Dlamini, M (2023) An entrepreneurial skills framework for the South African construction industry. PhD thesis, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Abstract
With 60% of the population under 25, South Africa's youth endure significant unemployment rates. It is critical to encourage more young entrepreneurs to start enterprises to harness the country's economic potential. South Africa may have a long-term impact on job creation and poverty alleviation by reducing young unemployment, developing the informal economy, creating jobs, and promoting poverty alleviation. Encouraging young people to create businesses and giving them the necessary support will help alleviate poverty and improve socioeconomic situations. The purpose of this research was to design an entrepreneurial skills framework for the South African construction industry. A cross sectional quantitative survey was undertaken to collect the data from three hundred and seventy-four civil engineers from the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), which is the industry body for civil engineering professionals in South Africa. Upon analysis, the findings reveal that the project management skills, the leadership and entrepreneurial skills, the entrepreneurial competences, the entrepreneurial intention, and attitude were found to be the most important skills from the South African civil engineers’ perspective, with the main references to the construction engineers. The recommendations of the study that was given highlight the emphasis on equipping the civil engineers with entrepreneurial skills that were outlined and that aim at creating entrepreneurial intention and attitude, with the hope that the skills will create jobs, alleviate poverty, and grow the economy. Entrepreneurship is important in South Africa for economic development, poverty reduction, and economic activity stimulation. Entrepreneurs improve GNP and Per Capita Income by starting new enterprises, identifying market possibilities, and allocating resources wisely. This not only provides income but also job opportunities and the development of new markets, products, and services. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, job creation, poverty alleviation, civil engineering, sustainable development.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Aigbavboaa, C |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | South Africa; civil engineering; economic development; entrepreneurship; income; leadership; market; markets; population; poverty; skills; sustainable development; unemployment |
| Index terms: | civil engineer, income, economic activity, survey, economic development, project management, South Africa, construction industry, competence, engineer, sustainable development, population, entrepreneurship, unemployment, markets, informal economy, poverty |
| Subjects: | health safety and environment, profession, project management theory and practice, data collection methods, personnel development, Geography, demography, business, industry analysis, economic analysis, economic development, sociology |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Human Resources, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Project Management, Health and Safety, Urban Studies, Sustainability, Ethics |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here