Enhancing Commitment to Teaching Entrepreneurship through Mindfulness and Readiness for Change in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Background/purpose – Research on teaching entrepreneurship which concentrates on the lecturers’ perspective has been underexplored. This study aims to report on an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study that was conducted with a quantitative survey of the influence of mindfulness on Malaysian polytechnic lecturers’ commitment to teaching entrepreneurship through readiness for change as a mediator. It also aims to report on the qualitative reasons behind the quantitative results. Materials/methods – Survey data were collected from 171 lecturers teaching entrepreneurship or subjects embedded with the elements of entrepreneurial skills. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the quantitative data, followed by nine semi-structured interviews which were then thematically analysed. Results – Findings revealed that mindfulness did not directly influence the commitment to teaching entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, readiness for change mediated the relationship between mindfulness and commitment to teaching entrepreneurship. Conclusion – The qualitative interview data provided insight that lecturers’ working attitude is an important factor to enhancing the quality of teaching entrepreneurship. Implications and recommendations for future studies are also presented.

Keywords

• entrepreneurship
• mindfulness
• partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem)
• readiness for change
• thematic analysis.