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- Entrepreneurship promotion in Mozambique: the role of higher education institutionsPublication . Libombo, Dambusse Bucuane; Dinis, Anabela do Rosário LeitãoWith the current globalization and intense competition of nations, entrepreneurship is seen as fundamental to wealth and job creation and especially to economic and social development. For this reason, in developing countries the entrepreneurship theme is of particular importance and is receiving growing attention from both politicians and academics. In recent years, the interest in entrepreneurship education, particularly at the higher education level, expanded worldwide. In the context of developing countries, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are increasingly seen as tools for the development of entrepreneurial culture and as promoters of innovative or systemic entrepreneurship. In the case of Mozambique, in the last decade, initiatives to promote entrepreneurship multiplied. Such interest is reflected in the National Agenda to Combat Poverty, a governmental program for poverty reduction and creation of new jobs for the 2006-2009 period, where one of the main vectors was the promotion of entrepreneurship through the education system with emphasis in entrepreneurship support at the level of HEIs, including new business incubation. Since then, entrepreneurship education and promotion in Mozambican HEI is becoming a reality. Despite the fact that initiatives related to entrepreneurship education are beginning to multiply in developing countries, most studies refer only to developed countries’ realities, with few describing and focussing on HEIs entrepreneurship education in other parts of the world. If, as is argued by several authors, in the entrepreneurial phenomena “context matters”, a different context can represent a different configuration of factors and processes. Thus, this study intends to contribute to fulfilling this gap. It focuses on the issue of entrepreneurship promotion and the role of HEIs as a support instrument in the context of developing countries. More specifically, based on the Mozambican case, it aims to understand the effectiveness of this instrument, identifying the main progresses and barriers in HEI’s entrepreneurship education and the factors that affect its effectiveness. This purpose is translated in the following research questions: I) What factors influence positively and/or negatively entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and behaviours? and Do these factors differ according to the level of economic development of the countries? II) Are the HEIs cooperation networks decisive for the development of teachers’ and students’ skills and for the promotion of entrepreneurship? III) What are the main achievements and barriers to the creation of companies promoted/incubated by HEIs? IV) Do entrepreneurship education programmes in HEIs influence students’ entrepreneurial (personal) characteristics, attitudes, perceptions and intentions? What other factors affect students’ entrepreneurial characteristics, perceptions, attitudes and intentions? The study includes both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Qualitative methodologies were used to assess aspects related with the organization of HEIs and their entrepreneurship curriculum offer and support. Quantitative methodologies were used to study the importance of the context and the aspects related with the students, namely the impact/effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and other factors that affect students’ entrepreneurship. In the first case, secondary data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2010 – Adult Population Survey (APS), Global Individual Level Data was used. In the second case, primary data was collected including a survey of 572 students that attended an entrepreneurship course and 149 students that did not attended in a sample of 10 HEI establishments with entrepreneurship education in a universe of 34 establishments. Qualitative analysis included analysis of documental sources, interviews and observation; quantitative analysis was done using Statistic Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) and several techniques related with multiple regressions, ANOVA and comparison of means (T-test and qui-squared test) The work is organized in three parts. The first provides the justification for the study, introduces the general theoretical framework and the purposes of the study and explains the structure of the thesis. The second part includes four chapters in the format of articles answering to the four research questions. The third part is a general conclusion, including limitations, further lines of research and implications of the study.
- Responsabilidade social das empresas turísticas: estudo aplicado a empresas de alojamento turístico no concelho da CovilhãPublication . Libombo, Dambusse Bucuane; Dinis, Anabela do Rosário LeitãoCada vez mais, particularmente no contexto Europeu e concretamente em Portugal, o turismo é visto como uma actividade económica essencial devido ao seu impacto positivo e multiplicador no crescimento económico e no emprego. Para além disso, por ser uma actividade relacionada e fortemente assente no património cultural e natural dos territórios (destinos turísticos), honra de forma exemplar a necessidade de conciliar o crescimento económico e o desenvolvimento sustentável, valorizando a sua dimensão ética e social e ambiental. A percepção da importância das dimensões económica, social e ambiental do desenvolvimento, por parte dos responsáveis de empreendimentos turísticos e o seu reflexo nas práticas organizacionais traduzir-se-ão no desenvolvimento de práticas socialmente responsáveis. É a partir desta relação entre os conceitos de desenvolvimento sustentável e de responsabilidade social das empresas, particularmente relavante no sector turístico, que surgem as questões de partida para esta investigação: Que práticas de responsabilidade social são desenvolvidas nas empresas turísticas? Que factores favorecem ou, pelo contrário, limitam o exercício de práticas socialmente responsável nestas empresas? Para dar respostas a estas questões, após uma alargada revisão da literatura sobre os conceitos inerentes a esta problemática, procedeu-se a um estudo empírico de natureza qualitativa, com base em entrevistas realizadas a empresas de alojamento turístico localizadas na região da Serra da Estrela, concretamente no concelho da Covilhã. As empresas analisadas incluíram duas categorias distintas de alojamento: hotéis e alojamentos em espaço rural (TER) Concluiu-se que o desenvolvimento de práticas socialmente responsável nestes empreendimentos depende, principalmente, da motivação do gerente/empresário e da importância que este atribui ao desenvolvimento destas práticas nas várias dimensões de responsabilidade social das empresas. Os resultados apontam também para algumas características distintivas nas práticas dos hotéis em relação aos alojamentos TER, associadas a factores como a dimensão, a natureza familiar e a estratégia da empresa. Do ponto de vista teórico os resultados contribuem para uma maior compreensão de dois aspectos ainda pouco estudados na literatura: a compreensão de como e porquê se desenvolvem práticas de RSE nas pequenas empresa e dos factores que as promovem ou limitam, particularmente no sector turístico onde as lógicas de responsabilidade social se confundem, muitas vezes, com as lógicas de sustentabilidade do negócio. Do ponto de vista prático, a compreensão deste fenómeno pode ser útil no desenho de políticas que promovam o desenvolvimento de práticas socialmente responsáveis por parte das empresas turísticas, bem como ajudar a uma maior compreensão e consciencialização dos empresários do sector, das várias dimensões da Responsabilidade Social e da importância das práticas socialmente responsáveis para a sustentabilidade do negócio e da sociedade em geral.