5 Statistical Analysis
5.2 Analysis of Results
5.2.2 Taiwanese Results
Taking the results from all the Taiwanese respondents together the general opinion was:
The majority of people surveyed (76%) agreed or strongly agreed that their county was innovative. This shows that the majority of Taiwanese people are extremely aware and confident of the success of their country and the improvements in innovativeness over the last few years. Almost all respondents (93%) believe that there are lots of entrepreneurs in their country which also demonstrates a lot of confidence in their country. Well over half the people surveyed (63%) believes that entrepreneurship is a good career choice while 33% of people were unsure. The Taiwan respondents were very reserved or unconfident in their answering of the question, Do you believe you have the skills necessary to become an entrepreneur? (33%) of people believed they didn’t possess the skills necessary while 40% were unsure. This was surprising to me as I expected the Irish respondents to be more reserved but they seemed more confident in their skills with 56% of people believing they could become an entrepreneur.
There may also be a modesty issue with Taiwanese people who maybe don’t feel confident enough to admit the level of their skills. Taiwanese people didn’t feel that there was a definite stigma attached to entrepreneurs who fail with only (40%) of people agreeing to this statement while 23% of people were unsure. Over half the people surveyed (54%) believe that the government does not do enough to support entrepreneurs while 30% felt too unsure to answer one way or another. The majority of people surveyed believed that there are many entrepreneurs in their society with (76%) of people agreeing to this statement. More than half the people surveyed (66%) believed that the media does a good job in highlighting entrepreneurship in society. Over half the people surveyed were or knew people who were entrepreneurs, this is a big contrast to the Irish result where we saw (80%) of people acknowledging that they were or knew people who were entrepreneurs. Only (40%) of people surveyed would consider becoming an entrepreneur while (35%) of people were unsure. This is also a much lower percentage than the Irish result as the Irish seemed more confident with (73%) of people willing to consider becoming an entrepreneur.
Table 5.5 Results of Taiwanese Females, under 30, educated to 3rd level.
Strongly
Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
I have the skills to become an entrepreneur
Table 5.6 Results of Taiwanese Females, over 30, educated to 3rd level.
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
Own Country Innovative 13% 30% 7% 3% 0
Lots of Entrepreneurs 20% 33% 0 0 0
Entrepreneurship is a good
career choice 10% 27% 13% 3% 0
I have the skills to become an entrepreneur
highlighting entrepreneurs
Table 5.7 Results of Taiwanese Males, under 30, educated to 3rd level Strongly
Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
I have the skills to become an entrepreneur
Table 5.8 Results of Taiwanese Males over 30, educated to 3rd level Strongly
Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
entrepreneur
There is a stigma for entrepreneurs who fail
0 7% 10% 16% 0
The government does enough to support entrepreneurs
0 7% 6% 17% 3%
There are many entrepreneurial opportunities in my country
0 27% 7% 0 0
The media does a good job highlighting entrepreneurs
0 16% 10% 7% 0
I am or know
entrepreneurs in my society
0 23% 7% 3% 0
I would consider becoming an entrepreneur.
3% 20% 7% 0 3%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 1 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-1 Belief in innovativeness of Country
According to the results of the survey Taiwan views themselves as an innovative country more than Ireland does. Some of the reasons for this may be that in Ireland a huge percentage of new innovations come from outside companies as they introduce their technology into the country and create new jobs, but may not actually create the innovations in the country. Taiwan prides itself on its innovativeness and over the last few years has poured an exceptional amount of resources into improving facilities such as incubation centers and university programs to encourage and facilitate innovation. All of this has been well documented and is a source of pride for the Taiwanese.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 2 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-2 Perception of the amount of entrepreneurs in society
These results were quite high and very positive, (93%) of people surveyed from Taiwan believed there was lots of entrepreneurs in their society. Whereas (56%) of people from Ireland believed their society contained lots of entrepreneurs. This shows that Taiwan is very aware of the entrepreneurial situation as in 2006 Taiwan had 1,244,000 SMEs, which represented (97.7%) of all enterprises. Ireland has also one of the highest numbers of entrepreneurs in Europe with (53.3%) of people being employed in the enterprise sector representing (39%) of the total labor force.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 3 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-3 Belief that entrepreneurship is a good career choice
This table shows that more Taiwanese people believe that entrepreneurship is a good career choice than Irish people. There were more unsure Taiwanese people however than Irish people and more Irish people that disagreed with this statement than Taiwanese.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 4 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-4 Belief they posses the skills to become an entrepreneur
This result showed that Irish people have a strong self belief in their own skills, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they will ever put those skills to the test, but rather they are confident about them. The Taiwanese were a little more reserved with (23%) of people answering unsure and (20%) of people answering that they do not possess the necessary skills to become an entrepreneur.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 5 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-5 Belief that there is a stigma attached to entrepreneurs who fail This result surprised me as it is reported in Ireland that one of the reasons many people who possess the skills necessary to become an entrepreneur do not attempt to do so is because they have a strong fear of failure and they believe there is a stigma. So because (47%) of people from Ireland disagreed with this statement it means that there may be many other reasons why people who possess the necessary skills don’t use them. In the Taiwan results there was a high percentage of the sample that believed there was a stigma attached to entrepreneurs who fail with (33%) of people agreeing, this could be attributed to the culture of “losing face” and being seen to fail in public.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 6 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-6 Belief that the government supports entrepreneurs
This table shows that many people from both Taiwan and Ireland agree that their government does not do enough to support entrepreneurs. This attitude may change in the future as both governments are placing more emphasis on innovation, education and promoting programs that will encourage more entrepreneurship in the future.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 7 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-7 Belief that there are many entrepreneurial opportunities Most of the respondents from both countries believe that there are many entrepreneurial opportunities in their societies, this is positive as there should be improvements in the amount of entrepreneurial activity in the future for both Taiwan and Ireland as my sample clearly highlighted opportunities can be recognised.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 8 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-8 Belief that the media does a good job highlighting entrepreneurs There were more Taiwan respondents that believed the media in their country did a good job in highlighting entrepreneurial successes. According to the survey Ireland also has high opinions of their own media, which shows that the media in both countries plays an essential part in encouraging entrepreneurship. There can always be more done by the media such as illustrating the achievements and highlighting economic benefits of entrepreneurs. If the media can build positive interest and goodwill towards entrepreneurs by improving the recognition of entrepreneurship as a career choice it will benefit the overall success of the country.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 9 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-9 Are or personally know entrepreneurs in their society This result showed that (80%) of Irish people knew someone that was an entrepreneur or was an entrepreneur themselves. Taiwan’s result was also quite high with (66%) of people directly knowing an entrepreneur. This goes to show that there is a high concentration of entrepreneurs in both countries with the majority of people personally seeing and being touched by the results of entrepreneurship.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Strongly Agree
Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree Question 10 Results
Ireland Taiwan
Figure 5-10 Would consider becoming an entrepreneur
This result showed that the majority of Irish people (73%) given the opportunity would consider becoming an entrepreneur. A huge number of Taiwanese people (33%) answered unsure to this question which could be attributed to a cultural difference, while (39%) of people admitted they would consider it if the opportunity arose.