement needs of self-employed automobile technology graduates. 72
5. Mean scores and t-test analysis of the responses on the managerial skills improvement needs of Self-Employed technical college Automobile Technology Graduates. 83
6. Mean scores and t-test analysis of the responses on the financial skills improvement needs of Self-Employed Automobile Technology Graduates. 85
7. Mean
scores and t-test analysis of the responses on
the marketing skills improvement needs of Self-Employed
Technical College Automobile Technology
Graduates. 87
ABSTRACT
The study sought to determine the
entrepreneurial skills improvement needs of self-employed technical college
automobile technology graduates, four research questions and four hypotheses
were formulated all derived from the literature review. 130 items questionnaires
was used to collect relevant data from 30 respondents made up of automobile
technical college self-employed graduates in Delta State. Mean and standard
were used to answer the research questions while t-test statistics was employed
to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed
that, self-employed automobile technology graduates needs improvement in their
technical skills in order to meet up with the current ways of servicing
automobile products; they also need to improve on their managerial skills,
marketing skills and financial skills. The study was able to submerge computer
skills into technical skills such as use of sensor code, diagnostic code,
engine sensor, scanner computer skill, Gear sensor, tune-up sensor, brake
sensor, coil sensor, car board diagnostic indicator etc. Recommendations were made based on the
findings of the study.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Entrepreneur is a person who has the ability to operate alone in business. It is one of the factors of production. The entrepreneur performs the function of building a business entity (Davis, 2008). An entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or innovation into a successful innovation (Schumpeter, 2013). The work of an entrepreneur is entrepreneurship. Therefore, entrepreneurship refers to creating and running own business. Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called “the gale of creative destruction” to replace in whole or in part inferior innovations across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products including new business model. Creative destruction is largely responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth (Drucker, 2008). Entrepreneurship is about taking risks. The behaviour of the entrepreneur reflect a kind of person willing to put his or her career and financial security on the lines and take risks in the name of an idea, spending much time as well as capital on uncertain venture. Entrepreneurship according to Omolayo (2006) is the act of starting a company, arranging business deals and taking risks in order to make profit through the education skills acquired. Another view of entrepreneurship education is the term given to someone who has innovative ideas and transformed them to profitable activities. Entrepreneurship can be described as “the process of bringing together creative and innovative ideas and coupling these with management and organizational skills in order to combine people, money and resources to meet an identified need and create wealth. Nwangwu (2007) opined that entrepreneurship is a process of bringing together the factors of production, which include land, labour and capital so as to provide a product or service for public consumption. In this work, entrepreneurship is viewed as practical application of knowledge, ideas, skills, finance, personal behaviour, land, labour, capital and other resources in order to exploit environmental opportunities for the purpose of establishing a company. The acts of entrepreneurship are often associated with the uncertainty, particularly when it involves bringing something really novel to the world, whose market never exist. Therefore entrepreneur is a person who manages factors of production, a risk taker, an innovator who is motivated by the need for achievement, uses focus devotion and commitment to attain his goal. They search for different ways of doing things, new method, new market, extra funding, management strategies etc. They are instruments of dynamism (change). Entrepreneurship involves skills, These skills are needed by every entrepreneur to function effectively in his or her business or occupation.
Skills mean expertness or dexterity or practical ability, facilitating doing something. Skills can be defined in this work as great ability or proficiency, expertness in servicing, repairing, maintenance and marketing. (Ede, 2001). Skills are dexterity in handling tools, expertness in the use of tools and machines and that of production of objects with speed and accuracy. There are different types of entrepreneurial skills, these are technical skills, managerial skills, financial skills, marketing skills and computer skills.
Technical skills are the skills needed by automobile technology graduates to function effectively in his or her profession. It helps them to diagnose faults in vehicles using tools, equipment and machines such as spanners, wrench, jack, screwdrivers etc. Managerial skills are needed in the workshop for planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and directing. Management is all about utilizing the little resources available to achieve a desired goal. Financial skills are crucial to the success of any Auto venture, not only to start but for growth, expansion and to meet competition and changing of customer’s expectation. Finance serves as link that makes small business interrelationships possible (Olannye and Oyibe, 2002).
Marketing skills are skills needed by an entrepreneur to promote his or her business into lime light, that is, bringing his products to the final consumers with the view of satisfying their needs and making profit from the firm. Computer skills are needed by the entrepreneur to service, repair or detect faults in cars. These computer skills reduce the stress of trial by error methods by automobile graduates. Most car manufacturers nowadays, contain one computer software or the other. This software monitors the emission of the engine as well as adjusts the engine to maintain low emission but self-employed graduates lack the skills to use these software. These skills stated above are needed by self-employed technical college automobile technology graduates to improve their automobile business.
Automobile Technology is the study of vehicle production, repair, servicing, maintenance, assembling, overhauling, selling of parts and selling of cars. Auto means car and mechanic means a person whose occupation is to repair machines especially the engine of motor vehicles. The layout of every vehicle is made up of the followings; engine, clutch, gear box, rear axle, front and rear suspension, steering mechanism, radiator, propeller shaft, brake system, cables, (Olisa, 2008). Automobile technology graduates are self-employed automobile graduates that need to improve their skills in automobile repair. Every graduate of automobile technology are expected to improve their skills in a particular area and become expert in it. Improvements of self-employed technical college graduates involve acquainting with new skills to expand and improve their servicing, maintenance and repairing skills in their automobile business. The derive to propose a qualitative practical content for the automobile technology taught at the technical colleges level was informed by the remarks often made by the media, employers of labour, evaluations of education programmes and the society at large that graduates of college of education (technical) are “rip off”, incompetent and are of general poor performance (Adiamoh, 2006). This perceived inadequate performance can be limited to many causal factors. Some can be controlled, some cannot among the items amenable to control and improvements are the practical contents designed to train automobile students, time frame for training and administration in technical colleges.
Technical colleges are educational institutions with different technical programmes which automobile technology is one of them. Others are electrical, wood work, metal work and building technology. The aims and objectives of technical colleges are to inculcate spirit of self-reliance. According to National policy on education (NPE, 2004) technical colleges are institutions where students acquire both practical and theoretical knowledge in a particular profession. These are institutions preparing students for occupations that are classified above the craft skills but below the scientific or engineering professions. According to Ayonmike (2011) technical colleges are institutions designed to train people for work to reflect the modern trends and development in occupations and skills requirement. Technical colleges according to FRN (2004) are to inculcate skills for self-reliance, knowledge, attitude and values needed at work. Most technical colleges in Delta State lack facility that will equip teachers and students with the necessary skills needed to set-up their businesses. This also means that self-employed automobile technology graduates lack the full confidence to repair all new automobile designs. As such, this situation necessitated this study to determine the entrepreneurial skills improvement needs of self-employed technical college Automobile technology graduates in Delta State. Technical college self-employed graduates could be residing in rural or urban areas.
Rural area means a geographic area that is located outside cities and town. According to Health Resource and Service Administration (HRSA, 2010) the word “rural” as encompasses, all population, housing and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural. Urban areas are geographical areas located within cities and towns.
Statement of the Problem
