Attitude Towards Entrepreneurship Among Omani College Students Trained in Business

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1 Attitude Towards Entrepreneurship Among Omani College Students Trained in Business *Dr. Reynaldo Gacho Segumpan, Joanna Soraya Abu Zahari Department of International Business Administration, CAS-Rustaq, Ministry of Higher Education Sultanate of Oman Abstract Business organizations and government institutions in the Sultanate of Oman and elsewhere have hailed the importance of entrepreneurship and its contribution to socio-cultural and economic development. This paper aimed at assessing the attitude of Omani college students towards entrepreneurship. It also attempted to determine any significant differences in the respondents attitude when grouped by (a) gender, (b) sibling size, (c) sibling order, (d) mother s education, (e) father s education, and (f) business exposure. Data were gathered using a slightly modified Attitudes Toward Entrepreneurship Questionnaire (2011) devised by the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, USA. The respondents were 61 (81%) out of 75 Omani college students who took International Business Administration as their minor at the College of Applied Sciences - Sohar. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 19 at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that the respondents had a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. There were no statistically significant differences in the attitude towards entrepreneurship when the respondents were grouped according to demographic variables. Discussion and implications of the findings are provided, as well as the limitations of the research. Keywords: Attitudes, Entrepreneurship, Omani College Students 1. Introduction Entrepreneurship has been a buzzword, especially among young people between the ages of 18-3 (Chen & Lai, 2010). They have recognized the various benefits of starting-up new businesses. According to Badulescu and Dodescu (2010), the motivations for business start-ups among potential women entrepreneurs are driven mostly by the 'self-achievement desire', 'need for more money' and 'desire for a higher social and professional status'. Entrepreneurs demonstrate a need to achieve, a willingness to exploit a challenge, to persevere, to work hard and driven by self-belief, but tempered with the ability to be flexible and to delegate to others when necessary as well as willingness to listen to advice and to recognize that they are not experts in every aspect of their business (Goodbody Economic Consultants, 2002). Allen (2006) stressed that entrepreneurs do not wait for someone else to make the decision, or solve the problem, or even ask for the problem to be solved; they recognize problems as opportunities and takes it upon themselves to solve them. Management specialists, policy makers, researchers, and practitioners view entrepreneurship in various perspectives. Goel, Vohra, Zhang, and Arora (2007) briefly define it as the activity of establishing and managing a business for profit and growth. This notion resembles closely what McMullan, Long and Graham (in Lena & Wong, 200) said that entrepreneurship is an instrumental factor driving the emergence and growth of new businesses. In a parallel note, Smallbone and Welter (2001) said that entrepreneurship includes self-employment and part-time businesses, while Bhide (2000) relates it to venture creation and ownership of small and medium enterprises. Given entrepreneurship's contribution to keep up economic growth, it is the policy goal of governments to 61

2 create a culture of entrepreneurial thinking by integrating entrepreneurship into education systems (Wikipedia, 2011). In the Sultanate of Oman, business organizations and government institutions have hailed the value of entrepreneurship and its roles in socio-cultural and economic development. For instance, at the Ministry of Higher Education, and in particular, the Colleges of Applied Sciences, entrepreneurship, at the time this paper was prepared, will be offered soon in the curriculum as a required course. Though not a distant scenario, it is expected that students would be able to start entrepreneurial work during or after their college education. At Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, there was a Carnegie Corporation-funded project to offer Entrepreneurship Education (EE) as an elective course in the undergraduate Programs (Obisanya, 2010). According to Obisanya (2010), EE was aimed at assisting Nigerian graduates to be job creators other than job seekers. There were eight modules offered that would help students to establish a correct perspective of starting and owning a business. Moreover, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Potter & Hofer, 2007) has documented a number of entrepreneurial programs in other OECD-member countries, such as changing people's attitudes to entrepreneurship and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, including students, employees, entrepreneurs and the public sector in Wales, UK; making use of modem technology to detach entrepreneurship training from specific training locations in Finland; and, promoting entrepreneurial attitudes among employees and provoking creative and innovative approaches to problem solving in Sweden. The theoretical framework of this research is anchored on the theory explicitly espoused by Hannan, Hazlett, and Leitch (200) that for increasing the level of entrepreneurial initiative among students, it is needful to increase positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship, so attitudes can be viewed as the stepping stone to entrepreneurial intentions. Arguably, attitudes have a strong bearing on the way the students would look at entrepreneurship as a course requirement in college education. A popular wisdom says that 'attitude determines altitude', which suggests that success or propensity to achieve targets or goals can be determined largely by the way people conceive positive thoughts about their ability to accomplish these targets or goals. In other words, if the students have a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, there is a high likelihood that they would undertake entrepreneurial activities at some point in time. Studies such as those cited in preceding paragraphs have realized the importance of examining attitudes in promoting entrepreneurship programs and in making them appealing. Lim (2011) made it clearly: Positive attitude is a very important mindset that all entrepreneurs must have. Besides having specialized or technical skills, if they do not have a positive attitude, they will not be able achieve the goals that they want to achieve. When they want to start having their own business, they will be full of drive and enthusiasm. But the real challenges come when they face difficulties or obstacles. Some will eventually lose their drive and enthusiasm as they feel that they have a mistake and they will not be able to recover from it again. This is the moment when having a positive attitude is so important. The foregoing insights demonstrate the importance of understanding attitudes as a benchmark for a better grasp of entrepreneurial spirit among college students. In the Sultanate of Oman, there seems to be a scarcity of resources related to attitude towards entrepreneurship among college students, thus, suggesting the necessity of studies such as this one. 62

3 Objectives of the Study This research was conducted with the following research questions: 1. What is the attitude of Omani college students towards entrepreneurship? 2. Are there any significant differences in the respondents' attitude when grouped by: (a) gender, (b) business exposure, (c) sibling size, (d) sibling order, (e) mother s education, and (f) father s education? Hypothesis of the Study It was hypothesized in this study that there were no significant differences in the respondents' attitude towards entrepreneurship when grouped by gender, business exposure, sibling size, sibling order, mother s education, and father s education. Previous studies have also examined these variables and found inconsistent results (Chen & Lai, 2010; Harkema & Schout, 2008; Goel, et. al., 2007; Lee & Wong, 2003). These inconsistencies in results necessitate further investigation, hence, the present research. Importance of the Study It is hoped that the findings of the research would contribute to the growing body of knowledge on entrepreneurship in the Omani context, especially with regard to its attitudinal dimension. Likewise, the findings hope to highlight any variations in the attitude towards entrepreneurship across the preceding demographic characteristics mentioned (gender, business exposure, sibling size, sibling order, mother s education, and father s education) so that policies and educational programs can be tailored accordingly. It is also hoped that researchers on entrepreneurship would benefit from this study, directly or indirectly, in terms of the research approach and the applicability of results, among others. Methodology Attitude impacts the expression of specific behaviors and depends on the individual's positive or negative beliefs about and estimations of said behaviors (Kruger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000). It is an expression of emotion that is translated into the individual's actions (Meridith, Nelson, & Neck, 1982). In this study, 'attitude' as the dependent variable denotes the Omani college students' beliefs and views towards entrepreneurship as assessed in a validated questionnaire. These 'actions' mentioned by Meridith and colleagues (1982) may imply, as applied in this study, the propensity of the respondents to engage in entrepreneurial work at some period in their life, either while studying in college, or later after finishing their degree. There may be several types of 'attitudes,' but the researchers focused only on 'attitude towards entrepreneurship,' and how this would vary when the respondents were grouped according to demographic variables like gender, business exposure, sibling size, sibling order, mother s education, and father s education. This was a descriptive research that surveyed how Omani college students viewed entrepreneurship. This kind of research is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe 'what exists' with respect to variables or conditions in a situation (Key, 1997). Surveys represent one of the most common types of quantitative social science research where the researcher selects a sample of respondents from a population and administers a written document that is completed by the person being surveyed, an online questionnaire, a face.to-face interview, or a telephone interview, and it is possible to collect data from large or small populations (Colorado State University, 2011). 63

4 Three groups of students in the Bachelor of Information Technology ('lt students' in succeeding discussions) program at the College of Applied Sciences-Sohar (one of the six colleges under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education), Sultanate of Oman were given the Attitudes Toward Entrepreneurship Questionnaire (2011) developed by the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, USA. These students were taking International Business Environment as one of the minor subjects in the BIT program during the Fall Semester of academic year (September-January). Prior to this, they had also taken in previous semesters other business-related subjects such as Business Fundamentals, Introduction to Management, and Marketing, among others. Those in the BIT program with a minor in International Administration Business (lba) were chosen instead of the IBA students because nothing empirical yet is known about their attitude towards entrepreneurship since they considered IBA as their minor, as well as infer how IBA subjects/courses have had an impact on their career plans. In order to determine its suitability in the local context, the 16-item questionnaire (1 = 'strongly disagree'; 2='disagree'; 3='neutral'; ='agree'; 5='strongly agree') was pilot tested to a group of 20 junior lt students in the College sometime in November The overall Cronbach alpha obtained was 0.857, which is relatively high. The attitude was described as 'positive' or 'negative' based on the following scale devised from the highest possible score of 80 (16 items x 5) and the lowest possible score of 16 (16 items x l) and the four categories of the extent of attitude arbitrarily determined by the researchers for the purpose of describing the overall mean: Overall Mean Description 6-above Very positive attitude 8-63 Positive attitude 32-7 Negative attitude Very negative attitude Data collection took place on the second day of the final examination week in January There were 61 (81% of 75) complete and usable questionnaires collected, tabulated, and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics l9 at the 0.05 level of significance. More than half (58%) are females, and a large majority (81%) of them had no business exposure or no work experience. Many of them (69%) had a sibling size of 6-10, and in the middle of their sibling order (57%). Their mother had spent either a few years in the elementary (36%) or had no education at all (1%), while their father had finished elementary (25%) or at some years in the elementary (33%), and even some years in high school or completed it (12%). Findings Attitude Towards Entrepreneurship Table 1 shows the distribution across various statements attitude of respondents that reflect towards entrepreneurship. As seen from the data, the mean scores in each item range between 2.7 and.10, implying that the respondents had some degree of variation across the 'attitude items'. More specifically, the item 'I would be willing to have less security for my family in order to operate my own business' (Item 11) was rated the lowest (mean= 2.7; S/D = 1.31). This seems expected as the data may suggest of the importance that is accorded to the family among the respondents. Looking at the distribution of responses for Item 11, more than half (5%) of the respondents, combined together, were either in disagreement or strong disagreement of the statement, and only 21.3 percent of them 'agreed 'and 'strongly agreed'. The data also show that 19.7 percent were 'neutral,' or they did not have a definite stand (i.e., agree or disagree) on the statement. 6

5 On the other hand, Item 16 ('I run my own business to have more flexibility in my personal and family life') was given the most favorable rating (mean=.10; S/D = 0.96), where more than 75 percent, taken together, 'agreed' and 'strongly agreed' on the statement. Less than 10 percent of them disagreed (8.2%) and strongly disagreed (none), while 16. percent were neutral. The findings suggest that the respondents feel that through entrepreneurship, they can make their personal and family life more meaningful; needless to say, economically productive. Looking at the other items, a similar trend could be observed; i.e., the respondents expressed positive views regarding the nature of entrepreneurship across various issues such as doing business as an important activity, driving a business successfully, and community development through business, among others. Overall, out of a maximum possible score of 80, the lowest obtained score was while the highest was 75.31, with a mean of 9.88 (S/D= 9.67). The mean shows a relatively 'positive' attitude towards entrepreneurship among the respondents. Table 1 Distribution of Respondents Attitude Towards Entrepreneurship (n = 61) Statement SD D N A SA Mean n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) (SD) 1. My business is the most important activity in my life. 2. I will do whatever it takes to make my business a success. 3. I plan to eventually sell my business.. I would like to make a significant contribution to the community by developing a successful business. 5. I would rather own my own business than earn a higher salary working for someone else. 6. Owning my own business is more important than having more time to spend with my family. 7. I would rather own my own business than pursue another promising career. 8. It is important for an entrepreneur to understand and accept risk in order to start and operate a successful 6 (9.8) 2 (3.3) 2 (3.3) 13 (21.3) 3 (..9) 10 (16.) 3 (.9) 7 (11.5) 15 (2.6) 11 (18.0) 5 (8.2) 7 (11.5) 11 (18.0) 19 (31.1) 9 (1.8) 18 (29.5) 15 (2.6) 20 (32.8) 8 (13.1) 27 (.3) 2 (39.3) 17 (27.9) 2 (39.3) 1 (23.0) 10 (16.) 11 (18.0) 20 (32.8) 17 (27.9) 17 (27.9) 20 (32.8) 16 (26.2) 7 (11.5) 8 (13.1) 2 (39.3) 3.77 (1.21) 3.86 (1.03) 3.13 (1.05) 3.98 (1.02) 3.53 (1.21) 2.72 (1.30) 3.15 (1.1) 3.90 (1.21) 65

6 business. 9. I would be willing to have conflict with my family in order to operate my own business. 10. I would mortgage my house to provide capital for my business. 11. I would be willing to have less security for my family in order to operate my own business. 12. I run my own business to continue a family tradition. 13. I run my own business to contribute to the welfare of my relatives. 1. I run my own business in order to live in a desirable location for my family. 15. I run my own business to increase my family s status and prestige. 16. I run my own business to have more flexibility in my personal and family life. OVERALL MEAN 7 (11.5) 1 (23.0) 17 (27.9) 3 (.9) 3 (.9) 2 (3.3) 0 (0) 18 (29.5) 9 (1.8) 16 (26.2) 13 (21.3) 8 (13.1) 6 (9.8) 5 (8.2) 13 (21.3) 13 (21.3) 12 (19.7) 9 (1.8) 20 (32.8) 7 (11.5) 1 (23.0) 10 (16.) 12 (19.7) 1 (23.0) 7 (11.5) 23 (37.7) 15 (2.6) 26 (2.6) 17 (27.9) 20 (32.8) 9.88 ( Positive attitude ) MINIMUM MAXIMUM STANDARD DEVIATION (8.2) 6 (9.8) 10 (16.) 8 (13.1) 17 (27.9) 2 (39.3) 26 (2.6) 2.82 (1.19) 2.72 (1.31) 2.7 (1.31) 3.37 (1.20) 3.31 (1.08) 3.81 (1.12) 3.93 (1.09).10 (0.96) Differences in Entrepreneurship Attitude by Variables By Gender Looking at the mean scores between male and female respondents in Table 2, the males obtained a mean of (S/D = 11.39) while the mean for the females was 8.73 (S/D=6.77). Seemingly, male respondents had a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. However, when the t-test was used to determine if this difference was significant or not, the p-value of 0.17 showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of male and female respondents. In other words, regardless of gender, attitude toward entrepreneurship would not vary significantly. This led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that there is no statistically significant difference in the attitude towards entrepreneurship of respondents when grouped by gender. The findings in this research are not in line with what Laspita, Chlosta, Klandt, Scheiner, Brem, and Voigt (2007) found in their study that German male students had higher entrepreneurial orientation than their female colleagues. 66

7 By Business Exposure Interestingly, those who had business exposure had a higher mean (50.23; S/D=8.30) than those who had none (mean = 8.38; S/D = 10.06). The t-test, however, revealed that the difference was not significant enough to warrant statistical rejection of the null hypothesis (t = 0.5; df = 35; p = 0.656). This led to the conclusion that whether the respondents had business exposure or not, their attitude towards entrepreneurship would not vary significantly. Thus, the null hypothesis is not supported. This outcome does not complement what Shinnar, Pruett, and Toney (2009) found out that more exposure to entrepreneurial work, especially support from family members, would encourage positive attitudes to start-up a business among American students. Sibling Size Across three groups of respondents grouped by sibling size, those in the 5-below' category obtained the highest mean (5.11; S/D = 13.95), followed by those who were more than 10 siblings in the family (mean= 50.2; S/D = 6.17), and then those with 6-10 siblings who had the lowest mean (8.88; S/D = 9.67). When the differences were examined using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the F- value of 0.61 (df = 36) yielded a p-value of 0.59, which was not significant at 0.05 significance level. This finding proves that regardless of Table 2 Differences in Means Across Demographic Variables (n = 61) Variable Gender Male (2%) Female (58%) Business exposure Yes (19%) No (81%) Sibling size 5-below (1%) 6-10 (69%) >10 (17%) Sibling order 1 st (5%) 2 nd (11%) Mid (57%) Last (5%) Others (22%) Mother s education None (1%) Some elem. educ. (36%) Finished elem. (1%) Some high sch. educ. (3%) Finished high sch. (3%) Some college educ. (3%) Overall Mean (SD) t (df) F (df) p Statistical Decision (11.39) 8.73 (6.77) (8.30) 8.38 (10.06) 5.11 (13.95) 8.88 (9.67) 50.2 (6.17) (9.9) (6.36) 8.97 (9.89) (5.66) 8.37 (11.65) 8.57 (10.79) 8.87 (8.88) 9.86 (6.90) 6.19 (0) 6.31 (0) (0) 1.39 (3) (35) Accept null hypothesis Accept null hypothesis (36) 0.59 Accept null hypothesis (36) Accept null hypothesis (36) 0.1 Accept null hypothesis 67

8 Finished college (0%) 0 (0) Father s education None (1%) Some elem. educ. (33%) Finished elem. (25%) Some high sch. educ. (6%) Finished high sch. (6%) Some college educ. (3%) Finished college (7%) Others (6%) Mean Description 6-above Very positive attitude 8-63 Positive attitude 32-7 Negative attitude Very negative attitude 8.88 (5.77).57 (9.91) (10.05) 9.25 (9.90) (6.36) 6.19 (0) (6.3) 3.5 (1.58) (36) Accept null hypothesis sibling size, attitude towards entrepreneurship would not vary significantly. The null hypothesis is thus, not supported. The findings are not in tandem with that of Goel and colleagues (2007), whose research showed that attitudes towards entrepreneurship are influenced by micro variables such as family background, in particular in the Indian and Chinese contexts. Sibling Order When the respondents were grouped by sibling order, the findings showed that those who were second-born obtained the highest mean (56.27; S/D = 6.36), suggesting that they had the most favorable view of entrepreneurship. Those who were the 'last' among the siblings came second, with a mean of 52.3l (S/D = 5.66). The first-born came next (mean = 50.28: S/D = 9.9), followed by those in the 'middle' (mean = 8.97; S/D = 9.89), and then the 'others' had the lowest mean of 8.37 (S/D = 11.65). When these differences in means were analyzed using ANOVA, it was found out that there were no statistically significant differences (F = 0.5; df = 36; p = 0.711) in their mean scores, implying that regardless of sibling order, there would be no statistically significant differences in attitude toward entrepreneurship; hence, the null hypothesis is not supported. Goel and his associates' (2007) research is not parallel to the outcomes of the present study. Mother's Education As shown in Table 2, there seems to be a positive trend in the attitude towards entrepreneurship among the respondents when grouped according to mother s education. More specifically, the respondents whose mothers have had high school education got the highest mean (6.31), followed by those whose mothers have had some high school education (mean = 6.19). On the other hand, respondents whose mothers did not have any formal education had the lowest mean of 8.57 (S/D = 10.79), followed by those whose mothers have had some years in the elementary (mean = 8.87; S/D = 8.88) and finished elementary education (mean = 9.86; S/D = 6.90). When ANOVA was used in determining if these differences were significant, the findings revealed that there were no 68

9 statistically significant differences in the respondents' attitude towards entrepreneurship when grouped according to mother s education (F = 1.0;df = 36); p = 0.1). The null hypothesis is thus, not supported. The findings do not support also earlier findings of Goel and colleagues (2007). Father's Education The data showed that the respondents whose father have had some college education had the highest mean of 6.19, followed by those whose father have finished college (mean = 56.98; S/D = 6.3). Relatively lower means were obtained by those whose father had only some elementary education (mean =.57; S/D = 9.91) and had no formal education at all (mean = 8.88; S/D=5.77). When the differences in the mean scores were analyzed using ANOVA, it was found out that there were no statistically significant differences in their means, suggesting that regardless of father s education, attitude towards entrepreneurship would not vary significantly (F 2.06; df = 36; p = 0.081). Therefore, the null hypothesis is not supported. This outcome is also not congruent with the findings of Goel, Vohra, Zhang, and Arora (2007). Discussion and Implications The findings of this research showed positive signs of entrepreneurial attitudes among Omani college students who had taken courses on business. Although their major was information technology, it was satisfying to note that they had a favorable view of business studies. The findings in this research are similar to previous studies. For instance, in China and India, Goel and coresearchers (2007) have noted a positive view of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in these countries. Accordingly, academic institutions promote entrepreneurship aggressively owing to its importance in social development through job opportunities and consequent economic prosperity. In another Asian nation, Singapore, Lena and Wong (200) found out that there is a moderate correlation between attitude towards entrepreneurship education and founding of a business or business start-up among 11,660 students taking science, engineering, lt, and business and management programs in higher education institutions. The points of discussion now are two-fold: 'So what if the respondents had a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship? Could this be due to the business electives offered to them?' The favorable attitude towards entrepreneurship may have to do with the perception on the entrepreneur s ability to see opportunities and transform them into an interesting proposition (Harkema & Schout, 2008). In the U.S. alone, in 2005, an average of 0.29 percent of the adult population created a new business each month, or approximately 6,000 people created new businesses each month during that year (Hak, 2009). In other words, the respondents of the present research may have realized the value and importance of putting their knowledge into some kind of entrepreneurial venture in order to benefit economically. Although the present research could not empirically prove that this wholesome outlook among the respondents could be attributed solely to the business subjects offered to them, the findings highlight some implications to (a) curriculum, (b) pedagogy, and (c) research. In terms of curriculum, the findings of the research suggest that the topics and scope of the business subjects must be kept in tune with the current business environment, especially an adequate focus on entrepreneurship. It will also be more practical if Entrepreneurship will be offered as a required subject in the Bachelor of Information Technology curriculum in order to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit among the students as well as to provide them solid theoretical grounding on the rudiments of starting-up or managing a business. Moreover, hands-on activities need to be emphasized in the curriculum, such as providing an experience to students to actually engage in entrepreneurial projects. Lee and Wong (2003) stressed that as a result of the growing emphasis on 69

10 entrepreneurship as the catalyst for economic development and job creation, policy makers and curriculum developers have developed a wide array of measures to support entrepreneurship. Pedagogical implications include the use of teaching strategies that are effective in motivating students to be ready in undertaking entrepreneurial activities. For instance, there should be emphases on case studies that examine entrepreneurship in the Omani context need to be done to encourage more students to engage in business start-ups. The teaching pedagogies should match what they are learning in lt classes or labs with that of the practical business environment so that they would clearly see the theoretical applications of theories they are learning. In Austria, Spanz (200) said that within the third, fourth and fifth semester, entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial potential, creativity, problem solving, business plan, entrepreneurial management, business life cycle, financing and other subjects are taught. Business simulation games and practical projects support the program, and the results are more entrepreneurial thinking, more understanding about how business creation works and a good knowledge about how to assess the risks and opportunities of a business idea. With regard to research implications, the findings of the present study serve as an impetus for future research agenda, among which are as follow: A comparative research on attitude towards entrepreneurship among lt and Business Students A cross-sectional analysis of attitude towards entrepreneurship across the Colleges of Applied Sciences and other higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman An exploratory study on the personal, behavior, and academic factors associated with attitude towards entrepreneurship The above researches are recommendatory in nature and not prescriptive; hence, other possible areas of research along the line of entrepreneurship attitudes are encouraged. This is because attitudes about, and knowledge of, entrepreneurship are likely to shape students' inclination to start their own business in the future (Wang & Wong, 200, in Chen & Lai, 2010). Therefore, it is important to understand how to develop and nurture potential entrepreneurs while they are still students in the college or university (Chen & Lai, 2010). It is a good start to realize that Omani IT students who took business subjects as their electives had a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. This hopes to incite more in-depth analyses of attitude researches in the context of entrepreneurship, its correlates, and beyond. Limitations of the Study The research was limited to the students of the College of Applied Sciences in Sohar who were taking Bachelor of Information Technology. Likewise, the research utilized a questionnaire in assessing attitude, which may not have captured a more encompassing view of the construct attitude. In addition, this study examined attitude in a general perspective without resorting to factor analysis. Overall, the researchers and policy makers should be cautious in forming generalizations from the data collected. Nevertheless, the study provided rich areas for future researches that could fill the gaps between current and prospective investigations on attitude towards entrepreneurship in the Omani context. 70

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