scholarly journals Do Dance Majors Need Entrepreneurial Skills?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47
Author(s):  
Tara Z. Mullins

Dance majors take courses in technique, history, theory, choreography and production, but do not often take entrepreneurship-based classes. It might be said that if dance majors wish to be dance entrepreneurs or business owners, they should supplement their education with specific courses/certificates/degrees that teach those skills. It could be argued, however, that all dancers need these skills to have a sustainable career. Looking at the dance industry from the vantage point of a 25-year career, I wonder: Are we cheating dance students and the dance industry by not consistently incorporating entrepreneurial skills into a formal dance curriculum? This opinion paper delves into this very question. I sent an online survey to dance studio and company owners to evaluate the hard and soft skills they are seeing from current and potential employees with dance degrees. I also provide a brief overview of degree plans in the nation’s top dance programs. The results of the survey suggested a gap in both hard and soft skills needed to be an entrepreneur. The results of the overview indicated that few departments have robust required offerings in career/marketing/entrepreneurship-based performing arts courses. These findings are a springboard for further research and conversation regarding whether there is a need for entrepreneurship-based courses in dance majors’ course of study.

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-277
Author(s):  
Mohd Rezal Rasli ◽  
Halimah Abdul Manaf ◽  
Mazlan Ismail

There is a call from society to examine the integrity behavior challenges of local government (LG) enforcement officers who work directly with citizens due to the nature of this job. One of the job requirements of enforcement officers is to investigate law enforcement directly to their customers, such as petty traders, hawkers, business owners, developers and contractors, and others. In executing their duties, particularly on law enforcement, high integrity behavior and professionalism of enforcement officers in LG administrative areas of responsibility are necessary. Based on the framework, the study aims to examine the integrity behavior challenges of enforcement officers from the citizens’ and staff’ perspectives, in particular, on to what extent the officers face the difficulties and challenges in executing their enforcement tasks. Thus, during the study, 30 respondents, namely the citizens and LG staff in Kedah, were surveyed. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to gain specific dimensions related to integrity behavior. From the citizens’ perspective on LG enforcement teams’ integrity behavior, challenges were related to main aspects such as biasness, political intervention, and bureaucracy matters. Meanwhile, LG staff consider integrity behavior challenges to be affected by opportunistic attitudes among staff, workforce, and financial issues. The study suggests that enforcement officers should develop soft skills, employability skills, and upgrade academic levels to understand the current situation and develop negotiation skills to deal with grassroots society.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1689-1698
Author(s):  
Abdul Hafaz Ngah ◽  
Nurul Izni Kamalrulzaman ◽  
Fauzayani Ibrahim ◽  
Noor Azuan Abu Osman ◽  
Nur Asma Ariffin

This study aims to investigate the effect of soft skills and ethics and value on the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) graduates, together with the moderating effect of knowledge on the relationship between soft skills and the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. The study’s respondents comprised of 208 employers in Malaysia who responded through an online survey using Google Forms. The survey data was then analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), indicating that soft skills positively affected the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. Nevertheless, ethics and value were found to be insignificant factors on the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. It was also revealed that knowledge had the moderating effect on the relationship between soft skills and the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. Therefore, universities were recommended to invest in soft skills and knowledge education to ensure that graduates met the employers’ professional recruitment standards in areas of expertise.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 357-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Varghese ◽  
Loran Carleton Parker ◽  
Omolola Adedokun ◽  
Monica Shively ◽  
Wilella Burgess ◽  
...  

This qualitative study examines the process of student learning in a small-business experiential internship programme that pairs highly qualified undergraduates with local small or start-up companies. The Cognitive Apprenticeship model developed by Collins et al (1991) was used to conceptualize students' reported experiences. The results revealed that the internship structure allowed students to acquire knowledge successfully from experts in the field, situate their learning in the environment of practice, and learn valuable professional and entrepreneurial skills not found in traditional classroom settings. Students reported an increase in self-efficacy and indicated that their interests in working in a small business were solidified or further enhanced. It is argued that these findings have important implications for researchers, small business owners and entrepreneurial and small business support initiatives in higher education.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246423
Author(s):  
Eleanor Buckley ◽  
Elizabeth Pellicano ◽  
Anna Remington

This study sought for the first time to identify the extent to which autistic people are pursuing careers in the performing arts, and to determine the nature of the relationship between individuals’ autistic traits and their reported wellbeing. To address these aims, we recruited a self-selecting, community-based sample of individuals working in the performing arts and invited them to complete an online survey. A total of 1,427 respondents took part. We collected responses on participants’ backgrounds, including diagnostic history as well as measures assessing their level of autistic traits, perceived occupational self-efficacy, quality of life, and mental health. They were also asked open-ended questions about support needed, received, or desired in their workplace. Eleven of the 1,427 professionals (1%) reported a clinical diagnosis of autism. Correlational analyses demonstrated that higher levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with lower levels of quality of life, lower levels of occupational self-efficacy and greater severity of mental health conditions. Almost half the sample of professionals (N = 621; 44%) reported a desire for more employment-based support, and autistic traits were significantly higher in those participants who wanted greater support. Within the community of those working in the performing arts, there are a minority of individuals who are autistic or who have high levels of autistic traits. We have demonstrated for the first time that these individuals may be especially vulnerable to lower wellbeing.


Author(s):  
Muslimu Khamis ◽  
Alhassan Musa

Entrepreneurial skills are a set of specific knowledge, abilities, skills, traits, motives, attitudes and values essential for the personal development and successful participation of each person in an organization. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial skills on SMEs performance among owners/managers operating registered businesses in Sabon Gari Market Kano, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was used while a sample size of one hundred and seventy two (172) business owners/managers were drawn through the use of Yamane (1967) formula for sample size determination out of three hundred and three (303) owners/managers operating registered businesses in Sabon Gari Market, Kano, which constituted the study population. Probability sampling technique was used which involves simple random sampling. Closed-ended questionnaire served as a data collection tool for the study and Regression analysis was used to analyse the collected data through Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. Face validity and reliability test (Cronbach’s Alpha) were conducted. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial skills have significant effect on SMEs performance; it also shows that significant relationship exists between entrepreneurial skills and SMEs performance. The study recommends that business owners and managers should focus on improving entrepreneurship skills in order to improve the performance of small and medium scale enterprises. Future researchers should expand the scope of the study to incorporate more organizations; again the research used only one variable, future researchers should use more variables in order to better capture the opinion of the respondents.


Author(s):  
Thuy T. Tran ◽  
Sanna Ruhalahti ◽  
Anne-Maria Korhonen

This research focuses on soft skills practices; teaching and learning experiences in Hue Industrial College (HUEIC) from 2016 until 2020. The paper reports the results of a case study conducted in Vietnam as a part of EMVITET Erasmus+ capacity building project. Study data consist of feedback of college students (n=15), vocational and higher education teachers (n=20), and furthermore Vietnamese college students (n=130) who took part in an online survey. The results indicate that both students and teachers are willing to implement learning soft skills in practical activities in formal education context as well as outside of the classroom. The study recognizes the main required soft skill to be communication skills, however in the Vietnamese context IT application skills have a positive effect on students' online learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 673-684
Author(s):  
Yun-Jin Kim ◽  
Seon-Ok Kim ◽  
Sin-Ae Park

Background and objective: This study seeks to investigate domestic agro-healing farm resources so that preliminary data can be obtained on the systematic provisions for agro-healing programs in order to improve service quality and to identify the quality of agro-healing policy services.Methods: For this study, owners of agro-healing facilities were asked 24 questions via an online survey. An importance–performance analysis (IPA) was conducted to identify service quality for each policy sector.Results: Respondents’ satisfaction levels were low when compared to agro-healing farm owners’ perceptions of the above-average importance of each sector. The results from the resource analysis of domestic agro-healing farms indicated that the main operational purposes of farms were, in descending order, experience (90.0%), healing (86.7%), and education (84.0%). With respect to the type of program that was operated, cultivating crops (horticultural therapy) was identified most frequently at 83.3%.Conclusion: As a result of this study, the resources possessed by agro-healing farms were identified. In addition, the results of the IPA analysis in terms of service quality are not as good as expected, and performance levels should be increased to improve this. The results of this study are expected to provide useful information not only to improve the quality of agro-healing services, but also to revitalize the agro-healing industry while developing a systematic agro-healing program.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-246
Author(s):  
Y. Hefer ◽  
M. C. Cant ◽  
J. A. Wiid

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that motivate and challenge people when starting up their own small business. This paper includes the challenges that entrepreneurs encounter, advantages and disadvantages of owning ones own business, as well as highlighting the factors that are important to succeed in owning ones own business. The study was quantitative in nature and made use of an online survey questionnaire to collect data from entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The results indicated that the most motivational factors include the desire to pursue a business idea and that they want to be their own boss. The results further highlighted that the main challenges for small business owners are financial in nature as well as support from the government.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy L Stanek ◽  
Kevin D Komes ◽  
Fred A Murdock

OBJECTIVES: Studies over recent decades have demonstrated significant performance-related pain among professional musicians. However, there have been no large-scale studies to evaluate pain among college musicians. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and anatomical locations of performance-related pain among students and faculty at the college level and learn what musicians do when they have pain. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected using an online survey distributed to colleges across the United States. Data were analyzed using REDCap electronic data capture tools and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: We received 1,007 survey responses and found that 67% of musicians at colleges experienced performance-related pain. The highest prevalence of pain was in woodwind musicians, with 83% reporting performance-related pain. The most common locations of pain were upper back (27%), lower back (26%), and fingers of the right hand (25%). Many student musicians with pain seek help from their teacher, but almost as many do not seek help at all. Less than 25% see a medical professional. CONCLUSIONS: Most musicians at colleges experience performance-related pain in a variety of anatomical locations depending upon instrument/voice. Performing arts health organizations can increase awareness of treatment options for musicians suffering from performance-related pain, which may lead to improved quality of life and increased career longevity for college musicians.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 590-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weili Teng ◽  
Chenwei Ma ◽  
Saeed Pahlevansharif ◽  
Jason James Turner

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is, first, to examine student perspectives of their university experience in terms of the soft employability skills they develop; second, how prepared those students feel for the future employment market and finally investigate whether there are differences in perceptions between Chinese and Malaysian students given their different educational experience.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, 361 predominantly Chinese undergraduate students at two universities, one in China and the other in Malaysia completed the 15-item Goldsmiths soft skills inventory using an online survey.FindingsThe results, analysed using factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, indicated that the university curriculum develops student soft skills, particularly in the Malaysian university and supports the relationship between soft skill and student preparedness for employment. The results also indicate that compared with the respondents from the Chinese university, the Malaysian university respondents were more likely to be positive to statements concerning their respective university’s ability to develop their soft skills.Research limitations/implicationsSuch findings have implications for education providers and business in that it is important for universities to embed soft skills into the curriculum in order to develop graduate work readiness.Originality/valueWhat this research contributes is not only consolidation of existing research in the contemporary context of a disruptive jobs market, it takes research forward through analysing student perceptions from two universities, one in Malaysia and the other in China, of the skills they develop at university and the importance of soft skills to them and their perceptions of future employment and employability. Such research will provide insight, in particular, into the role of education providers, the phenomena of underemployment among graduates in China, and be of practical significance to employers and their perception that graduates lack the necessary soft skills for the workplace (Anonymous, 2017a; Stapleton, 2017; British Council, 2015; Chan, 2015).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document