Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development

March 2014, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 01–30

ISSN: 2333-6374 (Print), 2333-6382 (Online)
Copyright © The Author(s). 2014. All Rights Reserved.
American Research Institute for Policy Development
42 Monticello Street, New York, NY 12701, USA.
Phone: 1.347.757.4901 Website: www.aripd.org/jsbed

Business Students’ Interests in Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship

at a Historically Black Institution

Falih M. Alsaaty1, David Abrahams2 and Ella Carter3

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has long been the catalyst for economic growth and change. More
recently, social entrepreneurship has become an area that has globally garnered
attention. In the current economic environment where jobs are difficult to find,
many students are opting for more entrepreneurial career options rather than
choosing traditional employment paths. This is especially true for minority students
where the challenge of finding suitable employment is often more difficult for many
of them than their white counterparts. Consequently, increasing numbers of
students have expressed interest in entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.
The objective of this research study was to investigate the level of interest towards
entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship among students attending a Historically
African American College or University. Approximately 1,005 students within the
College of Business at Bowie State University were asked to participate in the study.
The results of the study indicated that 23.9 percent of the respondents expressed
interest in becoming business entrepreneurs, while 22.8 percent indicated they
wanted to be social entrepreneurs. An implication of the study is that U.S.
educational institutions are well advised to consider offering new (or additional)
courses and/or programs designed to address dynamic student interests in both
fields of entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship, Students’ Interests

1 Falih M. Alsaaty, Ph.D. Department of Management, Marketing and Public Administration, Faculty
of Management, Bowie State University, College of Business, 14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie, MD
20715 Phone: 301-860-3624 E-Mail: FAlsaaty@bowiestate.edu
2 David Abrahams, Ph.D. Department of Management, Marketing and Public Administration, Faculty

of Public Administration, Bowie State University, College of Business, 14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie,
MD 20715 Phone: 301-860-3637. E-Mail: DABRAHAMS@bowiestate.edu
3 Ella Carter, Ph.D. Department of Management, Marketing and Public Administration, Faculty of

Marketing, Bowie State University, College of Business, 14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie, MD 20715
Phone: 301-860-3636 E-Mail: ECARTER@bowiestate.edu
 2 Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Vol. 2(1), March 2014

1.0 Introduction

Social entrepreneurial activities are not new phenomena, neither are social
entrepreneurs a contemporary innovation. Countless individuals, groups, and
organizations throughout history have adopted social goals and delivered critical
goods and services to the poor, unemployed, and disadvantaged. For instance, in
ancient Egyptian civilization, the Pharaohs donated land and property to the country’s
monks, and in ancient Greek civilization educational centers and libraries were
opened for the public (Salarzehi, Armesh, and Nikbin, 2010). Although the activities
of philanthropists and nonprofit organizations are obvious examples of social
entrepreneurship, a number of business firms as well as government agencies are also
involved in some sort of social activities either directly or indirectly (Mitra and Borza,
2011).

Despite the fact that various activities associated with entrepreneurship is

probably as old as the institutions of barter and exchange (Hébert & Link, 1988), the
term entrepreneur was first coined in 1755 by the French economist Richard
Cantillon (Rahimian, 2011). Cantillon considered an entrepreneur to be a person who
purchases goods at one price and sells at a future undetermined price. Since the
entrepreneur purchasing the item was not sure at what price they could sell the item,
that element of uncertainty over the unknown selling price was referred to as risk and
became one of the key attributes associated with being an entrepreneur.

In the 21st century, the United States (U.S.) finds itself confronting new
dynamic and complex economic, social, environmental and political issues that were
only heighten by the U.S. Recession of 2007-2009. During the Recession in 2009,
unemployment rates reached a double digit high of 10%. As the US economy slowly
but surely recovers, the US unemployment rate dropped to 7% in November 2013.
While this is good news, it has done little to improve the overall social and economic
conditions for minorities or major cities like Atlantic City (11.4%), Las Vegas (9.4%),
Detroit (9.0%), Los Angeles (8.6%) and Baltimore (6.9%); whose unemployment
numbers do not tell the whole story about the challenges they must overcome in the
21st century (Kneebone, 2013).
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