Abstract
This study aimed to explore the attitudes of students of a higher education institution towards infopreneurship. The study emanated from observations that the widespread use of information technologies has created a new sector in the labor market – infopreneurship. The study adopted the case study research design based on focus group discussions to establish the students’ attitudes towards infopreneurship. The participants for the focus groups were students of the Information Science department at the University of Technology, Cape Town. Data collection during the focus group discussions was based on unstructured interviews. Quantitative data analysis was applied based on data reduction from codes to categories. An enterprising attitude (26.4% code frequency) dominated the positive responses while negative attitudes were mainly reflected by a critical attitude (20.8% code frequency) towards infopreneurship. While it appeared that positive attitudes were more prevalent than negative attitudes, there were notable observations that the respondents were critical or neutral towards the essence of infopreneurship in the South African context. It was found that the belief that infopreneurship is not a viable form of employment was still prevalent. Some respondents believed that employment means working for someone. They felt that there is greater respect in being employed than engaging in infopreneurship. Some respondents, however, appear to have stronger entrepreneurial orientations and felt that infopreneurship offers the best employment opportunities. The study recommends changes in higher education curricula and the creation of a stimulating environment for infopreneurship.
Highlights
This study aimed to explore the attitudes of students of a higher education institution towards infopreneurship
This study focused on the attitudes of infopreneurship among information science students at the selected higher education institution (HEI)
The literature review and empirical analysis of data demonstrated that students held both positive and negative attitudes towards infopreneurship
Summary
This study focused on the attitudes of infopreneurship among information science students at the selected higher education institution (HEI) It concerned two important concepts, which are relevant in today’s socio-economic environment, namely: (1) information and (2) entrepreneurship. In acknowledgment of the above arguments, Adesemowo et al (2016) claimed that information has become a vital asset for the effectiveness of all types of organizations in the private and public sectors Such sentiments demonstrate the essential position of information in modern societies. The ideal situation would entail a high survival rate for entrepreneurial initiatives It has been argued over the years that strong survival of entrepreneurial activities and small businesses, in general, is ideal for the growth of the economy as it has the potential to increase the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country, reduce unemployment, address inequalities, reduce poverty, and lead to national development. Infopreneurs are information-based entrepreneurs within the knowledge economy, which is highly dependent on information and knowledge; the reasons and perceptions of infopreneurs deserve exploration
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