university as entrepreneur results of surveys of asu faculty, students and staff spring 2007 surveys...

University as Entrepreneur

Results of Surveys of ASU Faculty, Students and Staff

Spring 2007

Surveys conducted by the Institute for Social Science Research

Overall Conclusion

Faculty, staff and students indicate moderate to strong support for entrepreneurship but minimal understanding of what it is or how it might apply to them.

Widespread support for ASU’s current direction.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Right direction Wrong track Refused

Faculty Students Staff

Question: In general, would you say that ASU is headed in the right direction or is it off on the wrong track?

The word “entrepreneur” elicits a favorable response.

Favorability varies substantially among faculty and students from different disciplines.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Very

favorable

Somewhat

favorable

Somewhat

unfavorable

Very

unfavorable

Refused

Faculty (A) Faculty (B) Students (A) Students (B) Staff

Faculty (A)/Students (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass

Communications/Education Faculty (B)/Students (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Question: Do you have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion of the word “entrepreneur”?

Few consider themselves entrepreneurs.But, again, results vary by discipline.

Group Mean

Faculty (A) 4.7

Faculty (B) 5.7

Students (A) 4.6

Students (B) 5.8

Staff 4.5

Faculty (A)/Students (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass Communications/Education Faculty (B)/Students (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Questions: Thinking of your job or position at ASU, how much, if at all, do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur? Please use a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning not at all and 10 meaning completely. (Faculty and staff)

How much, if at all, do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur? Please use a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning not at all and 10 meaning completely. (Students)

Students and staff indicate moderate approval of the definitions of entrepreneurship.

Half of the respondents from each group were given one definition and half were given a different definition. The two definitions are provided in t he column headings.

Question: Please indicate whether the following statement reflects the definition of the word “entrepreneurship.” Use a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means it is a very poor definition and 10 means it is an excellent definition.

Means

Group

“Entrepreneurship is the spirit and

process of creative risk-taking.”

“Entrepreneurship is the spirit and process of creative risk-taking and innovation that

leverages university knowledge to spur development and

economic competitiveness.”

Faculty 5.6 6.5

Students 6.5 6.7

Staff 6.4 7.2

Faculty and staff are more likely to have heard about entrepreneurship at ASU than students.

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5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

A lot Some A little Nothing at all Refuse

Faculty (A) Faculty (B) Students (A) Students (B) Staff

Question: How much, if at all, have you heard about entrepreneurship at ASU?

Faculty (A)/Students (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass Communications/Education Faculty (B) /Students (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Few students are familiar with the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Very familiar Somewhat familiar Not too familiar Not familiar at all Refuse

Question: How familiar, if at all, are you with the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative?

Students (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass Communications/Education Students (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Entrepreneurship is sometimes incorporated into courses or jobs.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

A lot Some Only a little Not at all Don't

know/Refuse/Not

applicableFaculty (A) Faculty (B) Students (A) Students (B) Staff

Questions: How much, if at all, do you incorporate entrepreneurship in any of the courses you teach? (Faculty survey)

How much, if at all, has entrepreneurship been incorporated into courses in your major? (Student survey)

How much, if at all, do you incorporate entrepreneurship into your job at ASU? (Staff survey)


Faculty see a moderate amount of interest in entrepreneurship among students.

Question: Do you think your students would want to learn about entrepreneurship?

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Yes, all Yes, most Yes, some Yes, a few No, none Refused

Faculty (A) Faculty (B)

Faculty (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass Communications/Education Faculty (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Most students want to learn more about entrepreneurship.

Question: Would you like to learn more about entrepreneurship?

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Yes, a lot Yes, some Yes, a little No Refuse

Students (A) Students (B)

Students (A) = CLAS/Fine Arts/Humanities/Public Programs/Mass Communications/Education Students (B) = Business/Engineering/Law/Nursing/Architecture

Students are somewhat more supportive than faculty for entrepreneurship becoming an area of study and/or research at

ASU.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Entrepreneurship

should be an area of

study at ASU

All students should be

exposed to

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

should be an area of

research at ASU

Students (B) Students (A) Faculty (B) Faculty (A)

Question: Below are several statements regarding entrepreneurship. Indicate how much you agree or disagree with each statement using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means you totally disagree and 10 means you totally agree.


Mean

Faculty and students agree that entrepreneurship can be codified, taught and learned.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Entrepreneurship

cannot be learned

Entrepreneurship

cannot be taught

Basic principles of

entrepreneurship can

be codified




Mean

Faculty and students report only slight agreement that entrepreneurship does not apply to some disciplines.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Entrepreneurship

does not apply to

some disciplines




Mean

Faculty and students said entrepreneurship should have a somewhat low priority.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Priority


Question: How much of a priority, if any, should teaching entrepreneurship have at ASU? Please use a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning not a priority at all and 10 meaning a high priority.


Mean

Faculty and staff indicated that ASU constrains them from acting in entrepreneur ways.

4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5 5.1 5.2 5.3

Constrains or enables

Faculty Staff

Question: Next, would you say that ASU enables faculty/staff to act in entrepreneurial ways or constrains faculty/staff from acting in entrepreneurial ways? Please use a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means ASU very much constrains faculty/staff and 10 means ASU very much enables faculty/staff.

Mean

Summary of reasons why faculty and staff are constrained to act entrepreneurially

Question: In what way or ways does ASU constrain faculty/staff from acting entrepreneurially? (Open ended)

• ORSPA is a detriment.

• Too much red tape.

• Concerns about consequences of failure.

• No reward or encouragement.

• Lack of appropriate infrastructure or support.

• Tenure.

• No support from chairs, administrators or supervisors.

• Management resists change.

• No time due to teaching loads and research requirements.

• Indirect rates are too high.

• Lack of empowerment.

• Micromanagement.

Many faculty have experience outside of academia as a business entrepreneur.

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10%

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50%

60%

70%

Yes No Refuse


Question: Do you have an experience outside of academia as a business entrepreneur?


And many faculty are currently consulting outside of ASU.

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10%

20%

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40%

50%

60%

70%

Yes No Refuse


Question: Do you currently participate in any consulting outside of ASU?


Minorities of students are currently involved in campus clubs or organizations that deal with entrepreneurship or are involved in activities outside of campus that deal with

entrepreneurship

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Refuse

No

Yes

Involved in activities outside of ASU that deal with entrepreneurship?

Clubs/organizations on campus deal with entrepreneurship?

Questions: Do any of the clubs or organizations with which you are involved deal with entrepreneurship? (Asked only of students who are involved with students clubs or organizations on campus.)

Have you been or are you currently involved in any activities outside of campus or ASU that deal with entrepreneurship?

Most students see themselves on a professional career track working for an organization

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Undecided

Other

Volunteer corps

Working in family business

Starting own business or organization

Grad, medical or law school

Professional career track

Question: Next, five years from now, where would you like to be career-wise?

Most faculty and students want more information about entrepreneurship.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Refuse

Other

Would not find info useful

Suggestions on incorporating ent into courses

Info on how universities approach ent

Articles

Better understanding of what ent is

Examples of mistakes ent have made

Examples of successful ent in my major

Students Faculty

Question: What information about entrepreneurship would you find useful? (Adds to more than 100% due to multiple responses.)

Ent = Entrepreneurship

Staff embrace entrepreneurship but are not encouraged to act entrepreneurially.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I am reluctant to change how I do things at ASU

Entrepreneurship concepts do not apply to my job

ASU staff are rewarded for acting entrepreneurially

Uncertain how to incorporate entreneurial concepts into job

Supervisor encourges dept to act entrepreneurially

Other ASU staff reluctant to change

Frequently have ideas to improve operations in dept.

ASU should incorporate entrepreneur principles into operations


Most faculty, students and staff prefer communications through email.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Email Insight Word of

mouth

Online ASU Magazine State Press Flier

Faculty Students Staff

Question: What is the best way to communicate with you about news on topics such as entrepreneurship at ASU? (Adds to more than 100% due to multiple responses.)

Summary of Methodology

•Five focus groups held primarily to help inform survey questions

•Faculty from humanities, social sciences, fine arts, public programs, mass communications, and education

•Faculty from engineering, law, business, nursing and architecture

•Students from humanities, social sciences, fine arts, public programs, mass communications, and education

•Students from engineering, law, business, nursing and architecture

•Staff

•Three web surveys

•Faculty (n=641), students (n=655) and staff (n=469)

•Samples selected

•Fielded during spring semester 2007n = Number of completed questionnaires

university as entrepreneur results of surveys of asu faculty, students and staff spring 2007 surveys...

Documents

asu faculty

faculty astudents

faculty b5

faculty surveyhow

students b5

students a4

word entrepreneurship

different definition