engleski

Entrepreneur's Attitudes as a Preference of Future Job Vision : an Empirical Evaluation and Implications for Teaching

The survey was conducted using a sample of 181 Students of Faculty of Economics in Osijek. The questionnaire was designed to assess the attitudes of university students toward learning economics, working values and their future. It addressed the students' view of knowledge, the role of teachers, students' perception of their own role, and of working values and of assessment of career advancement criteria. A person's decision to study at the university is a complex, multi-layered process that he/she has to make. The decision to study an economics was mostly the result of respondents' thinking about their future and searching the niche where they will have the highest chance for employment. It is to some extent a reflection of the economic situation under which they have been living ; initially, high unemployment and thus high uncertainty considering first and each further job after studying. Simultaneously, it has been a challenge to the university teachers because it indicates that an initial interest for studying economics per se was not dominant and that it should be firstly created and than developed. The motivation factors and the perceptions of the role of knowledge in a society may influence the attitudes toward learning and studying in general as well as the choice of the job and attitudes toward work in a vocation after studying. Furthermore, acquired knowledge during studying may influence the effectiveness and effectiveness of young people in their future jobs. Therefore, it is very important to know and to understand the students' attitudes toward knowledge and its role in a society. Associated with knowledge and its role in the society, as well as with knowledge as one of the career advancement criteria, 51.93% of respondents thought knowledge are valuable and appreciated generally in Croatia. However, 22.65% of respondents considered knowledge as being not appreciated in Croatian society. These percentages may be very indicative regarding the students' attitudes towards learning and studying. Learning environment being indirectly represented by eight statements in the questionnaire was not perceived as engaging from the students. The both teachers and students are responsible for it. The task of the teachers is to create a relaxed yet engaging and challenging environment by encouraging exchange of ideas, responsibility and autonomy. Lectures should engage students actively and creatively and they should be made as interesting as possible. Grades should be unambiguously the merit of the work accomplished, and the policy of grading should be communicated to students. Furthermore, it is equally important that students know that they are also responsible for the classroom climate and learning environment. Sharing the responsibility for the classroom climate will help in ensuring that it is creative, conducive and encouraging for everyone. However, an organization of the teaching through smaller and heterogeneous groups of students is a prerequisite for the existence of a creative and engaging learning environment. To be exact, smaller student groups are also a fundamental requirement of the Bologna process - that has caused great changes at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek from 2005 - the changes that respondents were not experienced themselves because they belong to older generation. Risk-taking behavior is characteristic for entrepreneurial thinking and behavior as well as for starting a new business. In Croatian ex political-economic system, risk-taking behavior was perceived as a capitalistic value which should be neither fostered nor developed. Respondents are not inclined to risk - most of them (55.8%) stated that they prefer job in a state or public sector. Only 23.2% of students wanted to start a new business after study. In order to foster entrepreneurial culture and spirit, changes in educational programs and more active role of all actors in Croatian economy are required.

entrepreneurs; teaching; working values; student; motivation

Indexing /Abstracting: EconLit, ProQuest