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The International Journal of Business and
Management Research
A refereed journal published by the International Journal of Business and Management

Research
The International Journal of Business and Management Research (IJBMR) is published annually on
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journal’ s web site at http://www.ijbmr.org
2018 Issue
Volume 11, Issue 1
The International Journal of Business and Management Research (IJBMR) is a peer reviewed
publication, USA. All Rights Reserved
www.ijbmr.org
ISSN: 1938-0429
Editorial Review Board
Editor-In-Chief: Dr. John Phillips
Deputy Editor: Dr. Firend Al. Rasch,

Dr. C. Abid Dr. S. M. Safaei
Dr. F. Albayati Dr. R. Singh
Dr. H. Badkoobehi Dr. M. Shaki
Dr. A. Ben Brik Dr. B. Swittay
Dr. A. Caplanova Dr. R. Wilhelms
Dr. I-Shuo Chen Dr. Jui-Kuei Chen
Dr. Firend Al R. Dr. R. Sergio
Dr. F. Castillo Dr. R. Tahir
Dr. J. Fanning Dr. D. Wattanakul
Dr. K. Harikrishnan
Dr. Anthea Washington
Dr. Ahmad Jaffar
Dr. M Al Kubaisy
Dr. M. Khader
Dr. M. Lakehal-Ayat
Dr. B. Makkawi
Dr. Mona Mustafa
Dr. P. Moor
Dr. P. Malyadri
Dr. R. Pech
Dr. N. Maruti Rao
Dr. J. Ryan
Dr. K. Rekab
Dr. I. Rejab
Dr. M. Shaki
Dr. P. Moore
Table of Content
Revisiting the Investment Potentials in Emerging Market Economies (EMEs):

The Business Case of Star Trucks International Ltd.
Revenio C. Jalagat, Jr. .……………………….……………………………………….4
Evaluating the effectiveness of mobile value-added services (MVAS) with special

reference to SMS marketing.
Krishna Murari .……………………….……………………………………….13
The value of loyalty programs in marketing of services

Firend Al. R., Wang Qian ……………………………………….……………...…22
The Role and Impact of E-Commerce in The Insurance Industry

Yalda Bijanipour ………………………………………………..……...……….27
Impact of risk preference and entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy on the relationship

between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career option:
A conceptual perspective
Yakubu Abdullahi Yarima……………………………………………………………38
Design thinking in education - A new age classroom learning tool in teaching

D M Arvind Mallik ………………………………………………………………… 45
Solution approach to civil service reforms challenges for effective service delivery
in Nigeria
Ochala Mark, Ruslan bin Zainuddin ……………………………………………… 51
Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions in Developing Countries:

A Literature Review
Amber Baig, Mehwish Jamil, Ch. Abdul Rehman………………………………… 61
Revisiting the Investment Potentials in Emerging Market
Economies (EMEs): The Business Case of Star Trucks
International Ltd.
Revenio C. Jalagat, Jr.

Al-Zahra College for Women, Muscat City, Sultanate of Oman
Abstract
This paper primarily examines the investment potentials in the emerging market economies (EMEs) as the point of consideration
for business expansion of the chosen organization, Star Trucks International Ltd. Specifically, it established key indicators in
comparing the business environment surrounding the emerging market economies including the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) countries. These indicators include but not limited to labor productivity measured in value-added per worker, labor quality,
measure of capital and total factor productivity and employment. Moreover; it tackles the topics on investment environment, market
and labor productivity potentials, government intervention on policies, impacts of regional integration initiatives and assessing the
opportunities and threats of the BRICs countries. Secondary data were used for analysis and comparison among the EMEs. Key
results showed that the indicators used provided varying outcomes. However; further evaluation revealed that countries such as
China, India and Indonesia are better choices for Start Trucks International Ltd. to invest because of favorable fixed capital
formation, increasing participation of working population, and the opportunities to capitalize in these markets. Furthermore; in
terms of real GDP growth rate, these three countries also demonstrated its dominance with China the highest, followed by Indonesia
and India although significant drop of the rate on China and India in 2011-2013. Based on these findings, it can be recommended
that preference on investment potentials will be emphasized in these countries although further studies are needed to affirm these
results.
Keywords: BRICs; emerging market economies (EMEs); investment potentials; key indicators; Star Trucks International, Inc.
1. Introduction
This paper focuses on assessing and evaluating the potentials of the emerging markets for possible business
expansion by Start Trucks International Ltd., a manufacturing company mainly operating in Bedford, UK and head
stationed in London. Since it predominantly operating in the European market, its plan is now changed to include the
emerging markets where it can enter and make business. A comparative analysis shall be conducted to differentiate
how this company do business which considers the BRICs and other emerging markets such as Turkey and Indonesia.
It specifically examines the investment environment, effects of governments’ interventionist policies, the market
potential, the impact of regional integration initiatives, if any, and related issues with a clear identification of
opportunities and threats in each of these markets. And finally, suggest recommendations on which countries the firm
may considerably enter by discussing why the firm can enter to these markets. The paper is structured with the
introduction, the body paragraphs that provides the detailed answers to the questions, the conclusion and
recommendations.
According to Anand, et. al. (2014), about ½ of the world’s GDP is contributed by the emerging countries, an
evidence that there are big opportunities to do business in these countries. For the purpose of this research, there are
six countries that are evaluated in terms of growth on performance considered as emerging economies including Brazil,
China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey. In further determining the extent of comparisons, the following
determinants are considered: labor productivity measured in value-added per worker, labor quality, measure of capital
and total factor productivity and employment. Based on data generated in 2011-2013, the potential growth in Emerging
Markets Economies (EME) is averaging at 1.7 percent which is significantly lower than the rates in the year 2006-
2007 from 8.2% to 6.6%. Consequently, the labor productivity has also dropped based on experience that negatively
impacts the GDP growth potential. In years 2000-2007, labor productivity is influenced by sectoral developments that
specifically mentioned the service sector and the large shift of workers from the agricultural sector into the service
sector. Labor force is seen to be favorable in the countries of India, Russia and Turkey. Considering further the present
growth of the EME, it was 2000-2007 where these markets grows with average 6.7% which is higher compared with
the last 10 years with 2 percent. Accordingly, the six countries as mentioned above averages 8.1% which is also higher
by three percent from the previous years (Herd and Dougherty, 2007).
Furthermore, about 80% of the population in the world resides in emerging markets and the US Department of
Commerce has also projected that more than 75% of the estimated rise of the world’s trade originates from emerging
markets in the next two decades that accounts for more than half of the population (Aghion and Howitt, 2006;
Acemoglu et al. 2006).
2. Investment Environment
According to Cubeddu, et. al. (2014), there are more or less 25% of the growth since 2011 are generated from the
non-commodity EMEs as a result of external demands. For instance, increasing attention and demand for global supply
chain considers India and China as major players in the distribution of products and goods in worldwide scenario.
However, reports generated from IMF (2014) has seen the decreasing trend in economical aspect of the EMEs because
of the increasing global crises. As an example, macroeconomic domestic imbalances that are experienced with Brazil,
India, South Africa and Russia where these countries are susceptible to financial vulnerabilities. In the aspect of labor
supply, the growing demand for working-age population is a good indication for expansion of manufacturing and
service companies while maintaining the provision of lower wages to workers. Positively it enables the companies to
stretch its resources and maximized profits. For instance, the lower costs of production in India gives good income
opportunities for companies compared to other emerging markets. Cristadoro and Marconi (2013) stressed that the
increasing working-age population impacts the supply of labor and savings on the part of the companies. Bloom, et.
al. (2010) revealed that growth in labor participation and human capital investments enables companies to capitalize
its profits and capital. India and China posted a higher incidence of working-age population that significantly impacts
the labor workforce and increasing economic growth. As illustrated in the figure below described the working age
population.
Figure 1: Demographic Transition in selected EMEs
Source: UN Population Prospects (2012)
2018 The International Journal of Business and Management Research, Vol.11 Number 1 5
The above diagram reflects the increasing participation to the workforce with age range 15-64 in the countries of
India, Turkey, Indonesia and China.
When measured with the application of the GDP growth rates from 2006-2013 comparing between the Real GDP
and the Potential GDP, the table 1 shows how the GDP declines from 2006 to 2013 with the following EME’s.
Table 1: Real and potential GDP growth rates in selected emerging countries
_____________________________________________________________________________
Real GDP growth rate Potential GDP growth rate
2006-07 2011-13 2006-07 2011-13
BRA 5.0 2.0 3.9 2.7
CHN 13.4 8.2 10.9 8.5
IND 9.5 5.2 8.3 6.2
IDN 5.9 6.2 5.5 6.0
RUS 8.3 3.0 6.0 2.5
TUR 5.8 5.0 4.8 4.5
Average
(PPP-weighted) 10.1 6.2 8.2 6.6
Source: World Development Indicators databank, and National statistics; IMF, WEO, April 2014; OECD, Long-Term Projections, May 2014.
Dwelling upon the real GDP growth rate, all other countries have experienced decline on its growth rates while
only Indonesia posted an increasing trend. This reflects the increase in inflation rates caused by structural factors and
cyclical factors being a great contributor to the slowdown of the rates. From these results, it would be ideal to pursue
the investment opportunities in Indonesia where investors can enjoy in low-cost labor, but equally competitive quality
with other emerging markets. It’s a welcome development for Indonesia for its opportunities to compete and grow.
Turkey has also good standing in the market considering that it posted all the requirements to compete in the
marketplace. Analyzing further, Indonesia has tendency for more development as evident in the GDP data. Its ability
to compete and increase its government and country’s revenues is promising.
3. Market and Labor Productivity Potential
Labor productivity is also a good measure for assessing the potentials of EMEs to decide whether to expand in
these economies. The importance of determining the labor productivity therefore helps in evaluating potential GDP
growth rate as well as the growth of potential employment. It is also essential that before making investment to a
particular country, the status of labor production, how productive are the workforce shall be considered to ensure that
the necessary returns and profitability shall be achieve and maximized. Analyzing this aspect, the aid of the table that
shows how productive are the workforce for the emerging markets (EME) will guide Star Trucks Ltd in deciding
which of these EME it should enters as shown in Figure 2.
3
2
1
0
Employment
-1
Productivity
-2
-3
-4
BRA CHN IND IDN RUS TUR
Figure 2: Contribution of productivity and employment to potential GDP growth (% changes: 2011-12 relative to 2006-07)
Source: World Bank, ILO and NSBC data
It can be interpreted from the above-mentioned table that there is slowdown of the labor productivity that is also
related with the slowing down of the accumulated networth except for Indonesia. The most impacts of that slowdown
is evident in the countries of Brazil, China, India, Turkey and Russia as the investment to the GDP ratio already
marked lower than the middle-income nations as demonstrated in the averages in Table 3. It is worth noted that the
employment in Indonesia has increased comparing to other EME countries while its slowdown in productivity is
posted at an acceptable that has no significant negative impact to the GDP which is below 1%. Based on this data, it
can be concluded that Indonesia is one of the preferable options for the company’s investment options.
Average annual rate of growth (%) as % of GDP

2000-08 2012-13 2013
Brazil 4.8 1.2 18.9

China 12.0 9.2 46.0
India 10.2 5.4 30.6
Indonesia 8.3 7.2 31.7
Russia 13.0 2.6 21.4
Turkey 6.6 0.8 20.0
Memorandum:
Middle
income
countries 9.2 6.1 30.1
Table 2: Gross fixed capital formation in selected EMEs
Gross fixed capital formation
Source: IMF, WEO 2014 and World Bank, WDI, 2014.
However, analyzing the gross fixed capital formation to these EME’s, it can be observed the decrease of the
average annual growth from 2000-2008 to 2012-2013 figures where Russia, Turkey and India seemed to have drastic
decrease. While on the other hand, slight decreases can be seen to Indonesia and China are evident that can be
interpreted that these two countries are good potential for investment opportunities. When evaluated and assess the
percentage of fixed capital as percentage (%) to the GDP, China and Indonesia posted the first and second percentage
with 46% and 31.7% an indication that its capital has contributed much to the GDP of their respective countries
(OECD, 2014).
Bosworth and Collins (2007) emphasized the importance of assessing the labor productivity growth in making
decision to invest in particular country and decline in productivity would mean equivalent to risk in investment
opportunities. He added that labor productivity is a very important driver for the country’s economic growth. As an
example, attaining location economies Indonesia is a good choice for investment due to its low labor costs with good
and competitive infrastructure that enable foreign companies to enter the market and invest (Aghion and Howitt,
2006).
4. Government Interventions on Policies
However, the government intervention and local policies also poses a threat to the investment opportunities. The
call for globalization is affected by national policies imposed by each countries in the emerging markets that poses a
barrier to entry by foreign investors. Trade regulations for example lessens the impacts of free trade although there
are existing agreements between countries. For instance, in Indonesia the people or citizens prefers to patronize their
own products where the government has encourage them to buy thereby making the imported products to be of lesser
options. The same scenario is happening in China considering that their large scale production caters to both domestic
and global demands as evidenced by their exports of products anywhere in the world. In India, the tax imposition is
very high and the internal policies are stringent that leaves less opportunities for foreign investment. The promotion
of local production of goods are of high priority.
5. Impacts of Regional Integration Initiatives
In the aspect of regional integration, the emerging markets like the countries belonging to ASEAN have considered
regional integration and the same is true with the European countries with its own regional integrations. Agreements
particularly to economic and financial integration had been reached. Regional integration may also encompasses not
only economic but also political, environmental and others. In the past, regional integration focuses on free trade of
labor, goods, capital investment such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and other related activities. The essence of
integration provides two major economic benefits which are economic growth and risk sharing. Countries engage in
regional integration primarily to share the risk in the business as well as the promotion of the financial system for
growth and as means of diversification from domestic to international operation (Soares, 2005). It also promotes a
healthy investment and financing opportunities by the member/participating countries in the regional integration to
enhance business growth. European and Asian regional integration works in favor of the member countries and proven
to have harmonization in practices specifically the financial integration relative to unified financial system on
accounting, tax treatment and on regulations thereby eliminating the borders or beyond borders (Altomonte, 2007).
In Asia, it is largely participated by countries such as China, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and other
nearby countries. This initiative have been found to foster economic growth and promotes the welfare of the participant
countries. The roles of FDI is also very promising in relation to regional integration as the countries have achieved
the benefits of lesser barrier to entry thereby allowing a healthy competition while leveraging or equalizing the
opportunities of foreign countries and domestic companies in conducting business. For Star Trucks Ltd., it is a
welcome and good development considering that regional integration potentially eliminates barrier to entry where
most of companies failed in this area.
According to Ravn and Uhlig (2002), geographical proximity also plays important role in regional integration to
financial markets and the investment styles that requires the need to have regional integration to diversify the global
investor base. However, Alfaro, et. al. (2005) also stressed the risks brought about by regional integration that requires
the countries to have a well-functioning domestic financial markets. Assessing the strengths of the integration in Asia,
it can be safely assumed that countries participating in the regional integration enjoys the benefits of healthy
competition, open opportunities on foreign investments, reciprocity in the imposition of tariffs and taxes and good
relations from country to country.
6. Opportunities and Threats in Emerging Markets
To gain a better understanding on the opportunities and threats on emerging markets, the BRICs (Brazil, Russia,
India, and China) are examined both with its opportunities and threats as discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.
6.1. Brazil
Business opportunities in Brazil in 2014-16 can be seen in their developing infrastructure that covers
telecommunications, energy, roads and ports that exist with the mixture of local and foreign companies classified as
large-scale projects with only few mid-size and small-size businesses. It also becomes attractive in this country the
services sectors particularly in the field of Insurance, financial, tourism and retail chain services. More specifically,
the countries promotion of sports and entertainment like the World Cup and Olympic Games has contribute to the
economic growth of the country. Thirdly, the rapid growth of E-commerce like the increasing demand for smart-
phones and has penetrated the market as evidenced by its market growth from 15% in 2012 to 40% in 2013. However,
there are also threats accompanied with it, one is the difficulty to do business because of the unfavorable business
conditions like for instance, the imposition of very high taxes and bureaucratic actions that may lessen the business
activities. It is politically unstable with high crime rates. Also, the country is struggling because of the lack of private
and government companies in local infrastructures and the need of large investment on local industrialization because
the consumption patterns are only evident in credit and family consumptions. Furthermore, recession has also been
experienced recently with the economy at a contract rate of (-3%) throughout the year as well as the increasing cases
of corruption and the collapse of the commodities markets.
6.2. Russia
To begin with, Russia expects to boost their economy with its hosting of the FIFA World Championships in 2008
due to its vast development of infrastructure to meet this needs where they have expected that more foreign investors
will do business. The business opportunities in this country is primarily built on their access to the WTO. Just recently
in 2012, the country has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). Because of this, the local regulations has to be
adjusted to conform to the global standards and encourage more opportunities for importation and exportation. Custom
duties and taxes are expected to become lesser and changes in the comparative pricing strategies. More investors will
be attracted to invest and compete with the locals for more economic wealth by the country. Another opportunities for
Russia is the government very high support on hi-tech industries that the state considers it as economic diversification.
From being dependent to oil and gas, the government promotes for investment opportunities in technological advances
with the presence of hi-tech industries with the localized Research and Development activities and advance processing
technologies. An evidence to this is the investment of more than $5 billion dollars by the Rusnano Corporation in
nano-technologies, the establishment of Russian Venture Corporation, the Russian Silicon Valley project and the
Russian Pharmaceuticals 2020 program.
Furthermore, the growth in service sector although it cannot be compared with Europe and the USA however, it
has seen an increasing trend especially in the B2C services such as banking, insurance, travel, entertainment,
restaurants, hotels. Also, it is gaining more attention in B2B services comprising of the consulting, IT-outsourcing,
design, engineering and management. Conversely, there also threats affecting the business condition of the country.
Among those is the global economic turndown. Russia is greatly affected by global recession that hinders their
business activities. It’s decreasing production on oil and gas that urges them to diversify its products and services.
Political stagnation with the government taking the majority control of the businesses and even to the social
environment. The growing incidence of corruption, bad infrastructures and the recent isolation of the country with
other Western countries which is believed to be caused by the aggressive foreign policies implemented by authorities.
The fall of oil process had also negatively impacts the revenue generation of the country resulting into recession at the
greater heights.
6.3. India
In October 2013, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has issued a report considering the country’s economic
growth of 6% from the 4.7% in April of the same year. Compared to Russia and Turkey, India is seen to be more
volatile and stable on its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last five years and the FDI rose from $25.6 billion in
2011 to $40 billion in 2012. The projection conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees India increased
its GDP into According to IMF’s projection, India’s GDP 6-7% in 2013-2018, that is higher compared to the G7
countries that are forecasted grow at 1-3% in the same period. The business opportunities in India includes the high
rising of the service sector growth. The service sector in this country is known contributes 65% of the country’s GDP.
It has more than 7,000 companies operating nationwide which is comparable to China and has average of 5% growth
in the service sector particularly in insurance, e-commerce, domestic banking, telecommunication in the year 2013-
14 which signals a positive indication of business. Also, the increasing demand for telecom services and the
sophistication of mobile industry provides good impacts on the businesses. Secondly, the infrastructures have been
developing at a fast pace because of the government full support on infrastructures through investment and continuous
construction of roads, rails that competes China as well as support on construction and maintenance, construction
equipment, financing and transportations. Thirdly, the provision of health care, a sophisticated service and providing
quality health care. Statistically, the country closely competes with China in terms of economic growth rate of 6%-
7% where there is evidence of growing trend compared to the declining rates for China.
Evaluating further the potentials of these markets based on the data and information provided above, it is rational
and logical to consider India as a potential location for the business expansions. Considering specifically the various
factors mentioned above such as the investment environment, impacts to regional integration, market potentials, as
the business opportunities and threats, India competes with other emerging markets. Resource-wise, it has good
infrastructure, technological advances or competitive technologies, the government’s full support on infrastructure
and developments as well as the growing business opportunities not only in service sector, but also production. India
has been progressing with licensing and franchising for global entry mode by investors. Also, it has positive and good
ratios in FDI which can offer valuable option for Star Trucks International Ltd. For the company, FDI is a very good
option considering that the trend in this sector is on the FDI and many companies in India seeks for foreign investments
because of the benefits it can offer to the host countries. The government favorably considers the FDI as an entry
mode over others due to its promotion to relationship with foreign countries. Considering also the nature of the
business, franchising will not work effectively as it is not mainly a service company.
On the other hand, the business threats comprised of rising fiscal deficits and currency fluctuations. Also, the
political situation is not good with the cases of corruptions. Many businesses suffer the consequences of red tapes in
order to make business and the complex business environment. Taxation, legal and bureaucratic systems limits the
potentials of businesses (Acemoglu, Aghion and Zilibotti, 2006). So, the FDI seems to be the most favorable option.
Internet connectivity in the entire country is still struggling with 27% of the populace have internet connections which
needs more improvement in this area. The political climate is another major concern and challenge especially on how
to eradicate the clear incidences of red tapes and corruption. However; with the installation of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, economic reforms are expected and development in infrastructure (M-Brain, 2015).
6.4. China
Undeniably, China is also progressing with its economic growth though they have registered the top spot in terms
of population. According to the country’s 5-year plan which was drafted in 2010 by the Government, China is expected
to double its figure in Gross National Product (GNP) over 10 years having annual growth rate of 7% with the aim of
stimulating the domestic market (Wealtheon, 2015). In Asia, China has been considered as the largest economy in
terms of GDP thereby surpassing Japan through business expansions and in terms of export-based economy which
catapulted the country as an economic powerhouse. Estimates are reliably measured that China will surpass the
economy of United States in 2017. This will be attributed to high savings rates, open market offerings, highly-educated
workforce and high incomes. Moreover; the favorable economic conditions allow the country to capitalize on its
resources and capabilities to be on top in economic growth. Finally, the purchasing power of the country is getting
stronger compared to the rivals in emerging markets (Wealtheon, 2015).
7. Conclusion and Recommendation
Assessing the potentials of the emerging market economies provided different and varying results. Key indicators
are employed to compare the business environment surrounding the emerging market economies including the BRICs
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. These indicators include but not limited to labor productivity measured
in value-added per worker, labor quality, measure of capital and total factor productivity and employment. Moreover;
it tackles the topics on investment environment, market and labor productivity potentials, government intervention on
policies, impacts of regional integration initiatives and assessing the opportunities and threats of the BRICs countries.
However; further evaluation revealed that countries such as China, India and Indonesia are better choices for Start
Trucks Ltd. to invest because of favorable fixed capital formation, increasing participation of working population,
and the opportunities to capitalize in these markets. Furthermore; in terms of real GDP growth rate, these three
countries also demonstrated its dominance with China the highest, followed by Indonesia and India although
significant drop of the rate on China and India in 2011-2013. Based on these findings, it can be recommended that
preference on investment potentials will be emphasized in these countries although further studies are needed to affirm
these results.
Also, it is not much affected by global recession as evidenced by the economic growth rate as well as low inflation
rate. It is clear from the above statements the criteria and consideration in choosing which market the company Star
Trucks Ltd should expand its business and evaluating these factors would lead to the selection of three countries such
as China, India and Indonesia as better investment options. Clearly indicated in the opportunities and threats analysis,
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), market analysis, labor productivity and its
contribution to the GDP shows favorably that these three countries possess the capability and ability to accept the
challenge of this foreign expansions. The trade and regulations as well as the government’s outlook on FDI is
promising. Although more researches can be required to further assess the potential of the emerging markets using
different techniques and dimensions.
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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Mobile Value-Added Services
(MVAS) with special reference to SMS Marketing
Krishna Murari
Department of Management, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Tadong, Gangtok-737102, India
* Corresponding author: email: kmurari@cus.ac.in
Abstract
Mobility and virtualization are two trends that are changing the way people can access information while on the move. Mobile
phones today have moved beyond their fundamental role of communications and have graduated to become an extension of the
persona of the user. We are witnessing an era when users buy mobile phones not just to be in touch, but to express themselves,
their attitude, feelings & interests through the use of various value-added services (VAS). Customers continuously want more from
their phone. Thus, there exists a vast world beyond voice that needs to be explored and tapped and the entire mobile industry is
heading towards it to provide innovative options to their customers. The increased importance of VAS has also made content
developers burn the midnight oil to come up with better and newer concepts and services. Short messaging service (SMS) is used
by majority of mobile users for various purposes. This article explores the various types of mobile VAS accessed by Indian
consumers and the effectiveness of SMS VAS as a marketing tool for the companies in Indian consumer market.
Keywords: Telecom Industry; Mobile Value-added Services; SMS VAS; SMS marketing; Effectiveness
1. Introduction
Invention of mobile technologies and its evolution is the biggest boon to mankind. Telecommunication industry is
growing at a rapid rate. There are 3.6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide as on year end 2014, out of which around
867 million mobile subscribers are Indian. Over 350 billion text messages are exchanged across the world every month.
Ever since mobile world came into existence, there has been continuous innovation around mobile services. Today,
mobile phones have moved beyond their primary role of voice communications and have graduated to become an
essential entertaining device for mobile users. We are in an era where users purchase mobile phones not just to be in
touch with people, but use it to express their thoughts, for social networking, to show their interests, send photos,
download images, play games, read news, surf on the Internet, listen to music, chat instantly with friends & families
and even check their bank balances.
1.1 Mobile Value-added Services (MVAS)
Nomenclature
CRBT Caller Ring Back Tone
GNI Gross National Income
GPRS General Packet Radio Services
MMS Multimedia messages
MVAS Mobile Value-added Service
SMS Short Messaging Service (text message)
TRAI Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (interactive menu based service)
A mobile value-added service (m-VAS) is the ability for mobile operators and service providers to charge a premium
price for the services (beyond voice conversation) they offer to their subscribers (mobile users). Some of the services
include: SMS (text messages), MMS (multimedia messages), USSD (interactive menu based services), CRBT (caller
ring back tone), video streaming, mobile advertisements, participation in polls and contests, location based services,
m-Commerce (financial transactions), Instant messaging, Infotainment services (news, weather reports, songs,
recipes), content downloads (wallpapers, screen savers, games, ring tones), down loadable mobile applications.
All the value-added services address some need of the end consumer whether it is psychological, monetary
or convenience. Based on the need fulfillment of the end user, we have grouped Mobile VAS into four broad
categories.
1.1.1 Entertainment VAS
The key differentiating factor of Entertainment VAS is the mass appeal it generates. These provide
entertainment for leisure time usage. These not only generate heavy volume (owing to its mass appeal) but also heavy
usage. An example of these kinds of services is Jokes, Bollywood Ringtones, CRBT (Caller Ring Back Tone) and
games. These services continue to be popular and have been key revenue generators for the Indian mobile VAS market.
This is a high value m-VAS and will continue to show growth.
1.1.2 Info VAS
These services are characterized by the useful information it provides to the end user. Apart from mobile,
alternate modes are available to access Information VAS like Newspaper, TV, and Internet. E.g. of Info VAS is
information on movie tickets, news, banking account etc. They also include user request for information on other
product categories like real-estate, education, stock updates, etc. Information VAS needs to target the right person at
the right time with the right content.
1.1.3 Communication VAS
The communication VAS includes those differentiated services which provide the users to set connectivity
with his/her peer group. For example- SMS, checking mails on Gmail or always on push mail interface, accessing
mobile search engines, instant messaging on blackberry, video calling, Facebook etc.,
1.1.4 M-Commerce VAS
These are the services which involve some transaction using the mobile phone. An example of this kind of
service is buying movie tickets using mobile phone or transfer of money from one bank account to the other. These
can broadly be classified into 2 types - Mobile banking and Mobile payments. A big boost to m-commerce has come
from the RBI which recently came out with some guidelines. M-Commerce penetration continues to be small but
awareness is increasing. Operators are betting on technologies like USSD to make the service handset agnostic. The
current marketing focus is primarily on mobile bill payment and m-banking. Industry is betting on tripling number of
m-Commerce users within this year.
In developed countries, mobile marketing is highly cost effective tool of marketing. Even in developing
countries like Bangladesh, which is amongst the poorest countries in the world, with 50 percent of people living in
poverty with gross national income (GNI) per capita of $470, the mobile communications sector is growing rapidly
and is cited as the fastest growing industry there (Scharl, Dickinger, Haghirian & Murphy, 2005). This article explores
the various types of mobile VAS accessed by Indian consumers and the effectiveness of SMS VAS as a marketing
tool for the companies in Indian consumer market.
2. Objectives of the study
This study is carried out keeping in mind the following objectives-
Ø To identify pattern of usage of mobile value-added services among the demographic characteristics of the
respondents.
Ø To evaluate the scope & effectiveness of SMS VAS marketing in Indian consumers.
Ø To assess associated challenges to mobile VAS in potential rural India.
3. Research Approach
Our study focuses on urban India and it covers 100 respondents across 7 cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad,
Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. The survey focuses on 30 VAS services across Entertainment, Information,
Communication and m-Commerce. The study and the subsequent analysis of primary and secondary information also
bring out an understanding of the services of the future, and the price people are willing to pay. The respondents were
spread across different Socio-Economic Classes, age groups, education backgrounds and working status. Thus, it is
supposed to give deeper insights into various sections of the urban mobile VAS users.
4. Review of Literature
Mobile VAS marketing process can be defined as “using interactive wireless media to provide customers
with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating
value for all stakeholders”. This illustrates provision of value to both the marketing party and also to the consumer
(Barnhart & Barnhart, 2000).
Mobile VAS has critically transformed communication industry and in turn significantly rejuvenated the
experience of consumers and marketers as well. Consumers can easily receive information of their interest and that
gives power to the advertisers in a cost- effective manner to develop and enhance long-term customer relationship.
Keeping this benefit in view, the modern advertisers are adopting this important tool and relying on different modes
of interactive technology for the promotion and advertising of their products and services (Pavlou & Stewart, 2000).
According to Faulkner and Culwin (2005), SMS VAS service is very effective for communication between
one to one friends. But business organizations also think that it could be an important tool for business tasks and
communication with customers. It was estimated by market research group Radicati that in 2004, 55 percent of text
messaging was for business use, with much further growth to come (Sakhare, 2011). With the growing popularity of
SMS marketing, many software services are coming in the market. This makes the entire process of sending and
receiving messages easier and simpler. Mobile SMS marketing is considered as vast platform offering multiple
avenues like bulk SMS service, two-way SMS exchanges and short code SMS services. With the help of bulk SMS
service, multiple messages can be set to thousands of people which exist in the database and that too with a single
click of the mouse (The Most Affordable and Ideal Umbrella of SMS Advertising and Marketing, 2011).
SMS usage continues to grow every year with more and more new innovative ways of utilizing its potential
coming to the forefront. Indians are using SMS as an extension of their lives more and more every year. On an average
an Indian sends 29 SMS per month (TRAI data). It’s being used not just to keep in touch with friends and family but
to check bank balances, mobile bills, and status of train/flight to name a few.
Indians use SMS for all sorts of reasons from receiving jokes to checking on flight status to enquiring about exam
results. It’s a very powerful medium for getting in touch with people without soliciting a backlash as seen on phone
calls. It’s effective for getting the message out to potential customers or retaining existing ones. Some key points of
the TRAI report are:
§ One in five urban Indians have used a SMS based VAS service either as a one-off or on subscription basis.
§ SMS is an effective marketing tool, showing conversion rates a lot higher than other conventional mediums
i.e. TV/Radio etc. 1 in 3 Urban Indian has acted in some manner over the SMS i.e. forwarding to others or
enquiring about it.
§ SMS, an advertising medium, has an interaction rate of around 5%.
§ A quarter of urban Indians have participated in some sort of SMS contest, a valuable tool for getting
consumers involved with products/services.
5. Findings & Interpretation
5.1 Mobile SMS VAS Usage Pattern
Males are generally more active users of SMS VAS services compared to their counterparts. While males are
more interested in getting sports updates females are interested in spiritual and astrology quotes.
Figure 2: reveals that receiving jokes via SMS on phones is the most popular SMS VAS service, subscribed by 1 in 2
SMS VAS subscribers followed by Astrology (47%), News alerts (44%) and Jobs (43%).
5.2 Age wise Distribution of SMS VAS Usage
On looking at usage of SMS VAS services by age, SMS related to “Stocks/Finance/Business” are most popular among
55 years or older people while Jokes are the most popular SMS VAS service for 18 to 44 years old.
Table 1: SMS VAS Usage in India - Age Matters
Above
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55
SMS Service years years Years year years
News alerts 44.70% 35.80% 50.20% 51.90% 46.10%
Sport 43.20% 41.70% 38.20% 42.70% 46.40%
Astrology 42.90% 42.30% 49.40% 62.40% 55.20%
Jokes 56.20% 52.80% 62.70% 43.10% 33.20%
Stocks/Finance/Business 29.00% 35.10% 43.10% 32.70% 56.70%
Health Tips 32.50% 32.80% 36.40% 31.90% 33.90%

Chat 31.30% 28.60% 21.60% 24.20% 2.40%
Movies 31.30% 25.40% 13.60% 10.80% 3.70%
Jobs 46.20% 43.30% 34.40% 41.00% 49.70%
Spiritual 21.60% 24.90% 18.10% 25.50% 26.80%

Love tips/ quotes 36.30% 32.30% 18.30% 28.30% 0.50%
Vastu 23.30% 23.30% 17.30% 23.60% 20.50%
TV Guide 16.60% 15.50% 22.80% 23.80% 29.50%
5.3 City wise Distribution of SMS VAS Users
SMS is a popular medium for delivering Value-added Services (VAS); it’s a valuable revenue source for
service providers, almost 5% of service provider’s revenue comes from SMS VAS services being the highest revenue
earning VAS. Almost 20% of Urban Indians or 1 in 5 have used a SMS VAS service over the quarter in last one year.
On looking at the big 7 Indian cities, “Delhities” are the most avid users of SMS VAS services, accounting for 6% of
all SMS VAS users in Urban India followed by Mumbai and Chennai at 5% each.
Figure 3: City wise SMS VAS Users
5.4 SMS as a Marketing Tool
SMS is increasingly being viewed by India Inc. as a source of getting in touch with their customers. This is
evident from the fact that every second urban Indian acknowledged receiving marketing/promotional SMS on their
phone. The intensity of using SMS for marketing/promotions is quite high with almost 75% receiving a minimum of
4 such SMS.
Table 2: Usage of SMS Marketing in India

Product/ Services Urban India
Downloads for ringtones, wallpapers, games 36.9%
Entertainment products like movies, music 36.3%

Financial products like Banking, investments, loans 33.6%
Offers to participate in a contest or game 31.1%
Other products(s) and/ or services 28.3%
Consumer electronics 21.0%

Travel products like airline tickets, railway tickets, hotels 20.6%
Food Services like restaurants, coffee shops, fast food 17.3%
Vehicles like cars, scooters, bikes 14.1%
5.5 SMS Marketing– Services
Companies offering downloads for ring tones/wallpapers/games use SMS as a marketing tool a lot more
frequently, 37% of Urban Indians have received a SMS offering such products, followed by entertainment/media
companies i.e. movies, music etc., garnering a 36% recall rate (Table 2).
5.6 Efficiency of SMS as a Marketing Tool
1 in 3 of Urban Indians who receive a marketing/promotional SMS takes some action while 2 out 3 deleted
or ignore the message completely. Calling up to inquire (if number available) followed by forwarding message to
others are the two most commonly cited actions taken on receipt of marketing/promotional SMS. While 11% also
indicated they made a purchase on the basis of information received via SMS.
5.7 SMS Marketing Effectiveness – Gender Effect
Females are less likely to ignore and/or delete the message compared to males and are more likely to enquire
further i.e. by calling up customer service or walking into the store. However, males are more involved when it comes
to using the coupons/discounts offered in SMS (Figure 5).
5.8 SMS Marketing Effectiveness –Age Effect
35 to 44-year old are most likely to purchase a product(s) and/or service(s) based on information received
via SMS, while in the same age group 32% forward the message to a friend of family member for further perusal. 31%
in the age group 35-44 years showed their interest in product/service advertised though SMS in order to know more
about the same.
5.9 SMS as a Promotional Medium
SMS is so widely used in India that it’s now becoming a medium for advertising as well. Many companies
are using this powerful medium to advertise their offerings. 43% of the urban Indian respondents, have seen an ad in
a SMS they received, while 57% of those who have seen have also read the advertisement message. Such high level
of awareness indicates the importance of this medium for promotional purposes.
5.10 Potential Market from Rural India

For majority of the population in the rural segment, the mobile phone is the first communication device.
Rural should not always be interpreted as poor and therefore some categories of MVAS might apply directly to them.
But whether the statement can be extended to MVAS depends on some key factors. One is to clearly identify the need
of the rural segment, second is to communicate the services to them i.e. generate awareness and thirdly, to provide an
easy and cheap access mode to the rural consumers. All these 3 are quite big challenges and therefore needs to be
addressed adequately for MVAS to take off in Rural India. Apart from the identification of rural consumer needs and
development of relevant content, communication of these services to the rural population would be a bigger challenge.
One way to do this is to communicate through regional SMS for which a separate SMS gateway needs to be installed.
Literacy level of the geographical area will be another limitation. Therefore, the better communication option is Voice
in regional languages. The challenge with regional voice is not only investment but also blockage of the already scarce
spectrum.
Marketing the content in rural market is going to be all the more challenging. This would require right
packaging and pricing of MVAS. Providing cheap access mode to end consumer would be another key booster to rural
MVAS. Current voice MVAS charges are expensive from a rural consumer perspective therefore that also would need
to be addressed for e.g. the ‘sachet model’ could prove to be successful here. MVAS is going to address two main
needs of rural consumers- connectivity and entertainment mode. Connectivity will provide Information VAS on
Agriculture necessary for the farmer’s livelihood e.g. mandi rates, weather, etc. Health, finance, job opportunities etc.
are potential areas. Mobile also has the potential to evolve as a key entertainment mode considering lack of other
entertainment options in rural areas. The industry has witnessed some type of content being downloaded more in small
towns of UP and Bihar rather than in metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Therefore, by leveraging on these two aspects
MVAS can be a success in rural area. Mobile interconnected industries are every day coming up with fresh and ground
– breaking mobile technologies. Mobile VAS accounts to 10-12% of the total telecom revenues. Over 375 million
mobile subscribers in India, out of which 8-10% of the total mobile subscribers are expected to be GPRS (General
Packet Radio Services) subscribers as well. At present CRBT download and SMS (A2P) mobile VAS seems most
popular amongst mobile users. With the launch of 3G services (faster data speed) in India, games download, video
streaming, m-commerce, mobile blogs and mobile chat is expected to grow in future. As per TRAI predictions, mobile
VAS revenue growth contributing to telecommunication industry is expected to grow to 30% in next 5-7 years, which
is way beyond the current contribution of 10-12%.
6. Conclusion
India has a huge cellular subscriber’s base which is approximately split in 70:30 between rural and urban
users respectively. With falling prices of mobile voice calls and text messages, telecom operators are turning to
additional services which are offered to customers; such services are called Mobile Value-added Services or MVAS.
With diverse demography, lifestyle and consumer preferences amongst urban, sub-urban and rural consumers across
the country, MVAS are destined to generate high returns. Value-added services (VAS) over the mobile are drawing
increasing attention from operators and content providers. With its increased popularity in rural India, it can be a
largest revenue fetching area to the value-added service providers. It is continuously growing at rate of approximately
70% and contributes around 9-12% of mobile operator’s revenue. SMS marketing is also very helpful from company’s
perspective because it is very cost-effective tool of marketing especially in case of reaching mass audience. The study
concludes that this tool is here to stay and will grow significantly in upcoming years. In this regard migration to 4G
from 3G will be a big enabler for richer services, and can actually drive higher average revenue per user (ARPUs).
Reference:
A Report by PWC- Connect with Consumers Value-added Services: The Next Wave, accessed on 12 August 2015 from
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and Applications, Vol. 4, pp.159–173.
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The value of loyalty programs in marketing of services
Firend Al. R.1 Wang Qian2
1
The American International Institute, USA
2
IBS, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia TRAI Report on Recommendation on Application Services (2012)
Abstract
This paper explores the application of loyalty programs in Malaysian as a representative sample of the Asian and South East Asian
consumer. This is primary attributed to the multi-culturalism and ethnic composition of the Malaysian society. This research
concludes that the Malaysian consumers like most Southeast Asian consumers, is price sensitive, and motivated to utilize any form
of loyalty program that enhances saving and increase value of purchase. Findings of this research, concludes that consumers are
increasingly price sensitive across Southeast Asia and Malaysia. Analysis further shows that higher fuel and general increases in
the consumer price index (CPI) directly correlated to place of shopping. Analysis of secondary data further shows that consumers
prefer to go to one stop shopping center to get all their shopping needs done in one place, which often has all the facilities needed
such as post office, banking services, food courts, and telecommunication services. Such one stop shopping canters provides
convenience to consumers, and as a result, developers in the city of Kuala Lumpur are participating in the creation of such space
and experience. Although this will create more commercial space and creation of jobs, yet the consequence of such demand and
preference is over supply of retail centers that provides such shopping convenience. An efficient regulatory framework then must
be in place that assesses population growth, demand and regulates supply of such retail space. Failing to adequately regulate supply
of retail space would have a negative impact on zoning, the banking sector that is tied to the construction industry and developing
companies of such retail space.

Keywords: Services; marketing, Asia, Malaysia, consumer loyalty
1. Introduction
Southeast Asian consumer and general and Malaysian consumers in particular are a growing to be budget
conscious regarding essential grocery and non-grocery related products and services. As general commodity prices
increase as measured by Consumer price Index (CPI), this tends to impact the prices of grocery related commodities.
In the case of Malaysia, this is primarily because of lift of subsidies on commodities such as sugar and rice, imposing
additional taxes on fuel and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST). This in turn, causes a trickle-down
effect on consumer goods prices, including grocery products. This also appears to be caused by increases in
transportation cost, which is directly associated to increase in fuel prices (Firend, 2015).
Such price hikes experienced in Malaysia, between 2014 to 2016, is largely cause my governmental
budgetary constraints to balance a deficit in the national budget. Which in turn, causes low-income consumers to be
more cautious in spending. As a result, many grocery retailers in Malaysia ranging from hypermarkets, supermarkets
to small convenience stores, are expressing increasing competition in an overcrowded sector of the market (Hassan,
H., & Rahman 2012). In Malaysia, although the market of small traditional retail shops or as otherwise known as
convenience shops is still significant, yet, over development in real estate sector coupled with economic growth,
encouraged international retailers to expand in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia. Rapid growth of international
grocery shops such as department stores like Robinson, Isetan, Parkson, Metrojaya, coupled with super grocery stores
such as Giant, Tesco, and Aeon are mushrooming in every state of Malaysia (Chen et. al. 2016). As a result, retailers
are facing intense competition and increasingly getting creative in luring customers back to their shops in an effort to
make them repeat customers.
Loyalty cards are given to consumers with the intention to increase participation (Demoulin & Zidda, 2008).
Loyalty cards, provides important information on customers such as address, items purchased, frequency of purchase,
preferences, and prices. Such information is vital to retailers because of the intelligence such information provide in
designing discounts and special offers to increase purchasing frequency. Such information is particularly important in
the age of Artificial Intelligence “AI”, where data is mined to produce patterns in consumers’ behaviour, increase
retention, product design and availability, and increase purchasing frequency (Witten et. Al 2016).
2. Statement of Problem
An increasing competitive landscape in the Malaysian retail sector, over supply of commercial property in the real
estate sector, coupled with increases in inflationary prices, puts pressure on both consumers and retailers to change
current mechanism of purchasing patterns. Both retailers and consumers in such circumstances are forced to find new
and better ways of shopping to maximize value. Retailers are increasingly forced to be more creative as far as consumer
attention in the face of the increased competition. While consumers are forced to make ends meet in the face of higher-
priced and limited income (Gilchrist et. al. 2017). Therefore, it is essential to explore the changing mechanism in the
relationship between the retailer and the consumer in such circumstances.
Fig. 1 Malaysia Consumer Price Index 2017
2.1 Objectives
The objectives of this study, is to provide an insight into factors that influence consumers intensions towards
the utilization of loyalty cards in the Malaysian retail sector. The significance of this study, is that it provides an insight
into the changing relationship between consumers and retailers, and whether current efforts by retailers to increase the
use of loyalty cards as means to improve customer retention, is effective in Malaysia. Such findings can help in the
process of generalising such findings across Southeast Asia. Such examination is critical to both consumers and
retailers in inflationary times.
3. Literature Review
Customer relationship management continues to be an area of concern and importance both, in theory and
practice (Omar, Azrin, & HanitaSarah, 2009). Yuping (2007) argue that loyalty programs provides win-win to both,
consumers and organization, whereby such rewards would lead to more market share, and this is considered to be a
fundamental aspect of such programs. Ziliani & Bellini (2004) suggest that rewards on loyalty cards can be monitory
or non-monetary in nature. Loyalty programs compensate customers in the form of price reductions, or benefits for
their patronage overtime (Magi, 2003). Loyalty can be classified into different categories on the basis of rewards or
on the basis of the target membership group. Open-ended programs do not entail any membership criteria, but rather,
available for everyone. Whereas limited loyalty programs are designed for specific target groups and therefore,
requires the fulfillment of certain pre-membership criteria (Kumar, 2003).
Vyas and Sinha (2008) suggest that loyalty cards are simple and economic approach for implementing
strategic loyalty programs. It is most commonly applied in retail sector and treated as a mechanism for identifying and
rewarding loyal members. Loyalty card scheme operates by awarding points according to the amount of money spent
during a given purchase. As such, accumulated points are earned for the sole purpose of exchange to cash, gifts,
discounts, rebates, during current or future purchases (Wright & Sparks, 1999).
A study conducted by Worthington & Fear (2009) found that most members of programs are aware that
information can be used to track their purchases, determine habits and track patterns, and are happy to be offered
promotions accordingly. Such trend will increase in volume and capacity in the age of artificial intelligence and
sophisticated computational evolution (Linoff & Berry, 2011). Therefore, it is important to continually examine trends
and consumer attitude towards loyalty programs in an economically vibrant region such as Southeast Asia, to explorer
future trends through current practices.
4. Methodology
Research methodology consists of primary and secondary data collection. Primary data collected through
Survey distributed at local grocery shops, hyper-marts and shopping malls in and around the city of Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. The city of Kuala Lumpur can be described as a representative sample encompassing ethnic diversity
representative of the population of Southeast Asia in general. Location of survey distribution for random sampling
took into consideration the ethnic composition of the population to include all ethnic races that comprise the Malaysian
society. While secondary data was collected through publication published by the Malaysian Retail Association, which
provided significant data regarding sales, trends and ethnic geographic distribution in the city of Kuala Lumpur.
Sampling framework is restricted to Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley, because of the large ethnic diversity
located within the parameters of the sampling area. Sampling included the following retail stores: AEON, Metrojaya,
Isetan, Tesco and Sogo. All sampling locations and retailors are known to offer loyalty cards to the shoppers. A total
of 250 questionnaires were distributed, and total of 223 questionnaires were collected for analysis. Out of which, only
200 sets of questionnaires were utilized for analysis. Result of the analysis is presented below.
The questionnaire consisted of 5-point Likert scale to measured variables such as past experience, relative
advantage, privacy concerns, and questions gauging consumers’ attitude towards the utilization of loyalty cards, and
consumers’ experience. Statistical analysis was conducted using statistical package for social science SPSS v.21.
Descriptive analysis was run on the data sets, reliability tests, multiple regression, and Pearson correlation tests to
determine statistical significance between variables in the study and to test hypotheses. For reliability, a Cronback
alpha test was conducted to measure consistency among respondents.
Table 1: Reliability analysis

Variables Cronbach’s Alphas
Relative Advantage 0.769

Past Experience 0.869
Privacy Concerns 0.514
5. Findings
Descriptive analysis shows that 52.5% (105 respondents) where female, while 47.5% (95 respondents) were male.
Ethnic distribution is as the following; a total of 43.5% of respondents where Malay, follow by ethnic Chinese 42%,
Indians 9%, Sarawakian 2.5%, Sabahan 1%, and others 2%. Additionally, 51% of respondents were between the age
of 2- to 29 years old. 78.5% held a diploma or higher
Table 2: Distribution of respondents according to occupation

Fig. 2 Type of retail stores most visited
Finding further shows that respondents mainly prefer shopping at hypermarkets where multiple services
offered such as post, banking, beauty and other service to create a one-stop-shop experience. Respondents also showed
a preference for shopping at supermarkets and department stores, mainly because of convenience. Price was another
equally important factor for choice of shopping location. Analysis further shows that respondents visited convenience
stores, independent grocery and other specialized shops mainly because of convenience of geographic proximity of
stores nearby their workplace. And therefore, approximation, distance and accessibility are factors of importance to
shoppers.
Table 3: Rank of factors influencing purchases made
Analysis further shows that 17.5% of respondents owned a loyalty card. 21.5% of respondents did not own
any form of loyalty card, pose a gap amongst consumers that can be fulfilled by retailors. In final analysis, this study
reveals that consumers in major cities prefer to do their shopping in hypermarkets followed by supermarkets, primarily
because of the following combination of factors; price, convenience of location and value gained. This reflects the
increasingly price sensitive consumer across Southeast Asia including Malaysia. Second analysis further supports
finding of this study that higher fuel and general increases in the consumer price index directly affects the consumer
and place of shopping. An increase in the utilization of loyalty cards reflects attempts made by consumers to cut
corners, and cope with increases in commodity prices and items measured by the CPI. It is fair to infer that the
Malaysian consumer like most of Southeast Asian consumers, are price sensitive, and keen to utilize any form of
loyalty program that can help in their saving effort and increase value of purchase. Findings further support earlier
findings by Firend (2015) and Yuping (2007).
In Malaysia, analysis of secondary data further shows that consumers prefer to go to one-stop-shopping canter to
get all their shopping needs done in one place. Hypermarkets and supermarkets in Malaysia, often has all the facilities
needed for consumers such as post office, banking services, food courts, and telecommunication services. Such one
stop shopping centers provides convenience to consumers, and as a result, developers in the city of Kuala Lumpur are
participating in the creation of such shopping centers. Although this will create more commercial space and creation
of jobs, yet the consequence of such demand and preference is over supply of retail centers that provides such shopping
convenience. An efficient regulatory framework then must be in place that assesses population growth, demand and
regulates supply of such retail space. Failing to adequately regulate supply of retail space would have a negative
impact on zoning, the banking sector that is tied to the construction industry and developers of such retail space.
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The Role and Impact of E-Commerce in The Insurance Industry
Yalda Bijanipour ͣ
ͣ Department of Business Administration, Istanbul Aydin University, Turkey, E-mail: Yalda.pars@yahoo.com
Abstract
The widespread use of the Internet and increasing demand for Internet access in order to get information and goods and services
has changed lifestyle in society. Therefore, insurance companies cannot ignore these requests. Insurance companies can provide
their customer with better services by using new information and communications technology. In addition, electronic insurance
reduce real-time of business and management costs. In this research the role and impact of e-commerce on insurance companies
has been addressed in terms of that to what extent using of e-commerce reduce company’s costs and boost company’s
competitiveness and organizational performance. The general conclusions made by this study identify that the Iranian insurance
companies have a positive attitude towards e-commerce and they found that e-commerce would be an opportunity to boost the
quality and efficiency of their business. Research finding confirm that the Iranian insurance companies would benefit from using
of e-commerce in terms of cost reduction, brand and image promotion and extended corporation with partners and enhance
organizational performance and competitiveness.
Keywords: E-commerce, Internet, Insurance, Organizational performance, Costs reduction, company’ competitiveness
1. Introduction
Nowadays the conditions of business are quickly changing. From a commercial point of view, the Internet
and information technology have a significant effect on different industries. The growing importance of e-commerce
increases demand of using it in the industries and in most insurance industries as well. Electronic Insurance is a result
of development in information technology and communication. In the other words, insurance operations can be done
by the Internet easily. In recent years, with the advancement of information and communication technology, many
real-world interactions have been transferred to the virtual one. The most important feature of this event is that the
time and place limitations have been removed and a great deal has been created for the industries and owners of
international companies (Tayebi, 2007).
E-commerce can be defined any trade or transaction or information technology exchange that runs through
any kind of information and communication technology (Arora, 2003). Electronic commerce was first introduced in
the 1960s through an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and with the widespread use of the Internet and growing
Internet access online transaction increased in the 1990s and early 2000s. By increasing the number of Internet users,
many believe that e-commerce will become soon the main way of doing business transactions (Easton & Fife, 1991).
Insurance companies in Iran have similar behavior to most other countries and using of internet is considered
as a channel for communicating and advertising. As a result of information technology growth, electronic insurance
can be a useful recommendation and opportunity in Iran (Fanaie, 2004).
Companies to achieve a favorable outcome and before implementing this system, must be organized a strategic plan
and infrastructures and identify the strengths and weaknesses (Dessler, 2014).
Martin Grossman (2004) in his research stated that the insurance industry has undergone major changes as it
focuses on accepting e-commerce and with the help of e-commerce, it can increase its competitive power and use its
full potential and compete in the global marketplace.
The result of Fatemeh Hoseinpour (2013) indicated IT has an impact on speed in Iran insurance company in terms of
reducing costs, reducing non-productive activities and safety and speed has been established.
Feizollahi (2014) has investigated the effect of Internet on organizational performance and indicated there is positive
coloration between e-commerce familiarity and organizational performance and organizational performance.
Sekulovska (2012) did a survey about Internet business models for e-insurance and stated that from the analysis of the
hypothesis it can be concluded that companies can use e-commerce to communicate with other companies as well as
their customers and the use of e-commerce can increase their access to information and improve their performance.
Emma Anamush (2009) stated that using of e-commerce in banking industry is a new way of doing business
can be introduced banks in market effectively and makes them more competitive. El Monayery (2015) showed that if
e-commerce is implemented in companies, insurance companies will be achieved advantage from competitive
situation in developing countries. Shahriari (2015) has discussed about e-commerce and it impacts on global trend and
market and indicate the benefits of e-commerce are cost savings, increased productivity and customization. To
understand e-commerce, identifying the various terms that are used is important to determine their applications. These
include additional information, reliability and security issues, access costs, social divisions and problems in
monitoring the Internet. Successful e-commerce involves understanding the constraints and minimizing the negative
impact.
3. Research Model and Hypotheses
3.1. E-commerce and Reducing Cost
Companies can use the web to provide customers with ongoing information, service and support, creating
positive interaction that can serve as the foundation for long term relationships and encourage them to purchases
repeatedly. It allows companies to delivery quickly, especially in case of digitalized products. Consequently,
consumers have access 24 hours in 7days to service (Wang & Xu, 2001). Using of e-commerce eliminates a lot of the
intermediate links. Thus, reducing middle link cause a reduction in costs of companies and reducing the product's final
selling price. It not only helps businesses expand sales over the Internet, consumers can benefit from reducing price
as well (Delone et al. 2003).
Based on the discussion mentioned above being positive relationship between using of e-commerce and
reducing cost is expected. Therefore, following hypothesis presents:
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between using of e-commerce and reducing cost.
3.2. E-Commerce and Company’s Competitiveness
According to this fact that e-commerce capabilities increases competition power in the marketplace, it is clear
that a meaningful relationship can be found between the use of e-commerce and the company's competitiveness. E-
Commerce expand company’s marketplace to national and international markets and a company can locate more
customers and the best suppliers and the most suitable business partners worldwide easily and quickly. E-commerce
eliminates borders because of the use of the Internet and it expands business in the global market (Gao & Wu, 2003).
Economic markets are becoming global markets and e-commerce can help companies compete in this market (Zixiang,
2010).
Given the investigation and literatures mentioned above being positive effect of electronic tread on the
company’s competitiveness is expected. As a result, following hypothesis presents:
Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between using of e-commerce and company’s competitiveness
3.3. E-commerce and Organizational Performance
Using information technology increase Company’s performance with reducing time to market and reducing
time responsibility to customer. Considering, internet can always facilitate transaction, there is a strong relationship
between using of e-commerce and e-commerce implements and facilitating business processes (Delone et al. 2003).
As a result of technological advances, many businesses are able to run e-commerce more convenient and efficient up
to now and become more competitive by using the telecommunication networks. Organizations boost the quality and
efficiency of their performance by implementing e- commerce (Zixiang, 2010).
Considering the investigation and relevant literatures being substantial impact of e-commerce on the performance of
the organization is expected. Therefore, following hypothesis presents:
Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between using of e-commerce and organizational performance.
Reducing cost
"#
"$
E-commerce Company’s
"% competitiveness
Organizational
performance
Figure 1. Research Mode
4. Data Collection
To fulfill the purposes of this study this survey is carried out on the Iranian insurance companies. 150 questionnaires
were prepared to collect the data for testing hypotheses in this survey. These questionnaires distributed among the
sample population of the statistical society including two state-owned insurance companies (Iran, Alborz,) and two
private insurance companies (Parsian,Sina). Sampling frame and the target community includes managers (senior,
junior and operational) and experts of insurance companies in different department such as, human resource, finance,
public relations, marketing & sale and IT. The questionnaire was divided to five parts. The first part of the
questionnaire is related to demographic profile and other parts relate to research hypotheses. In this research,
convenience sample method was used for obtaining statistical sample due to lack of access to the whole statistical
society.
Demographic Profile Frequencies Percentage
1 ) Gender
Female 38 25.3
Male 112 74.7
2 ) Age
21-30 37 24.7
31-40 59 39.3
41-50 38 25.3
51-60 16 10.7
3 ) Educational Level
Diploma 2 1.3
Bachelor 103 68.7
Master 42 28.0
PhD 3 2.0
4 ) Work Experience
Less than 10 93 62.0
11-20 28 18.7
21-30 22 14.7
More than 30
7 4.7
Table 1. Demographic Profile of Respondents
5. The Baseline Model
The first step in SEM analysis is to determine the baseline model. Collected data has examined to ensure that they
are well-suited for analytical inference. The main objective of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is to assess the
extent to which the observed variables are connected to their respective underlying latent factors (Byrne, 2010). The
main hypothesis in this research is the impact of e-commerce on the insurance industry, the model to be tested in
hypothesis is a four factor (latent variables) composed of reducing cost, company’s competitiveness, organizational
performance and using of e-commerce. There are 23 observed variables that loan on factors in the following pattern,
five observed variables loan on first Factors , six observed variables loan on second factors and six observed variables
loan on third factor and six observed variables loan on fourth factor means using of ecommerce. Each observed
variable loans on one and only one factor and errors with each observed variable are uncorrelated. Some Items
removed since this CFA model is the final model and this model was obtained after several re-specifications and re-
estimations based on modification indices which were supplied by SPSS AMOS version 22 for each factors. Therefore,
some items have been removed by recommendation of analysis to reach better result. Appendix A shows that for each
items all factor loading are highly significant with p<0.005. The CAF model presents in figure 2.
Figure 2. Hypothesis CAF Model
Model fit summary
RMR .043
GFI .867
AGFI .810
PGFI .606
NFI .747
CFI .851
PNFI .591
PCFI .674
RMSEA .081
Table 2. Selected AMOS Output, CFA Model: Goodness-of-Fit Statistics
The standardized RMR represents the average value across all standardized residuals, and ranges from zero
to 1.00 but in well-fitting model it will be better if this value is 0.05 or less (Byrne, 2010). In table 2, the value RMR
has shown 0.043 that represents the average discrepancy between the observed variable and hypothesized correlation
matrices.
The GFI and AGFI can be classified as absolute indices of fit because they basically compare the
hypothesized model with no model at all and both indices range from zero to 1.00, but values close to 1.00 and more
than 0.8 being indicative of good fit (Byrne, 2010). In this model GFI and AGFI values represent in table 2. (0.867
and 0.810 respectively). It shows that our hypothesized model fits the collected data well.
The Parsimony Goodness-of-Fit Index (PGFI) address the issue of parsimony in SEM and it will be better
that have lower values than threshold level generally perceived as acceptable for average indices of fit (Byrne, 2010).
In table 5.1 value of PGFI is 0.606 so, it would seem to be consistent with our previous fit statistics.
The next parameter is Normed Fit Index (NFI) has been the practical criterion of choice and it has depicted
a tendency to underestimate fit in small sample and the CFI represents the model fitted the data well. Value for the
NFI and CFI are from zero to 1.00 and values close to 1.00 being indicative of good fit (Byrne, 2010). Considering
values of NFI and CFI that shown in given table (0.747 and 0.851 respectively) they are acceptable.
The next cluster of fit indices relates to the issue of model parsimony. The first fit index (PRATIO) relates to the initial
parsimony ratio proposed it is computed relative to the NFI and CFI. The model is taken into account in the assessment
of model fit. In this research PNFI and PCFI were accounted 0.591 and 0.674 that fall in the range of expected values.
The next set of fit statistics focuses on the root mean square error of approximation RMSEA. The value of
RMSEA should be less than 0.1 and perfectly it should be less than 0.05, (Byrne, 2010). Considering the value of
RMSEA the given table (.081) hypothesized model fits the data well.
6. Hypotheses Testing
In this research using 150 responders, a confirmatory factor analysis using the AMOS (Instantaneous
Structure Analysis) was performed in 23 items which were examined by Amos analysis in SPSS and the structural
model given in Figure 2 and Table 2, provides goodness-of-fit statistics of structural model for each determined
consumer segment. Appendix B shows that for each items all factor loading is highly significant with p<0.005.
Figure 3. Hypothesis Model

Model fit summary
RMR .045
GFI .850
AGFI .792
PGFI .613
NFI .720
CFI .824
PNFI .588
PCFI .673
RMSEA .087
Table 3. Selected AMOS Output, CFA Model: Goodness-of-Fit Statistics
The standardized RMR represents the average value across all standardized residuals, and ranges from zero
to 1.00 but in well-fitting model it will be better if this value is 0.05 or less. (Byrne, 2010).In table 3, the value RMR
has shown 0.045that represents the average discrepancy between the observed variable and hypothesized correlation
matrices.
The GFI and AGFI can be classified as absolute indices of fit because they basically compare the
hypothesized model with no model at all and both indices range from zero to 1.00, but values close to 1.00 and more
than 0.8 being indicative of good fit (Byrne, 2010). In this model GFI and AGFI values represent in table 3, 0.850 and
0.792 respectively. This shows that our hypothesized model fits the collected data well.
The Parsimony Goodness-of-Fit Index (PGFI) address the issue of parsimony in SEM and it will be better
that have lower values than threshold level generally perceived as acceptable for average indices of fit (Byrne, 2010).
In table 3, value of PGFI is 0.613 so, it would seem to be consistent with our previous fit statistics.
The next parameter is Normed Fit Index (NFI) has been the practical criterion of choice and it has depicted
a tendency to underestimate fit in small sample and the CFI represents the model fitted the data well. Value for the
NFI and CFI are from zero to 1.00 and values close to 1.00 being indicative of good fit (Byrne, 2010). Considering
values of NFI and CFI that shown in given table (0.720 and 0.824 respectively) they are acceptable.
The next cluster of fit indices relates to the issue of model parsimony. The first fit index (PRATIO) relates
to the initial parsimony ratio proposed it is computed relative to the NFI and CFI. The model is taken into account in
the assessment of model fit (Byrne, 2010). In this research PNFI and PCFI were accounted 0.588 and 0.673 that fall
in the range of expected values.
The next set of fit statistics focuses on the root mean square error of approximation RMSEA. The value of
RMSEA should be less than 0.1 and perfectly it should be less than 0.05 (Byrne, 2010). Considering the value of
RMSEA the given table (0.087) hypothesized model fits the data well. The summary of the hypotheses testing for
each given factors were provided in Table 4.
Table 4. Hypotheses Testing Result
Hypothesis Relationships Result
"# Using E-commerce Reducing Cost Supported
"$ Using E-commerce Company’s Competitiveness Supported
"% Using E-commerce Organizational Performance Supported
7. Research Finding and Conclusion
E-commerce has undoubtedly become a vital part of society. The World Wide Web plays an important role in our
everyday lives. Therefore, it is important that different industries adapt themselves to these changes in order to remain
competitive in the market. Companies can benefit from e-commerce by using information technology. In general,
considering the results obtained in this study can be said e-commerce can express every business online and over the
Internet. Many of the techniques that have been developed in recent years and are expected to grow further. Using e-
commerce, information about buying and selling goods and shipping is easier to reach. Companies have no limit to
communicate each other and their relationship become easier and faster. As mentioned above, all hypotheses related
to research questions were analyzed in chapter six is proved. Based on the wide range of insurance companies and
their departments that were considered as statistical society, it make easy to generalize the findings to all companies
and even insurance industry as well. The collected data was tested by AMOS analysis and the result is that there is a
positive relationship between using of e-commerce and reducing costs. Therefore, and proof of this hypothesis shows
that:
• Using of e-commerce help insurance companies by cost reduction in value chain management.
• Using of e-commerce help insurance companies by lower communication cost (phone and paperwork).
• Using of e-commerce help insurance companies by reducing cost of advertising.
• Using of e-commerce help insurance companies by reducing cost of information research.
• Using of e-commerce help insurance company by reducing cost of transaction.
Second hypothesis stated that there is a positive relationship between using of e-commerce and company’s
competitiveness. According to the proof of this hypothesis, it can be stated:
• Using e-commerce will help insurance companies to gain better competitive standing in the marketplace.
• Using e-commerce will enhance insurance companies’ image in market.
• Using of e-commerce will improve insurance companies’ relationship with suppliers.
• Using of e-commerce will improve insurance companies’ quality of communication (rapid exchange of
information).
• Using of e-commerce will offer insurance companies an opportunity to gain useful knowledge on how to
operate your company in competitive market.
• Using e-commerce will enhance insurance companies’ market reach.
Third hypothesis indicate that there is a positive relationship between using of e-commerce and organizational
performance. Thus, companies can take advantage of the benefits of e-commerce which are following:
• Using of e-commerce will improve insurance companies’ level of business transactions.

• Using of e-commerce improve insurance companies’ performance by differentiated products & services from
competition.
• Using of e-commerce improve insurance companies’ performance by Advance Technological infrastructure
to meet the dynamic consumer demands.
• Using of e-commerce improve insurance companies’ performance by efficient deals/packages/inventory
distribution system.
• Using of e-commerce improve insurance companies’ performance by improve staff skill.
• Using of e-commerce improve insurance companies’ performance by tailoring services to suit individual
clients.
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Impact of risk preference and entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy on
the relationship between entrepreneurship education and
entrepreneurial career option: A conceptual perspective
Yakubu Abdullahi Yarima
Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare
yakubuyerima318@yahoo.com
Abstract
The relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention has been established by several researches, but
there are inconsistencies in the findings. Many studies highlight the importance of entrepreneurship education in promoting
entrepreneurial intention among graduates. In contrary, numerous studies reported a negative and significant relationship between
the two constructs. This conceptual paper maintained that graduate with entrepreneurship training are most likely to become
entrepreneur. It is also maintained that graduate with entrepreneurship training might not necessary become entrepreneur unless
he/she possesses entrepreneurial self-efficacy and risk preference for entrepreneurial career. The study provides assumptions that
helps in future studies and makes suggestion for future research.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial career option, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, risk preference.
1. Introduction
Entrepreneurial career has become more important than ever in recent years, and it has received attention as
a leading factor in achieving economic growth, high employment, strong job creation, and positive social development
(Ethugala, 2011; Kelley, Singer, & Herrington, 2012). In addition, the determinants of entrepreneurial career choice
are widely researched (Parker, 2009; Sesen & Pruett, 2014; Smith, & Beasley, 2011). However, policy makers are
particularly interested on the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial career, since it can be influenced
by policy measures (European Commission, 2003). Consequently, over the past decade there has been a significant
increase in entrepreneurship programs globally aimed at increasing entrepreneurial activity at all levels. Karimi,
Chizari, Biemans and Mulder (2010) suggest that participation in taught entrepreneurship education can have a
positive impact on attitudes towards entrepreneurship as career option.
In this regard, the educational system plays an important role in developing entrepreneurial skills,
competencies and attitudes in several ways which in turn stimulates future entrepreneurial career choice. Similarly,
entrepreneurship education is considered as the most effective means of embedding an entrepreneurial culture in
higher educational institutions (HEIs) by fostering students’ entrepreneurial self-confidence and developing the supply
of future graduate entrepreneurs (Jones, Miller, Jones, Packham, Pickenell, & Zbierowski, 2011; Sesen, 2013).
However, Ogundeji (2014) identified entrepreneurial self-efficacy as the major driving factor stimulating
entrepreneurial career among graduates; hence need to be carefully considered in entrepreneurial training.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual analysis of mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-
efficacy on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career choice among university
graduates. However, the paper reviews literature on previous work in relation to entrepreneurship education,
entrepreneurial self-confidence and entrepreneur career to develop a conceptual framework that indicates the
significant relationship between these constructs. Finally, the paper discusses the theoretical background of the study
and makes suggestions for future research.
2.1 Entrepreneurship Education
Neck and Greene (2011) view entrepreneurship education as series of activities which aims to enable an individual
to assimilate and develop knowledge, skills, values and understanding which allow a broad range of problems to be
defined, analysed and solved. Whilst, according to Chang and Rieple (2013) entrepreneurship education aims to
develop students’ mind-sets, behaviors, skills and capabilities, which will create the entrepreneurs of the future. It has
developed as a result of a belief that entrepreneurship can, and should, be taught (Chang & Rieple, 2013; Fiet, 2000;
Henry, Hill, & Leitch, 2005), rather than predestined by genes, as some have advocated (Kuratko, 2005).
Many studies highlight the importance of entrepreneurship education in promoting entrepreneurial career among
graduates (Draycott and Rae, 2011; Gibb, Haskins & Robertson, 2009; Lourenc¸o & Jayawarna, 2011). Therefore,
considerable academic efforts have been focused upon entrepreneurship education in recent years helping the field to
develop and to gain momentum (Giacomin, Janssen, Pruett, Shinnar, Llopis & Toney, 2011; Gibb, 2011; Goksel &
Aydintan, 2011; Jones, 2010; Matlay, 2010; Nabi, Holden & Walmsley, 2006; Volkmann, Wilson, Mariotti, Rabuzzi,
Vyakarnam & Sepulveda, 2009).
2.2 Entrepreneurial Career Option
According to Moriano, Gorgievski, Laguna, Stephan and Zarafshani (2012) entrepreneurial career option is a
conscious and precise decision made for preference of entrepreneurship as career. Entrepreneurial career is
consequently seen as a mental process that orients the individual’s decision to become an entrepreneur (Boyd &
Vozikis, 1994; Gupta & Bhawe, 2007). Liñán (2008) seen decision to become an entrepreneur depends on individuals’
personal attitude, their perceived control over the firm-creation behaviour, and the perceived social pressure to become
(or not) an entrepreneur. Whilst, Awang, Ibrahim and Ayub (2013) entrepreneurial career decision depends on
individual’s beliefs that performing the behaviour will result in desirable outcomes.
Student’s entrepreneurial career decision is often to be influenced by a variety of factors such as the dynamic
career world, personal attributes, characteristics of individual career option, financial aspects, education-related factors,
family background and role models (Douglas & Fitzsimmons, 2008; Liñán & Chen 2009; Liñán, Rodríguez-Cohard,
& Rueda-Cantuche, 2011; Kroon & Meyer, 2001; Von Broembsen, Wood & Herrington, 2005; Zhang, Duysters &
Cloodt, 2013). In addition, individual personal attributes such entrepreneurial self-efficacy, need for achievement,
self-confidence, need for independence and autonomy, are perceived as the major determinants for entrepreneurial
career (Douglas, & Shepherd, 2002; Martinez, Levie, Kelley, Saemundsson & Schott, 2010). However,
entrepreneurship educators should consider how their modules and teaching approach in entrepreneurship may affect
students’ attitudes and intentions towards entrepreneurial career (Byabashaija & Katono, 2011; Hussain & Norashidah,
2015; Kroon & Meyer, 2001; Morris, Webb, Fu, & Singhal, 2013; Nieuwenhuizen & Groenewald, 2008; Potter, 2008).
2.3 Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE)
Campo (2011) defined ESE as the degree to which one believes that he or she is able to successfully start a
new business venture. Whist, Segal, Borgia, and Schoenfeld (2005) and Wilson, Kickul and Marlino (2007) further
state that ESE has been demonstrated to play a key role in determining the level of interest in pursuing an
entrepreneurial career. ESE is, therefore, viewed as having the capabilities that can modify a person’s belief in his or
her likelihood of completing the tasks required to successfully initiate and establish a new business venture (Bandura,
1986; Solesvik, 2007; Nabi, Holden & Walmsley, 2010; Rae & Woodier-Harris, 2013; Olakitan, 2014). More
specifically, entrepreneurial self-efficacy is seen as the degree to which one believes that he or she is able to
successfully start a new business venture.
Several studies have established ESE to be a strong driver of entrepreneurial behaviour (Cromie, 2000;
Drnovsek, Wniset & Cardon, 2010; Markman, Balkin &Baron, 2002; Nwankwo, Kanu, Marire, Balogun & Uhiara,
2012) and is anticipated to influence individual choices, goals, emotional reactions, effort, ability to cope, and
persistence (Gist, Stevens & Bavetta, 1991). Zhao, Seibert and Hills (2005) and Carr and Sequeira (2007) have
indicated that increased self-efficacy yields greater entrepreneurial career intentions. In addition, ESE appears to be
an important antecedent of entrepreneurial career (Barbosa, Gerhardt, & Kickul, 2007; Linan, Rodriguez-Cohard &
Rueda-Cantuche, 2005; Mushtaq, Hunjra, Niazi, Rehman & Azam, 2011; Pruett, Shinnar, Toney, Llopis & Fox, 2009;
Rae & Woodier-Harris, 2013; Smith & Beasley, 2011; Souitaris, Zerbinati & Al-Laham, 2007; Zhao, et al, 2005).
ESE has been empirically tested and found to associate positively to entrepreneurial career in several studies (Chen,
Greene & Crick, 1998; Douglas and Shepherd, 2002; Krueger, Reilly & Carsrud, 2000). Higher self-efficacy is
associated to entrepreneurship and new venture creation (Frazier & Niehm, 2006; Krueger & Brazeal, 1994; Segal,
Borgia & Schoenfeld, 2005). However, individuals with high entrepreneurial self-efficacy ought to have higher
degrees of belief that they hold a viable idea for a new business.
2.4 Risk preference

Studies established that entrepreneurial events arise within high-risk business environments (Bridge, O‟Neil
& Cromie, 2003; Kirzner, 1997; Langlois, 2001; Lim, Lubatkin, & Wiseman, 2010), and suggest entrepreneurs take
considerable risks in their activities (Schumpeter, 1934; Casson, 1982; Muller & Dato-On, 2008). Other studies
explored the importance of locus of control to risk taking propensity and entrepreneurial career option (Bandura, 1986;
Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007; Muller and Thomas, 2001).
Some researchers argued that risk preferences produce greater control of external risks and that leads to
entrepreneurial behaviour (Naldi, Nordqvist, Sjöberg, & Wiklund, 2007). However, other studies established a strong
association between entrepreneurial risk preference, innovative ideas, and entrepreneurial career (Astrachan, 2003;
Short, Payne, Brigham, Lumpkin, & Broberg, 2009; Zahra, 2005). Similarly, an increase in entrepreneurial risk
preference tends to strengthen the individual’s entrepreneurial behaviour (Ozkan, 2011; Ryan & Wiggins, 2001).
Many of these studies call for more research on risk preferences as an important factor for entrepreneurial career
decision making (Naldi, et al., 2007; Ozkan, 2011; Zahra, 2005).
2.5 Entrepreneurial Education and Entrepreneurial Career

Several studies have been conducted in relation to entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career.
Among the studies that reported a positive and significant relationship between the two constructs includes Liñán,
Urbano and Guerrero (2010); Ellen (2010); Naktiyok, Karabey and Gulluce (2010); Wang, Wei, & John, 2011;
Giacomin, et al., (2011); Iakovleva, Kolvereid and Stephan (2011); Hattab (2014); Engle, Dimitriadi, Gavidia,
Schlaegel, Delanoe, Alavarado, He, Buame and Wolff (2010); Rae and Woodier-Harris (2013); Molaei, Zali,
Mobaraki and Farsi (2014); Abdulai (2015).
However, studies also reported entrepreneurship education has a negative effect on entrepreneurial intention
(Packham, Jones, Miller, Pickernell & Brychan, 2010; Von Graevenitz, Harhoff & Weber 2010; Oosterbeek, Van
Praag & IJsselstein 2010; Beynon, Jones, Packham & Pickernell 2014). In addition, other studies revealed the average
relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career is ambiguous and cannot be classified as
either positive or negative, these includes Acs, Arenius, Hay & Minniti (2005); Lee, Wong, Foo & Leung 2011;
Souitaris et al., (2007); Jones, Jones, Packham and Miller (2008); Parker (2009); Bernhofer and Li (2014). Hence, the
above results signify inconsistent findings in relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial
career.
Furthermore, several studies suggest that entrepreneurship education will only has effects entrepreneurial career
if it changes the fundamental attitudes and perceptions of individuals in relation to entrepreneurial career such as;
perceived risk preference and entrepreneurial self-confidence (Karimi, et al., 2010; Krueger, et al., 2000; Linan, 2004;
Liñán, et al., 2011). However, Hussain and Norashidah (2015) suggest the need of more empirical studies to
understand the various factors influencing entrepreneurial career decision in relationship with entrepreneurship
education. Similarly, Abdullai (2015) suggests that entrepreneurial ESE should be considered as intervening variable
for research into general perceptions of self-employment and more specifically entrepreneurial career. Therefore, in
an attempt to bridge in the gap identified the study proposes a model in relationship between entrepreneurship
education and entrepreneurial intention using ESE and risk preference as mediating variables.
3. The Proposed Model
The model in figure 1 shows the intervention of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and risk preference assumes mediating
effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and students’ entrepreneurial intention. Based on the
empirical evidence above, Shapero’s Entrepreneurial Event Model (1982) and the Linan’s Entrepreneurial Event
Model (2004) have been integrated to provide a strong foundation for the model in this study.
Figure 1: Proposed Research Model of the Study
The research model suggests that participation in entrepreneurship education is outlined as positive ‘trigger
event’ as theorised by Sheparo and Sokol (1982) to be an event that stimulates a change process. Therefore,
participation in entrepreneurship education is expected to have direct impact on the students’ entrepreneurial career
decision at first instant. This means that a relationship exists between entrepreneurship education and students’
entrepreneurial career choice. However, it is not always that participation in entrepreneurship education directly
influences the students’ career decision as the literature reviewed indicated. In such instant, the model suggests the
present of entrepreneurial self-efficacy as mediating variable in the relationship between entrepreneurship education
and entrepreneurial career option.
In addition, to investigate the research problem highlighted above the model proposed following prepositions:
Preposition 1: Participation in entrepreneurial education has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial career
option.
Preposition 2: Participation in entrepreneurial education has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial self-
efficacy.
Preposition 3: Participation in entrepreneurial education has a positive impact on students’ risk preference.
Preposition 4: Entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial career option.
Preposition 5: Perceived risk preference has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial career option.
Preposition 6: Entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial education and
entrepreneurial career option.
Preposition 7: perceived risk preference mediates the relationship between EE and entrepreneurial Intention.
4. Implication of the Study
The study could provide useful insights into the state of entrepreneurship education for a range of
stakeholders include policy makers, academics, educational institutions and the public in general. More specifically,
the study would serve as a feedback for policy makers and other stakeholders on the level of achievement for the new
curriculum of entrepreneurship education in relation to entrepreneurial career choice.
In addition, the study when empirically tested could provide evidence on mediating effect entrepreneurial
self-efficacy and perceived risk preference on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial
career option. Therefore, study will offer further validation of previous entrepreneurial career studies and to add to the
current literature to facilitate a better understanding of factors influencing the antecedents to entrepreneurial career
choice. However, there is need for more empirical researches in this aspect because reviewed literature highlighted a
number of problems associated with entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial career choice in many nations
world over and particular the developing countries (Fayolle at al., 2006; Hattab, 2014; Mc Stay, 2008).
5. Suggestion for Future Study
There is need for empirical studies to test the proposed prepositions and the validity of the model. Furthermore, future
studies should employ either a cross sectional and/or longitudinal study, so that the direct effect of the independent
variables on the dependent variables could be concluded.
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Design thinking in education - A new age classroom learning
tool in teaching
Dr(Hc). D M Arvind Mallik
Assistant Professor, PGDMS &RC, PESITM, Shivamogga, Karnataka State, India
Abstract
Design and Design Thinking considering have been distinguished as making important commitments to trade and administration,
and the numbers of higher instruction programs that instruct plan considering to trade understudies, directors and administrators
are developing. Be that as it may numerous definitions of plan considering and the run of points of view have made a few disarray
almost potential pathways. Design considering is a strategy of developing intrigued to both administration researchers and
organizations, however small thorough inquire about on its adequacy in hone has been conducted, in spite of the fact that recounted
reports of victory are various. This article reports on a case-based Conceptual; model in recognizing the mechanism “design
thinking” and evaluating its value for improving organizational advancement performance in Teaching and Learning. This paper
looks at ideas of how Design Thinking can be used as a distinguished pedagogy in Modern Education.
Keywords: Design thinking, human centered, business education, teaching and learning.
1. Introduction
Today Innovation is everyone's trade. Whether you are a chief in a worldwide organization, and business
person, in a government role, or an instructor in a school, everybody is anticipated to get incline – to do superior with
less. And that is why we all require plan considering. At each level in each kind of organization, plan considering
gives the devices you require to gotten to be an inventive scholar and reveal imaginative openings that are there –
you're fair not seeing them however. Design Thinking gives an outline of plan considering and work with a
demonstrate containing four key questions and a few instruments to offer assistance you get it plan considering as a
problem solving approach. Design thinking is an approach to problem solving that is a collaborative, iterative and
reflexive process (Brown 2008), and as such is closely aligned to action research and action learning.
Many large successful international firms such as General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, Sony, and Philips,
use a design perspective as a problem-solving apparatus across the company. While the importance of design in
business has been well established, the contributions of design were best known and valued in innovation including
new product and new service development (Utterback et al., 2006).Two drivers that have largely stimulated interest
in design and design thinking at a company level are, the growing recognition of the potential impact of design and
its contribution to successful business practice and the popularity of the notion of design thinking at the business level.
Recent research indicates that companies who use design in their business, perform better economically in the
marketplace (Borja de Mozota 2006; Dell’Era Marchesi, & Verganti, 2010; Moultrie & Livesey, 2009; Nussbaum,
2006).
Design thinking is human-centered approach and collaborative process being involved. It offers assistance
you grasp Design Thinking to reach way better comes about for individuals, groups, and organizations. Design
thinking can be described as “a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs
with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market
opportunity” (Brown, 2009, p. 86)
Jordan Nottrodt (2018) says, Design Thinking began to ponder of how originators think. Individuals needed
to get it the prepare of Design Thinking in a race to find modern strategies for progressing business community. It has
advanced into a hone utilized in numerous external ranges of what we might consider to be conventional idea. Design
thinking is bigger than any one tool or problem-solving method. Thinking through design is an empathy-driven
approach to interacting with the world. In practice, design thinking is an approach to problem-solving that is human-
centered. The result is a set of solutions that will work for people, instead of ones that should.
Design Thinking is not an exclusive skill, natural ability, fine art, or rocket science—it's accessible to
everyone and tremendously useful for any industry or discipline.
Design thinking is:
1. Human-centered
2. Iterative
3. Democratic
4. Collaborative
5. Inclusive
6. Interdisciplinary
2. Design Thinking- Meaning

Design Thinking is considered and popping up increasingly in trade, education, and global activities, without
an agreement on how to characterize it. Fast Company says, “design considering is a demonstrated and repeatable
problem-solving convention that any trade or calling can utilize to accomplish exceptional results.” Wikipedia users
concluded, “Design thinking refers to creative strategies designers utilize during the process of designing. Design
thinking is also an approach that can be used to consider issues and resolve problems more broadly...”
Overlap designers said:
• "Design thinking is a way of solving problems so that your solutions respond to what people actually need."
• "Design thinking is an iterative approach to solving complex problems."
• "Design thinking inspires creative solutions that harness the power of multiple perspectives."
3. A Brief Look at the History of Design Thinking

In the 1960s, some designers were looking for a design methodology, also under the label of “design research”
that was comparable with the approach in the natural sciences and was aimed at understanding and improving design
processes and practices in a broader sense. In the early 1990s, Terry Winograd, who together with David Kelley of
IDEO and Larry Leifer has been counted among the creators and proponents of Design Thinking, became widely
known for his attempts at “bringing design to software”. Design thinking is essentially about how designers think and
what methods they employ in order to develop professional values. The aim here is to understand how different
thinking methods have emerged through the process of design and how this evolution led to a broader conception of
design thinking in other domains. Some key texts about design thinking are qualitatively reviewed to explore how the
approach developed from a design discourse to a business discourse. Through inductive analysis, three different
themes emerge:
1) Design thinking as cognitive style;
2) As a process-based general theory and method; and
3) As a mindset and resource for the business community, merging different design disciplines. In this third and most
recent stage managers have adopted design thinking to guide business innovation processes. Across the variety of
current design disciplines, this research identifies some recurring features and shared characteristics common to all
design thinking. (Ashkan, Maryam, 2014).
The design agency IDEO has been supporting and marketing the Design Thinking approach since the early
1990s, and has been hosting the “Design Thinking Research Symposia” since 1991. IDEO was also involved when
the d. school (School of Design) was founded at Stanford University in 2005, among others by Kelley, Leifer, Bernard
Roth, and George Kembel, who now leads of the school. In 2005, SAP co-founder Hasso Platter made a personal
donation of U.S. $35 million to fund the school, which is officially named “Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at
Stanford.” Two years later, in October 2007, the D-School at the HPI in Potsdam, Germany, was founded and took up
operation. Both of the school’s programs are characterized by “the collaboration of students from a variety of faculties,
emphasizing mutual respect and linguistic communication that is not weighed down by business and technical jargon.”
The D-School in Potsdam, Germany, is led by Ulrich Weinberg.
4. Design Thinking Process

Dam Rikke,Siang Ted Claims that Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based
approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by
understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas
in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Understanding these five
stages of Design Thinking will empower anyone to apply the Design Thinking methods in order to solve complex
problems that occur around us — in our companies, our countries, and even our planet.
Design challenges are made around an issue that has numerous potential alternative solutions. The center of
the handle is for students to be able to define curiously issues and deal with changing levels of improbability. We will
focus on the five-stage demonstrates proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Founded of Plan at Stanford (school). d.school
is the driving Design Institute when it comes to instructing Design Thinking. The five stages of Design Thinking,
according to do. school, are as follows: Empathies, define (the problem), Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Let’s take a
closer look at the five different stages of Design Thinking.
4.1 Empathize
First stage in implementing Design Thinning is to gain an empathic understanding of the issue you are
attempting to elucidate. This includes counseling specialists to discover out more approximately the region of concern
through observation, locks in and empathizing with individuals to get it their encounters and inspirations, as well as
involving self in the physical environment to have a more profound individual understanding of the issues included.
Empathy acts as a Compassion which is pivotal to a human-centered plan to set aside his or her possess suspicions
approximately the world in arrange to pick up knowledge into clients and their needs
4,2. Define (the Problem)
During this important second stage, Amid the Characterize issues to rearrange, we can put together the data
gathered during 1st stage. You will break down your perceptions and integrate them in arrange to characterize the
center issues that you and your group have recognized up to this point. You ought to look for to characterize the issue
as an issue explanation in a human-centered way.
4.3. Ideate
During the third stage of the Design Thinking process, designers are prepared to begin generating numerous
alternatives on existing problem defined ideas. You’ve developed to get it your clients and their needs in the Relate
organize, and you’ve analyzed and synthesized your perceptions in the Define stage, and finished up with a human-
centered issue articulation. With this strong foundation yourself and your group individuals can begin to 'think outside
the box' to recognize modern arrangements to the issue explanation you’ve made, and you can begin to see for elective
ways of seeing the problem.
4.4. Prototype
The Design group will presently deliver a number of inexpensive, scaled down forms of the item or particular
highlights found inside the product/service, so they can examine the issue arrangements produced in the past organize.
Various prototypes can be shared and tried inside the group itself, in other divisions, or on a little bunch of individual’s
exterior the plan group. This is an investigative stage, and the point is to recognize the leading believable arrangement
for each of the issues recognized amid the to begin with three stages. The arrangements are invoked within actual
prototypes models and, one-by-one, they are explored and either acknowledged, made strides and re-examined, or
rejected on the premise of the users’ encounters. By the conclusion of this arrange, the plan group will have a way
better thought of the limitations characteristic inside the item, the issues that are show, and have a better/more educated
point of view of how genuine clients would carry on, think, and feel when association with the conclusion item.
4.5. Test
Designers or evaluators rigorously test the complete product using the best solutions identified during the
prototyping phase. This is the final stage of the 5 stage-model, but in an iterative process, the results generated during
the testing phase are often used to redefine one or more problems and inform the understanding of the users, the
conditions of use, how people think, behave, and feel, and to empathize. Even during this phase, alterations and
refinements are made in order to rule out problem solutions and derive as deep an understanding of the product and
its users as possible. Designers/Creators or evaluators thoroughly test complete product in leading arrangements
recognized amid the prototyping stage. This is the last arrange of the 5 stage-model, but in an iterative prepare, the
results during this phase of testing ideas will be utilized to rethink one or more issues and educate the understanding
of the clients, the conditions of utilize, how individuals think, carry on, and feel, and to empathize. Indeed, amid this
stage, modifications and refinements are made in arrange to run the show out issue arrangements and infer as profound
an understanding of the item and its clients as conceivable.
5. Design Thinking in Education

As Design Thinking while considering is adjusted into the Business scene, colleges are endeavoring to keep
apace by instructing and supporting multidisciplinary approaches to understanding issues. The First Two schools of
Design Thinking were the school at Stanford College in California’s Silicon Valley, and the D-School of the Hasso-
Platter-institute in Potsdam, Germany. The d. School was propelled in 2005 and was outlined to touch off imagination
and collaboration. These schools teach understudies from distinctive disciplines – such as Engineering, Medicine.
Business, the humanities and education – to work together to illuminate enormous issues in a human-centered
approach. Programs inside the course are co-taught by teachers from plan and commerce divisions, bring together
understudies from diverse backgrounds. Another approach to Design Thinking is the advertising of dual degrees in
Business Organization and Design, such as the MBA and Experts in Design at Illinois established of Innovation.
Moreover, brief courses on Design Thinking is on considering and advancement have too ended up well known, and
give a sought-after blend of multidisciplinary abilities. By permitting Design Thinking to experience working with
commerce, science and Technology, innovation are bridged. Working over resources moreover gives more openings
to lock in in real-world ventures that give important hone and proficient advancement through a more profound
understanding of real-life extend administration, desires and polished skill. To get it more particular approaches to
Design Thinking Considering in instruction, this ponder explored what is instructed (substance) and how it is
instructed (evaluation and learning modes) in these institutes worldwide.
6. Theoretical Frameworks
Design includes intentional behavior that is focused on toward certain objectives and the creation of
arrangements. The objective of Design may be to fathom an issue that influences one or numerous individuals. In the
plan field, plan is not seen as the privilege of a select few. On the opposite, “we all can, and do, plan and that we can
learn to plan better” (Lawson, 2006, p. vii). Design thinking can be described as “a discipline that uses the designer’s
sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business
strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity” (Brown, 2009, p. 86). Design thinking is generally
referred to as “applying a designer’s sensibility and methods to problem solving, no matter what the problem is … a
methodology for problem solving and enablement” (Lockwood, 2010, p. xi). More recently, design thinking has
moved from product and process design to a key factor in company strategy (Bucolo & Matthews, 2010; Carlopio
2009).
To a huge degree, the idea of Design Thinking in the Business Literature has been generally promoted by
stories and case considers of work carried by plan firms such as IDEO that have been working in unused item
advancement for decades (Brown, 2008, 2009; Hargadon & Sutton, 1997). In these cases, Design Thinking is broadly
caught on as a human-centered approach to advancement that incorporates motivation, ideation and usage that shows
up similarly patterned and iterative understanding individuals as motivation, prototyping, building to think, utilizing
stories, and having a motivated and rousing culture (Brown, 2008).
7. Challenges
As we are continuously exposed to new ways of thinking and doing in education, we must learn to work
fluidly with a wide range of processes that support the learner. Knowing why we are selecting Design Thinking as a
process, and then. doing it well, is both important. A challenge that we often face in the education sector is that we
don’t seem to like talking about problems and we see this as deficit thinking. However, Design Thinking encourages
positive, strengths-based thinking in the problem-based context. As Grant Lichtman found on his recent #edjourney,
innovation and transformation are enabled when senior management sits back and let innovation teams work with real
autonomy. “Sometimes the teams fail; they miss deadlines; their ideas are unrealistic; their proposed innovations are
flashes-in-the-pan...Management does not step in and direct the team to reach a different solution” (Lichtman, p. 79)
8. Conclusion
In a world full of complexity, we are required more than ever to work together to create new solutions, to
innovate and to accelerate change to solve problems together. Design Thinking has become a popular methodology
for enabling and fostering innovation and creativity and is now permeating the world of education. Design Thinking
is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced
with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education. Education at Classrooms and schools
across the world are facing design challenges every single day, from teacher feedback systems to daily schedules.
Wherever they fall on the spectrum of scale – the challenges educators are confronted with are real, complex, and
varied. And as such, they require new perspectives, new tools, and new approaches. Design Thinking is one of them.
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_on_global_design_from_helsinki--where_they_know_design.html
Solution approach to civil service reforms challenges for
effective service delivery in Nigeria
*Ochala Mark, Ruslan bin Zainuddin

Department of Public Administration, Ghazali Shafie Graduate School
of Government, University Utara Malaysia.
*Corresponding author’s mail: markochala@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
The service delivery in Nigeria has remained a challenged while the erstwhile causes identified and solutions offered in the past
have not really helped in the containment. Therefore, there is a need for a new approach to investigate the series of reforms that
have been introduced by successive government. Centered on the research question set forth for this paper, sixteen informants who
oversee the affairs of ministries and staff matters across different sphere of work force in Nigeria were probed about their
perceptions on the possible solutions to the moribund reforms in civil service and service delivery in Nigeria. The sampling design
was based on purposive method while Thematic data analysis technique was used to analyze the interviews data. However,
qualitative computer data analysis software (NVIVO 10) was used to facilitate the process of storing, sorting, coding, analyzing
and preparation of representation of the data. Arising from this, the paper established the nexus of solutions in relation to
restructuring that requires creating enabling environment, carrying out employment by merit and federal character, introduction of
comprehensive staff welfare and purging of corruption in the civil service. Similarly, as part of attempt to find answers to these
challenges it was discovered that regular re-training of civil servants, improvement in the management of information and feedback
to, the need for continuity of policy implementation and Prompt Response to public Complaints. Meanwhile, this study’s findings
have significantly contributed to the understanding of the spiral of the challenges of the civil service reform through the solutions
advanced by this study. These are imperative because identification of solutions could create efficient strategies for governments
and lessons for civil servants.
Keywords: Civil service reforms, service delivery, federal character, Nigerian Labor Congress, Federal Ministry
1. Introduction
Throughout the world, the contributions of Civil Service in promoting sustainable and equitable economic
growth are receiving increasing attention, however, what constitute the helixes that informed the abysmal service
delivery of civil service in Nigeria in spite of several reforms have received adequate attention. Meanwhile, efficient
and effective management of the Civil Service are critical to sustainable socio-economic development of a nation.
Justifying the challenges from one perspective, Anazodo, Okoye, and Chukwuemeka (2012) disclosed that the Civil
Service in Nigeria is of colonial creation and inherently, there have been many challenges restraining its service
delivery. Consequently, necessitated the clamour for reforms in the Nigeria Civil Service as well as further studies to
examine the reform.
Similarly, Igbuzor (2015) notes that public service is expected to play a vital role in delivering services across
a country. Over the years, there has been poor service delivery by the public sector in Nigeria leading to the launch of
the Nigeria Service Delivery Initiative by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR in March, 2004. The
Federal Government signed a social compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) to improve citizen satisfaction by
promoting service excellence in Public Service. In another words, the Nigerian Civil Service has undergone numerous
structural and operational reforms, both before as well as after independence, however there is no outstanding progress
in the quality of service provided to the citizenry. Presently, there is still weak nationwide consciousness due to earlier
introduction of the regionalization policies that stimulated ethnicity and sectionalism in the rank and file of staffers in
the service.
On the basis of this, the study underscored the context for service delivery which necessitates the need for
reform of the public sector to be able to deliver efficient, effective and responsive services. Corroborating this, Paul,
Usman, and Ali (2013) emphasized that among the contents of the institutional reform project, the civil service reform
is the most critical one that attempts to humanize the civil service by introducing a system of federal character in the
employment and appointment. The quest for the involvement of workers’ union in the transformation of the Nigerian
Civil Service begins from the belief that there cannot be any meaningful civil service reform implementation without
disciplined civil servants.
2. Theoretical Context
The service delivery in Nigeria has remained a challenged while the erstwhile causes identified and solutions
offered in the past have not really helped in the containment. Based on this, therefore, there is a need for a new
approach to investigate the series of reforms that have been introduced by successive government. This therefore was
the drive for this paper’s application of System Theory for the understanding of the problem and the proffering of
solutions. Meanwhile, the Systems Theory is an interdisciplinary theory about every system in nature, in society and
in many scientific domains as well as a framework with which we can investigate phenomena, such as civil service
reform, from a holistic approach (Capra, 1997).
Based on this therefore, from the perspectives of system theory, significantly also, this paper will be
contributing to knowledge and understanding of the foundation of failed civil service delivery which is based on
certain factors within the environment therefore makes it imperative for solutions towards achieving successful reform.
Meanwhile, in corroborating the holistic objectives that guided this paper, Mele, Pels and Polese (2010) highlighted
that the systemic perspective argues that a phenomenon like civil service delivery, cannot be easily understood simply
by breaking it up into elementary parts and then reforming, instead there is a need to apply a comprehensive idea to
underscore its functioning. Buttressing this, Gibson (2017) describes the focus of system theory as that which sees the
society as a complex arrangement of elements, including individuals and their beliefs, as they relate to a whole.
From another perspective, The System Theory can be linked to this paper based on the approach that civil
service reform is seen as a holistic system, characterized by a high degree of integration between the factors
intervening in the process of value creation, that is, service delivery (Grant, Shani & Krishnan, 1994). Consequently,
in relation to this paper, the paramount factors that support the process of civil service reforms and by implication the
service delivery are enumerated.
3. Methodology
Centered on the research question set forth for this paper, sixteen informants who oversee the affairs of
ministries and staff matters across different sphere of work force in Nigeria were probed about their perceptions on
the possible solutions to the moribund reforms in civil service and service delivery in Nigeria. The sampling design
was based on purposive technique while thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the interviews data.
Researcher followed Creswell (2012) guidelines to carry out data analysis stages. However, qualitative computer data
analysis software (NVIVO 10) was used to analyze the data. According to Creswell (2012) it is used to facilitate the
process of storing, sorting, coding, analyzing and perpetration of representation of the data.
The analysis commenced with open coding where data transcribed were scrutinized line by line to describe
perceptions within data (Creswell, 2012). According to Strauss and Corbin (1998) this makes it disposed to purifying
as well as identifying borrowed existing concepts. Next to this is the analysis of axial coding, which was applied to
construct conceptual links between a category and its subcategories. After that, concepts and sub-concepts were
described more by selective coding, that is an assimilative process of selecting the principal category, methodically
connecting it to other categories, validating those relationships by exploring for confirming and disconfirming
examples, and stuffing in categories that required additional improvement and development (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
In order to protect the confidentiality of informants the study used pseudonym to report the perceptions of
the informants in line with the advice of (McCann & Clark, 2003). As noted by Creswell (2009), researcher must be
mindful of how to protect the anonymity of individuals, roles and incidents in the research through the use of
pseudonyms for both individuals and places of data collection sometimes. In NVivo 10, individual respondent was
addressed as Informant, with abbreviation used in the model as Inf. FME, FMF, NGO, NLC, HSF and SU representing
respectively.
4. Findings
The article is based on the data collected from the in-depth interviews conducted with sixteen informants
drawn from Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal ministry of education Nigeria, Head of Service of the Federation,
Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Trade Union Congress, Non-Government Organization and Nigerian
Labour Congress.
The aspiration of the reform is ensuring that Nigerian public service works efficiently and effectively for the
people (Oronsaye, 2009). Buttressing this point, Ikelionwu (2011) highlighted that there have been no less than 10
major commission reports on the problems of the civil service in Nigerian. In view of this, the quality of the civil
service was severely hampered by cultural, structural, institutional and other management defects in that sense, there
is a need for workable solutions on service delivery reform. The findings based on the analysis through NVivo software
revealed two sub-themes and eight sub sub-themes as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Emerged themes on solutions to challenges of service delivery reforms in Nigeria
4.1 Service Reform Restructuring

In order to adequately ensure proper reform of civil service in Nigeria, there is therefore the need to embark
on realistic, workable and practical reforms that have human face rather than the usual cosmetic approaches.
According to Ikelionwu (2011), foremost of all, there is need for the government to create enabling conditions of
service. This has to do with guaranteeing acceptable salary in addition to other economic motivations. If this is
accordingly and faithfully executed, civil servants will be discouraged from using unscrupulous means to survive and
from clients and the public in general.
Meanwhile, establishing the nexus of solutions in relation to restructuring, the emerged response shows that
solutions can be derived by creating enabling environment, through employment by merit and federal character, when
staff welfare is given priority and if adequate public private partnership is ensured.
4.1a Create Enabling Environment
As part of the solutions in the area of reform structuring of civil service in Nigeria, the need to create an
enabling environment for workers and their operations have been emphasized. Most of the informant across various
ministry and agencies agreed that doing this will go a long way in making the reform a success. According to informant
FME1 for instance, the solution can come if, “the government look into and create enabling environment for people
to invest both domestic and foreign investors”. In the same light, informant NLC succinctly put it thus, “the right
infrastructure and good environment must be provided’.
However, looking at it from another perspective, Informant HSF3 acknowledged the problem and therefore
suggested the way out thus, “people should be allowed to further their education that is growth and advancement while
on the job, a lot of sensitization need to be done, and E government is required. However, the perception of the
informant HSF3 is in consonance with the position of Achimugu, Chukwurah and Ochala (2013) that ICT is a tool for
reforming public service. In addition to this and consistent with these concerns, informant SU2 emphasized that, “staffs
are not being motivated to do their job because they were not properly taking care off. So, there is need for government
to look into their welfare considering the prevailing economic situation of Nigeria”.
Figure 2. Informants perceptions on the impact of enabling environment as a solution
4.1b Employment by Merit and Federal Character

In order for the reform of civil service to be successful, the policy of federal character and sound appointment
principles need to be ensured. According to Igbuzor (2017) to address these weaknesses and to find solution to this
challenge, there is the need to build capacity as well as implement change programmes in human resource management,
planning, policy co-ordination, public finance management, service delivery and accountability in budgetary matters.
If these procedures are improved with due process, expertise, proper guideline and the problem will be constricted.
Though, the problem persists in many ministry and agencies, however, informant emphasized the
appropriateness of this principle in some government ministry. For instance, Informant FME3 noted thus, “Am
speaking for ministry of education, staff placement is done based on the field of discipline”. Meanwhile, Informant
FME2 reacted saying, “service delivery can be improved, if professional is placed on the job based on their field of
discipline”. Consistent with these concerns, Informant NGO1 emphasized that, “Service delivery in Nigeria can be
improved if government intensify their effort, increase fund, and the right caliber of personnel should be put at the
right place”
Figure 3. Perceptions on federal character and employment by merit as a solution
4.1c Staff Welfare Improvement

The underlining reason for reform in the civil service is the quest to bring about improvement in both the
processes and quality of service delivery. Therefore, any effort directed at service improvement whether in terms of
reequipping, retooling, provision of requisite infrastructure without strong consideration for staff salary increment
from time to time will be difficult.
In relation to this, findings from this studies’ interview also showed that attention to workers’ salary is
important. For instance, Informant FME1 sounded that, “there should be adequate funding, and standard to be followed
by every government that comes into power”. Elaborating on this observation, Informant SU2 copiously said:
Service delivery to the people can be improved only if the people delivering this service are well motivated,
meaning that their welfare needs to be enhanced. Take a look at the salary of the civil servants and compare with the
inflation there is nothing to write home about if we are to face the reality (Inf. SU2).
Another Informant, who was coded as Informant FME3 echoed similar concerns but specifically noting that,
“there should be increase in minimum wage/workers salary, this in turn will enhance the efficiency and the
productivity of the organization”.
Figure 4. Perceptions on the need for staff welfare improvement as a solution
4.1d Curbing Corruption

Because corruption has been one of the furthermost impediments to the successful implementation of civil
service reform in Nigeria, most of the informants have concluded that except corruption is checked among the
administrators, there cannot be a way out. For instance, informant NGO2 noted that, “The moment we make efforts
in stopping corruption being perpetuated by the administrators the better the civil service reform in Nigeria”.
Acknowledging this view, informant NGO1 emphasized that, “One of the main solutions for a successful reform is to
prevent corruption which is rife among civil servants”. Expressing the same perception, Informant NLC reiterated that,
“The reform of civil service would have been a success but for high level corruption among civil servants. Most divert
the resources meant for the implementation of the reform”.
Looking at it from another perspective, Informant SU2 recognized the improvement that have taken place
since the introduction of the new reform thus, “Though corruption has been a major problem in the growth of Nigeria
of which civil service is not an exception, but there is an improvement now with the government in place”.
Corroborating this line of views was Informant TUC who explained that, “Corruption has been a problem but the
reform is succeeding now in this area”.
Figure 5. Informants’ perceptions on need to stop corruption as a solution
4.2 Revitalizing Internal Mechanism

The Nigeria administrators who took over the leadership position in the Civil Service imbibed the colonial
approach of wealth acquisition for self-glorification and self-superiority at the expense of citizen needs. This
heightened the appalling performance of the Civil Service and as a result the under development of the country. In
view of this, there is a clamor for reforms in the Nigeria Civil Service as the solution. Therefore, as part of attempt to
find answers to these challenges, this study’s interviews revealed four sub sub-themes.
4.2a Regular Staff Re-training
It has been identified that one area where there a need for improvement in the public civil service in Nigeria
is in the area of competent staff recruitment. Most of the complain about delivery of services bothered on the capability
of staff. Based on this reason, informant NLC aptly called for the training and retraining of staff, “training and
retraining of workers”. Elaborating on this further, informant FME1 echoed thus:
Based on my own perception, it is a good thing for one to be a professional because if you are not a
professional in the field you cannot perform effectively, take a look at a building engineer for instance, if you are not
a building engineer you can work in terms of bridge construction (Inf. FME1).
Describing how this can bring solution, Informant HSF2 explained that, “Service delivery reform help civil
servants to be responsible and deliver services in an orderly manner”.
Figure 6. Perceptions on the need for regular staff re-training as a solution
4.2b Proactive Information and Feedback

The reform in the civil service in Nigeria has brought about a measurable improvement in the management
of informant and awareness among all stakeholders. Though, some Nigerians are still of the opinion that the awareness
is not significant. However, according to Ikelionwu (2011) the reform has assisted in providing information for
decision making as well as adequate awareness about the reform.
One of the representative of Non-Governmental Organizations in Nigeria, Informant NGO2 concisely
disclosed that there is need for improvement in the reform as regards awareness thus, “There is a need to sensitize
people and in doing this we involve relevant government agencies for team work”.
Corroborating this line of views was the representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the union protecting
the interest of all Nigerians workers, Informant NLC, who explained that, “more awareness campaign is required.
Awareness campaign through radio, television, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and so on is required”. In relation
to all that have been said, Informant HSF3 reiterated that, “public awareness, and even in some ministry within the
MDAs they are struggling to accept this policy”. Therefore, to achieve this, Informant FME4 disclosed that, “Service
delivery in Nigeria, needs more radical reform”.
Figure 7. Perceptions on the need for proactive information and feedback
4.2c Spirit of Continuity

One of the challenges of the civil service reform policy of the government is the absence of link and continuity
of policy implementation from one government to the other. According to SU1, “Service delivery can be improved if
only there is continuity in our policies and programs. Again, government should be fully committed and made fund
available for the exercise”. Consistent with these concerns, Informant FME1 copiously described the situation thus:
The preceding government should be able to imbibe the spirit of continuity and once that is done it will pave
way for speedy and rapid development. The moment we have a good plan and that every government that comes into
power is being mandated to follow to the later or invariably continuity of projects then, things will be better (Inf.
FME1).
Figure 8. Continuity of policy implementation is required as a solution
4.2d Prompt Response to Complaints

The present state of activities in the Civil Service appears that the variables accountable for poor perceptions
and image in the Nigerian Civil Service have not been dealt with and so the problem still lingers. One of such variable
as identified by scholars (Anazodo, Okoye, & Chukwuemeka, 2012) is the delayed and refusal to always to respond
to complaints and grievances of the populace. It is against this background that the researcher tries to examine the
extent they were able to solve problems of inefficiency and ineffectiveness regarding peoples complains. According
to informant FME4, “civil servants must render services to the satisfaction of the masses at the right time that is the
charter itself. Reasons for service delivery, is for provision of enhanced services to the customers”.
Another Informant, who was coded as Informant SU1 echoed similar concerns noting that, “The Nigeria civil
service need to improve on their customer’s relationship as it has to do with service provision”.
Figure 9. Perceptions on need to respond promptly to complaints as part of the solution
5. Discussion and Recommendations

This study’s findings have significantly contributed to the understanding of the spiral of the challenges of the
civil service reform through the solutions advanced by this paper. These are imperative because identification of
solutions could create efficient strategies for governments and lessons for civil servants. Therefore, it can be concluded
that based on the findings of this paper, civil service reforms carried out over the years in Nigeria had not really
achieved the aims and objectives intended. The realization of this necessitated the findings which discovered that part
of the solutions for civil service reform are the need to restructure service delivery reform and improving internal
mechanism. There have been some challenging areas that encumber the actualization of a very successful civil service
reform but the application of these solutions is believed to have tendency of smooth service delivery.
Therefore, in answering the objective set earlier on, this paper has drawn together previous gaps relating to
the solutions required for handling civil service reform in Nigeria. This paper has been consistently driven at every
section by the system theory. Consequently, one of the significant theoretical implication established by this paper is
that it provides the overall perspectives on the way forward for the challenges of several civil service reforms that
have been introduced but not effective in Nigeria.
In view of this, the following recommendations become imperative. Having acknowledged the problems in
the Nigerian Civil Service from independence till date and offered solutions on how to improve the service, what
Nigeria government needs now is to adopt the solutions bearing in mind the country’s social and economic
environment. Again, the implementation strategy and monitoring systems of the Civil Service are to be taken seriously
so that the Nigerian Civil Service would be qualitative service delivery and result oriented geared towards the
achievement of the nation’s socio-economic development.
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2(1-2):126-135. https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2.1_2.126.
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evaluation report. Nigeria January.
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Discourse. International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research, 2(1), 12-25.
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(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions in Developing
Countries: A Literature Review
Amber Baig, Mehwish Jamil, Ch. Abdul Rehman
PhD Scholar at Superior University Lahore, Pakistan
PhD Scholar at Superior University Lahore, Pakistan
Chairman, Superior University Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Unemployment has been one of the main issues of the developing countries due to which young generation is indulging in many
social evils and unable to contribute in the economic development of country. So entrepreneurship is the solution and tool for
economic development. Intention of students are main predictor of actual behavior so it is important to know that what are the key
factors that impact the entrepreneurial intention of students. A systematic literature review is conducted and various scientific
articles have been examined for this purpose and made main four set factors and found that personality factors are the more
researched factor and significant in determining the entrepreneurial intentions of students. the implication of this study is the policy
makers and concerned authorities have to consider the factors to develop intentions among students.
Key words: Entrepreneurial Intention, Key factors, Developing countries
2. Introduction:
Entrepreneurship has become a fascinating field for the researchers as many countries use this tool for the
economic development for country (Mohammad Ismail, 2009). Interest in Entrepreneurship has been revitalize due to
the advancement in the area of economy. Many governments and policy makers acknowledge that economic growth
and development cannot be achieved without entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial drives(Zeffane,
2013).Entrepreneurship can be define as the procedure of recognizing opportunities in market, carrying out actions
and essential resources and harness the opportunities to achieve long term personal gains(Bose, 2012). As stated by
Asamani and Mensah entrepreneurship as “the process of creating something new with value by devoting the
necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risk, and receiving the resulting
rewards”(Asamani & Mensah, 2013). Md Reaz Uddin & Tarun Kanti defines entrepreneur as the individual who
handle and control a new entrepreneurial endeavor and accepts the inherited risk. Entrepreneurship is crucial for the
advancement and prosperity of the society as it generates jobs and shapes innovativeness and fosters the structural
changes in the economy further more entrepreneurship forms new jobs, new markets, new industries, and new
technologies so it will ultimately bring net increase in real productivity (George Lord Opoku-Antwi & Yakubu, 2012).
As it is clear that entrepreneurship is crucial and integral part of continues economic growth and employment
opportunities creation entrepreneurship is not a simple act which we plan and simply act upon it but it is actually
behavior which is shape up by the attitude that shows the capability and motivation of an individual in recognizing
and seeking the opportunities to create new value or achieving economic success. So entrepreneurial intention is the
antecedent which determines that whether the entrepreneurial behavior is going to be performed or not. Therefore to
comprehend the extent to which entrepreneurial intentions contributes to the vision to policy makers and researchers
for predicting future entrepreneurial activities and potential of entrepreneur that can be exploited in order to achieve
economic objectives(Yıldırım, Çakır, & Aşkun, 2016). Entrepreneurial intention has been the center of attraction for
many researchers as the advancement and progress of country cannot be achieved without pursuing entrepreneurship.
In literature there has been no of factors that impact the entrepreneurial intention and these factor has been remain the
main focus of researchers (Zahariah Mohd Zain & Ghani). As theory of planned behavior states that intentions derive
a person to execute or not to execute a certain behavior. Entrepreneurship is a global activity and formation of venture
and intention are positively associated (Henley, 2007) Entrepreneurship is an intentional process as we recognize
opportunities in it(Krueger, 2000).As Bird stated that intention is the state of mind which leads attention and actions
to pursue self-employment instead of organizational employment the struggle of an individual to accomplish
entrepreneurial behavior can also be termed as intentions(Liñán & Rodríguez-Cohard, 2004).Entrepreneurial
intentions is the first step in forming and developing an entrepreneurial endeavor(lee, 2004). As the contribution of
students in entrepreneurship can foster economic development of country so the paradigm of research has shifted to
evaluate the students intentions to pursue entrepreneurship(Zaharah Ghazali, 2013).concerns have been emerged by
the relevant bodies about the significance of the factors impacting the entrepreneurial intentions which can be define
as desire and determination to start own venture(Bose, 2012). Zeffane (2013)stated it clear that person with high
entrepreneurial intention are more determined to have their own venture comparing to those which are having low
entrepreneurial intention in fact actual behavior is predicted by the intentions to start their own business. There are
various studies which have been conducted which investigated the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intention.
As Bose (2012) asserted that the country will move forward in the improvement of entrepreneurship culture
by developing the factors which impacts the entrepreneurial intentions and by developing this culture will nurture
entrepreneurship development which can create opportunities to assist and accommodate significant number of
people .despite of many research on entrepreneurship there is lack of consensus upon the key factors that impact the
entrepreneurial intention so the purpose of this study is to investigating the determinants that influence the
entrepreneurial intentions as to shape up the entrepreneurial behavior of the young generation for the development of
the country and economy as entrepreneurs will form the bright future of themselves as well as for their country
.research question of this study is define by the purpose of the study as “what are the factors that impacting the
entrepreneurial intentions of students ?” The paper is organized as follows: section i) methodology and section ii)
findings and discussion followed by the section iii) conclusion.
3. Methodology:
To study the impact of factors on entrepreneurial intention of students a systematic literature review was
conducted. A systematic review was selected instead of traditional descriptive review because of clear ,and bias can
be restricted by systematic method and chance effects are reduced .The quality of study can be evaluated and the
studies having sound logical methodology can lead to concluding remarks(Hunt D, 1997).in accordance with
systematic review methodology is use to recognize ,evaluate and assemble evidences from different studies to identify
the factors impacting the entrepreneurial intentions of students in developing countries and to indicate that which
factors are more significant than others .therefore this study tried to grasp maximum information in order to identify
the key factors that influences the entrepreneurial intention of students and to make a conclusion that which are the
key factors that contribute more significantly than others and more commonly studied in many previous studies.
3.1. Identification of data sources
The search was limited to Entrepreneurial intention by using web based search engines. Google and Google
scholar has been searched out for this purpose .Different key words “factors impacting entrepreneurial intentions of
students”, “ determinants affecting entrepreneurial intentions ” “students intent to create their own firm ” and further
search was limited to only developing countries and publication search was restrained to only those articles in which
“Entrepreneurial intention ” was used in the abstract ,title and author’s keywords and search was also restricted to
only English articles due to language and resource constraint .The search included the journal articles which have
been published from (2006-2016).Major online data bases that are used in this study are as follows: Science direct,
Willey online library ,Emerald, Jstore ,Research gate and to have a holistic view of the research snowball process has
been used in which reference list was examined to find the all the articles which are substantially related to objective
of this study .
3.2. Selection of studies
The title and abstracts of all the studies have been evaluated then the studies have been selected to be included
in this review by using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria were the articles which clearly state 1)
factors impacting entrepreneurial intentions 2)entrepreneurial intentions of students and article were restricted only
in 3) developing countries .A quality check list was developed to check that whether the studies selected clearly met
the criteria and justifying the purpose stated and method used in the study in appropriate and if studies was unable
to meet one of the criteria developed by check list that study was excluded from the review as it was not useless in
terms of understanding study itself or contrasting and collecting and combining information of the study with in
review as whole.
By considering the purpose to obtain in depth understanding of numerous factors impacting entrepreneurial
intentions that are already recognized by the different researchers an extensive literature review was conducted and
many studies which did not meet the above stated criteria were excluded and twenty articles were finalized according
to criteria and furthermore, entrepreneurial intention were taken only in developing countries context .The factors
identified by researcher in these article are shown in the form of table. Table -1 depicting important factors of
entrepreneurial intention has been shown in the upcoming section of discussion and findings
4. Discussion and findings
The reviewed articles indicated that there are four main set of factors and these are as follows: personality
related –factors, contextual related factors, theory of planned behavior factors, personal background factors and these
factors are studied in the literature as follows:
4.1. Personality –related factors
In accordance with literature the personality traits are the highest determinant of individual intention to have
his own venture (Altinay, 2012) . In accordance with trait theory of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial intentions are
developed by particular traits of individual(Boyd, 1994).by reviewing the article most common personality traits that
have been examined by different researchers are as follows: Risk taking propensity, Need for achievement ,internal
locus of control(Bose, 2012) innovativeness (Opoku-Antwi, 2012) and Self –Efficacy(Jekwu, 2016).Self efficacy is
s construct which point out that behavior; cognition and environment impact each other in changing mode and enable
person to form beliefs which make them capable enough to perform the specific activities (Bandura, 1977).
Okoye Lawrence ( 2016) Investigated the role of self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention among Nigerian
students and found a significant relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention and concluded that
the students with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy tends to have higher entrepreneurial intentions .similarly Bose
and Charlotte(2015) found significant relationship between these two and lack of self- efficacy can lessen the
entrepreneurial behavior among youngsters Owoseni also investigate the same and found that self-efficacy is strong
predictor of entrepreneurial intentions (Asamani & Mensah, 2013). Risk taking can be define as propensity of any
individual to disclose risk taking and risk avoidance when they face risky situations(Gürol, 2006). Students with
entrepreneurial intention scored high scores on risk taking than those students which don’t have entrepreneurial
intentions(Asamani & Mensah, 2013). Md Reaz Uddin & Tarun Kanti (2012), Opoku-Antwi (2012), and Gürol (2006)
found risk taking propensity and entrepreneurial intentions statistically significant. Ivan Stefanovic (2010) stated that
need for business achievement is one of the important variables that motivate the individual to have his own venture.
Md Reaz Uddin & Tarun Kanti (2012) Tested a causal model and find that need for achievement and locus
of control is significantly related to entrepreneurial intentions where as autonomy is just positively related. Mubbsher
Munawar Khan and Ramzan (2011) Concluded that students with high internal locus of control are more likely to be
entrepreneurs in near future. One of the primary traits of entrepreneur is Innovativeness and findings of the study has
fortified the view and concluded that more the student is innovative the higher will be its intention to start its own
business in near future. George Lord (2012) also concluded the same and found that innovativeness and entrepreneurial
intentions are positively related. Amari Farouk and Abbes (2014) Investigated that autonomy positively influence the
entrepreneurial intentions. Autonomy is in fact highly valued by all students and important in inclination towards
entrepreneurship as career choice.(Marco van Gelderen).
4.2. Contextual related Factors
The contextual factors can either facilitate or hinders the activities of entrepreneurship and influence the
cost/benefit ration of creation of new venture(Franke, 2004).social support refers to the individual belief to have
support which an individual anticipates to have from family, friends and colleagues while forming a new venture and
it has been considered substantial in predicting entrepreneurial behavior .Okeyo investigated the relationship between
social support and intentions of students and inferred that higher the social support individual get higher will be the
intention to have their own venture(Lawrence, 2016).Chu (2007) also determined that support from family and friends
and external relationship is important factor in developing intention of individual towards to have his own endeavor
the relationship between perceived relational support has been examined and identified perceived relational support
as predictor of entrepreneurial intention. Higher the support from the parents, friends and relatives the higher will be
the intention of students to start their own venture(Ambad & Damit, 2016).Assistance from the economy ,public and
private and non-governmental agencies is called structural support
The economic and political structures governed by the different actors of different sectors. Turker found that
economical and political impact the intention of an individual to start their own venture (Turker, 2009). Salwah Che
Mata (2015) also inferred that perceived support has significant impact on entrepreneurial intentions of students.
4.3. Demographic factors
Although many researchers has found age an insignificant determinant in predicting entrepreneurial intention
but (Ghasemi, 2015) found an inverse relationship between age and intentions of individual to have their own venture
lesser the age will be higher will be the intention to have their own venture . Gender is also a strong determinant of
entrepreneurship intention of students and concluded that male students are having high entrepreneurial intentions as
compared to female students(Lawrence, 2016). Impact of Gender related difference in relation to have your own
venture has been examined and stated that men have higher entrepreneurial intention as compared to women as men
finds monetary benefits more important where as to women sense of their lives are more important (Sasu & Sasu,
2015). Entrepreneurial intentions differ between female and male students (Pretheeba, 2014). Furthermore gender
should be in consideration in to any study regarding intention to start own business(Shinnar, Hsu, & Powell, 2014)
the relationship between education and experience was examined and found a positive relation and suggested that
entrepreneurship programs should be introduce in universities as compulsory subjects(Ghasem, 2015). The influence
of educational support on Entrepreneurial intention has been analyzed and it was suggested that educational support
through professional education is an effective way to achieve fundamental knowledge about entrepreneurship (Kadir,
Salim, & Kamarudin, 2012) Mubbsher Munawar Khan I. A. (2011) research aims were to study the influence of
personal traits, demographic characteristics and entrepreneurship education on intentions of students towards to have
their own venture and inferred that prior experience, family exposure to business and Entrepreneurial education also
predicts the entrepreneurial intentions of students. it was inferred that level of education and family background is an
important factor while students intend to have their own venture .similarly experience is also important determinant
of entrepreneurial intention as students having experience or family background is tend to be more alert about the
market and trends prevailing in market (Ishfaq Ahmed, 2010).
4.4. Theory of planned behavior factors
Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) stated that intention is the predictor of behavior. In the theory of planned
behavior, attitude towards behavior refers to the level to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable assessment of
the behavior in question if a person have strong attitude it will certainly have high intentions. Perceived behavioral
control refers to the awareness of ease or difficulty which is experience in a behavior. Subjective norm refers to the
social pressure whether to perform or not to perform the related behavior(Pretheeba, 2014).Theory of planned behavior
has been a consistent tool in research in understanding entrepreneurial intentions. Attitude towards becoming an
entrepreneur; perceived behavioral control and subjective norms are positively associated with entrepreneurial
intention(Ali, 2016) . Theory of Planned Behavior Model has been used to determine the level of students’
entrepreneurship intention. And found that the level of behavioral control is very good; subjective norm and attitude
towards entrepreneurship are both at good level(Ng Kim-Soon, 2016). The relationship between attitude, perceived
behavior control and subjective norms were investigated and made a conclusion that attitude is the most important of
all in predicting the entrepreneurial intentions(Ghasem, 2015). The impact of attitude and subjective norms on
entrepreneurial intentions was examined and found out that students have high attitude towards entrepreneurship
(Salwah Che Mata*, 2015).The study has been used modified the theory of planned behavior theory and states that
entrepreneurial intention can be predicted by the personal attitude and perceived behavior control and finds that
personal attitude has strong influence in the context to start your own venture (Yurtkoru, Kuşcu, & Doğanay, 2014).
Factors Personality traits related contextual related factors Demographic Factors

factors
Study
Perceived control behavior

Perceived social support
Internal locus of control
Need for Achievement
Risk taking propensity
Business experience
Family background
Subjective norms
Innovativeness
Self-efficacy
Economical
Autonomy
Education
Political
Attitude
Gender
Year
Age
tarek bin ali 2016 √ √ √
Sylvia Nabila et al 2016 √ √ √ √ √ √
Ng kim soon 2016 √ √ √
Okeyo Lawrence 2016 √ √ √
Omid Yaghmei 2015 √ √ √ √ √ √
Constantin Sasu et 2015 √ √

al
Salwa che mat et 2015 √ √ √ √

al
Charlote Bose et 2015 √

al
Rachel S. Shinnar 2014 √ √ √

et al
Amari & Abbes 2014 √ √ √

Ikram
E. Serra 2014 √ √ √
Yurtkorua et al
Owoseni et al 2014 √ √
Pratheesh 2014 √ √ √ √ √
Pretheeba
Asamani and 2013 √ √

Mensah
Mumtaz Begam 2012 √ √ √

et al
Uddin and Bose 2012 √ √ √ √ √
Opuko -Antwi et 2012 √ √ √

al
Ishfaq Ahmen et 2011 √ √ √ √

al
Goskel and Belgin 2011 √ √ √ √ √
Zafar Ahmed et al 2010 √
Stefanovic et al 2010 √ √ √
Trucker and 2009 √ √ √ √ √ √

selkuk
Mirjam van Praag 2008 √ √ √ √

et al
chu et al 2007 √ √
Gurol and Atsan 2006 √ √ √ √

68% 28% 48%
Table 1: Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial intentions
the total no of studies are twenty five out of which seventeen studies identified that accounts 68% of the total
studies .After the personality trait the factor that contribute substantially is demographic factor 12 studies out of total
20 studies indicate that demographic factor impacts the entrepreneurial intentions which accounts 48 % percent of
total studies .theory of planned behavior also important in developing entrepreneurial intention of students 8 studies
out of twenty studies indicated that and according to the studies taken is this research is contextual factors are the least
important in determining entrepreneurial inclination of students as 7 out twenty five studies which accounts for 28%
of total studies identified these factors by researchers .So the most important variable in determining entrepreneurial
intention is personality trait factor .
5. Conclusion:
There is a consensus of many researchers and scholar that entrepreneurship is the main tool of economic development
of countries and youngsters are the main driver which can take your country on the path of prosperity and have to
substantially contribute in the economic development of the country and youngsters can only contribute to country
and as well as their families if they are self-employed .The identification of which factors significantly contribute to
the intentions of students to be their own boss and extent to which they are agree to have their own endeavor is very
much important .so the purpose of this study is to outline the main factors which influence the inclination students
towards entrepreneurship by systematic review of literature four main sets has been emerged and developed are as
follow i)The personality-trait factors, ii)contextual factor’s ,iii)demographic factors ,iv)theory of planned behavior
factors. and the result that has been inferred from the studies that are included in systematic literature review is that
personality trait related factors(Self –efficacy, Risk taking propensity ,Need for achievement ,internal locus of control,
innovativeness and Autonomy )are the most examined and influential factors .This research will serve as base for
the researcher who wants to know the influential determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and will help them to
consider the importance of these factors in exploring entrepreneurial intentions among students and policy maker and
administration of educational institutes should consider these factors in developing entrepreneurial intention of
students .
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The International Journal of Business and Management Research

Article · January 2019

Design Thinking View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

A refereed journal published by the International Journal of Business and Management

Volume 11, Issue 1

Editor-In-Chief: Dr. John Phillips

Deputy Editor: Dr. Firend Al. Rasch,

Revisiting the Investment Potentials in Emerging Market Economies (EMEs):

Evaluating the effectiveness of mobile value-added services (MVAS) with special

The value of loyalty programs in marketing of services

The Role and Impact of E-Commerce in The Insurance Industry

Impact of risk preference and entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy on the relationship

Design thinking in education - A new age classroom learning tool in teaching

Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions in Developing Countries:

Revenio C. Jalagat, Jr.

Figure 1: Demographic Transition in selected EMEs

Source: UN Population Prospects (2012)

TUR 5.8 5.0 4.8 4.5

3. Market and Labor Productivity Potential

Source: World Bank, ILO and NSBC data

Average annual rate of growth (%) as % of GDP

Brazil 4.8 1.2 18.9

4. Government Interventions on Policies

5. Impacts of Regional Integration Initiatives

6. Opportunities and Threats in Emerging Markets

IMF (2014); Global Financial Stability Report; FMI, April.

M-Bright (2015). https://www.m-brain.com/insights/geographies/emerging-markets/assessing-the-opportunities-and-threats-in-bric-for-2014-

* Corresponding author: email: kmurari@cus.ac.in

1.1.1 Entertainment VAS

1.1.2 Info VAS

1.1.3 Communication VAS

1.1.4 M-Commerce VAS

2. Objectives of the study

This study is carried out keeping in mind the following objectives-

Ø To assess associated challenges to mobile VAS in potential rural India.

5.1 Mobile SMS VAS Usage Pattern

5.2 Age wise Distribution of SMS VAS Usage

Health Tips 32.50% 32.80% 36.40% 31.90% 33.90%

Spiritual 21.60% 24.90% 18.10% 25.50% 26.80%

5.3 City wise Distribution of SMS VAS Users

5.4 SMS as a Marketing Tool

Table 2: Usage of SMS Marketing in India

Entertainment products like movies, music 36.3%

Consumer electronics 21.0%

5.5 SMS Marketing– Services

5.7 SMS Marketing Effectiveness – Gender Effect

5.10 Potential Market from Rural India

Keywords: Services; marketing, Asia, Malaysia, consumer loyalty

Fig. 1 Malaysia Consumer Price Index 2017

Table 1: Reliability analysis

Relative Advantage 0.769

Table 2: Distribution of respondents according to occupation

Table 3: Rank of factors influencing purchases made

3. Research Model and Hypotheses

3.1. E-commerce and Reducing Cost

3.2. E-Commerce and Company’s Competitiveness

Table 1. Demographic Profile of Respondents

5. The Baseline Model

Table 2. Selected AMOS Output, CFA Model: Goodness-of-Fit Statistics

Figure 3. Hypothesis Model