Exploring Vocational High School Students’ Entrepreneurial Intention: Preliminary Study

Abstract

This paper presents an ongoing doctoral study exploring the entrepreneurial intention of pilot public vocational high school students in entrepreneurship development programs in Jakarta, Indonesia. This paper is a preliminary study that employed two methods of data collection, namely questionnaires and interviews. The method allows for triangulation of the data and to establish the reliability and validity of data. Due the Covid-19 pandemic, this study was conducted online to garner information from the participants. The discussion in this paper focuses on the data derived from a questionnaire. Using a purposive sampling method, open-ended questions were posed to 111 students and 60 alumni. Interviews were also conducted with three students using open-ended questions. Data were analyzed inductively by using thematic analysis. The five stages of Creswell's qualitative data analysis were used: arranging and preparing data; reading all data; coding the data; connecting the themes; and interpreting the meaning of those themes. The various themes and sub-themes from the questionnaires and interviews have identified several sub-themes. The findings of the study may be of interest to governments, schools, and researchers. The results will enable those parties to determine the entrepreneurial intention needed to prevent and reduce unemployment among vocational high school graduates.