Measurement of the ability of science students to recognize business opportunities

Abstract

This paper describes the development of an instrument measuring students’ ability to recognize business opportunities. Recognition of business opportunities where others do not is one of the basic qualities of entrepreneurs, and therefore needs attention in entrepreneurship education. However, only a few studies have been published on how to teach students to recognize business opportunities. Since the recognition of business opportunities is a context specific form of creativity in entrepreneurship, creativity theories, models, techniques, and instruments can be used in education aiming at the acquisition of competencies for opportunity recognition. Based on existing models on measuring creativity and opportunity recognition the Perception of Opportunity Recognition Ability (PORA) questionnaire has been constructed. Reliability analysis was used to check the internal consistency of the scales. Two PORA-scales proved to be reliable: Divergent Thinking and Self-Efficacy. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships between the PORA-scales. There was a strong, positive correlation between the scale Self-Efficacy and three other scales: Divergent Thinking, Problem Solving Style and Handling Extrinsic Restraints. For validation the outcomes of the PORA-test have been compared with the results of the Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation test. The results are supported by findings reported in literature.