An in-depth study of current practices in entrepreneurship classrooms in Omani HEIs

Al Kharusi, Buthaina (2024) An in-depth study of current practices in entrepreneurship classrooms in Omani HEIs. PhD thesis, University of Worcester.

Text (PhD Thesis) PhD thesis Buthaina ALKharusi2024.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (6MB)

Abstract

This study aims to understand and analyse how students respond to different entrepreneurship education (EE) methods and how Omani entrepreneurship education impacts the Omani students in HEIs. This study came to contravene any presumptions about the context regarding the best or ideal practice. Its job is to convey the current practices of what’s happening inside the classrooms.
The study uses the ethnography strategy that endeavours to obtain a detailed understanding of how students understand and interact with the learning issues of everyday life. It was conducted in one college at one public University in Oman. The researcher observed two online classes (cohorts) in the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021. The researcher observed 53 students divided into two classes. The observations took place from February 2021 to April 2021 and lasted for 10 weeks, 80 hours (one full semester). The observation was then supplemented with 11 interviews conducted with students in both classes at the end of the semester.
The study used thematic analysis as a common method for ethnographers and other qualitative field researchers (Bailey, 2018; Sloan et al., 2021). This type of analysis serves the nature of this study as it is based on teaching in classrooms that are distinguished mostly by a consistent classroom routine.
This study found the importance of considering the current practices and revising them according to the student’s reactions and preferences. Considering students’ needs is an essential factor in developing classroom practices.
This current study contributes to creating new knowledge in the field of EE in the Omani context by adopting what is known as the "hybrid approach" between causation and effectuation approaches. It looks like a combination of two logics, effectuation and causation, in teaching. This study acknowledges that the hybrid approach of causation and effectuation is not original outside of Oman but is original in the Omani context. This contributes by considering the importance of applying and teaching entrepreneurship from the lens of the intrapreneurship concept in the Omani context. This study perceives teaching entrepreneurship from a comprehensive view by using intrapreneurship, which is not conditional on time, age, gender or occupation, so that this behaviour and spirit can be found and encouraged in all societies and organisations.

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