ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOUR OF

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY

INICO, Institute on Community Integration

University of Salamanca. Spain

    

Research Team Miguel Angel Verdugo

Cristina Jenaro

*Marta Rodriguez

ÁvilaÁvila

1. INTRODUCTION

    - Research was conducted by the Institute on Community

Integration of the University of Salamanca (INICO) (July 2002-January 2003)

- Development of a questionnaire to measure the perception of Avila’s population

- Instrument: Questionnaire of Assessment of Entrepreneurial Behavior (CECE)

2. OBJECTIVES

    To study the enterprising behaviour of people with disabilities:

– To assess Avila’s population´s support toward business activity developed by general population and by individuals with disabilities

– To assess knowledge and supports

– To determine the influence of individual variables

– To analyse the appraisal of their own abilities

– To evaluate availability of supports for the development of a business initiative

3. PARTICIPANTS

- People with physical and psychological disabilities from Avila (Spain)

- General population have been interviewed (N:4761),(n: 300) people with disabilities

- Most of people with disabilities have a physical disability,(age 21-30)

- Most of surveyed population have primary studies

Disability

N %Physical 157 52.7

Psychological 78 26.2

Sensorial 45 15.1Multiple disability

17 5.7

No Answer 3 0.3Total 300 100.0

4. INSTRUMENT: QUESTIONNAIRE OF ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOR

(CECE) (Verdugo y Jenaro, 2002)

- First Part: Data on social factors to determine the relevance and representativeness of the sample, based on statistic criteria (Meeting Castilla y León, 2001; VV.AA., 1998) of the Avila’s population

- Second part: Based on: 1) previous Studies (Verdugo et al., 1996/98); 2) Items to evaluate the “Big Five”; and 3) Items developed for the current study

- Pilot version: 84 items grouped into five factors: 1) Beliefs on knowledge and supports, 2) knowledge and supports, 3) leadership, 4) self-control and 5) emotional stability

CECE-2002 QuestionnaireVerdugo & Jenaro (2002)

A. IDENTIFICATION OF THE EVALUATOR

This section should be filled in by the person responsible for giving or sending the questionnaire)

B. RESPONDENT DATA

To be filled by every respondent. Gender, age, studies, community size, father and mother occupation, professional experience

C. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND THE QUESTIONNAIREMeaning of the different options are: TA, Total Agreement, QD, Quite Disagreement, QA Quite Agreement, TD,Total Disagreement.

Some Items:• “Family support is important when planning on creating a company”• “I ´d like to be my own boss”• “I feel vulnerable to external critics”• “I am not a competitive person”• “I have the human resources to create a business, or I know how to obtain them”• “I´m a person who always look for new experiences”

Factor 1. Emotional balance: It is composed of 10 items related to control of emotions

Factor 2. Leadership: It is composed of 13 items. The factor relates to the ability to understand others needs and problems, as well as to successfully cooperate with them

Factor 3. Tenacity: It is composed of 14 items. It is related to self-regulation, self-control, thoughtfulness, scrupulosity, order, diligence, perseverance, meticulousness and tenacity

Factor 4. Self-control: It is composed of 14 items. It is related to self-restraint

FACTORS MEASURED BY THE QUESTIONNAIRE

5. PROCEDURE

– Construction of the instrument

– Application to a representative sample of the total of the population of Avila and of the collective of specific interest.

– Contribution to the field work of several associations

– Correction, categorization, analysis and interpretation of data of the 4.761 questionnaires. 300 people with disabilities

– Analysis of the sample of persons with disabilities

6. RESULTS (I)

Available supports and predisposition of Avila’s population towards business activity

Businessmen from Avila, have good attitudes, positive beliefs and disposition towards supporting enterprise initiatives

Women, and persons with disabilities, show higher appraisals

RESULTS (II)

Persons with disabilities, Knowledge and supports

• According, abilities related to planning, are most important

• General population have poor knowledge and lack of supports to develop a business

RESULTS (III)

Perception of knowledge and supports of the persons with disabilities

- General lack of knowledge on how to create a small or medium business

- Low interest related to the business world

- Low intention to create businesses

RESULTS (IV)

Influence of individual and contextual variables in the configuration of the enterprise spirit of persons with disabilities

Hypothesis:

1. There will not be differences based on gender, having or not a disability, type of disability, age, number of inhabitants, background of the business, if it´s the first, second or third employment, or if it´s retail or wholesale commerce

2. There will be differences related to: • The respondent´s training background • Profession of the parents and of the polled one • Absence or presence of professional experience of the polled

one

RESULTS (V)

- Gender and age originate different types of enterprising attitudes

- Individuals with disabilities show lower entrepreneurial attitudes than their peers without disabilities

- Professional experience, labour mobility, and lesser background are associated to higher entrepreneurial attitudes

- Higher educational background is associated to higher scores on variables related to success as entrepreneurs

- Having a parent businessmen “model” is associated to the success as entrepreneur

- Being an entrepreneur is associated to higher entrepreneurial profile

7. DISCUSSION

Strategies to promote the enterprising spirit in persons with disabilities:

1. At a social level:

- To carry out a previous intervention to enhance social awareness

- To promote attitudes of support toward entrepreneurial initiatives for disadvantaged population

2. To target population:

- To increase motivation, create entrepreneurial initiatives

- To introduce specific training programs to increase their knowledge

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!