ABSTRACT
This research
work examined information
seeking behaviour of entrepreneurs of Pure Water Producers in Ekpoma, Edo State.
The objectives of this study is to identify the information needs of entrepreneurs; examine the information
seeking behaviour of entrepreneurs; find out the sources preferred for
acquiring needed information; examine reasons
associated with the preferred entrepreneurs information sources; find out
challenges associated with this business; and to find out solution to these
problems. Survey
research design was adopted for the study. Total enumeration sampling technique
was used for the study. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data
collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of simple
percentage. The findings revealed that respondents’ sources preferred for
acquiring needed information are oral communication, family and friends,
distributors, consultants, employees and established entrepreneurs,
professional acquaintances, customers, and internet/online search. Also, the
findings showed that challenges associated with pure water business are
financial constraints, intervention by government & various development
practitioners, transportation, power supply, limited availability and poor
quality of roads/bridges. And also, it was found out that the solution to the
problems are availability of loans to entrepreneurs, availability of quality
roads/bridges, constant power supply, availability of basic infrastructure
facilities, and government support. Based on the findings, it was recommended
by the researcher that entrepreneurs should
develop appropriate collections and other new digital information services that
will be of benefit to their business. Also, government should create an avenue for loan access to entrepreneurs.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
Entrepreneurship has been the backbone of most gigantic and
growing economies of the 21st century. Any country that refuses to
pay attention to enhancing her entrepreneurship sector would be left behind in
the global economic development. This is because entrepreneurship is the
dynamic process of creating incremental wealth by individuals who assume major
risks in terms of equity, time and/or career commitment or provide value for
some product or service (Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd, 2005).
Entrepreneurs as
a group has been studied from various perspectives; students in the field of
management, economics, commerce and psychology have all contributed to the
field of entrepreneurial studies. According to Deshpande, (1989) cited in
Durga, (2006), an entrepreneur is an individual who accepts risks and
undertakes new ventures.
Ekpoma is a larger town in Edo
State, Nigeria. The population of Ekpoma, Nigeria is 59618
according to the GeoNames geographical database (NPC, 2006). Ekpoma is the headquarter of Esan West Local Government Area
of Edo state, it is not an industrialized town, but houses a University, some
secondary and primary schools, and health institution, hence there are lots of
human activities in the environment. The sources of portable water in Ekpoma
are the Ibiekuma River (popularly known as river Orhionmwon) and the Ogedekpe
River. The Ibiekuma River is dammed and the water is channeled through pipes to
the Ujemen campus of the Ambrose Alli University, the water is transported from
the campusto Ekpoma environment through water tanks and plastic vessels such as
Jerry cans.
The secondary, source of water is the rainwater, which is
stored in cemented concrete wells, galvanized iron tanks and plastic water
tanks. The pure water producers in Ekpoma depend on these sources especially
the two rivers. Pure water producers in Ekpoma are faced by myriads of problems
ranging from inadequate extension service, poor input distribution, high cost
of labour etc. But despite the problems faced by pure water producers in
Ekpoma, it’s still very
profitable. Many entrepreneurs now see this business as hot cake business in
which they cannot lack customers because majority of the inhabitants relying on vended water from
water trucks or rain-water collected in cemented underground water reservoirs.
Meanwhile, today’s
society has been characterized as a knowledge society and its economy as a
knowledge economy. Leveraging of information is an essential ingredient in the
making of a knowledge economy. Information is recognized as a valuable resource
and a key factor in today’s competitive world. It is an integral part of life.
Whatever one does, wherever one stays, whoever one is, whether one recognizes
it or not, everyone needs and uses information.
The concept of information no doubt appears over flogged
both in the academia and the secular world. The use of the word information has
almost assumed a state of anomaly where nearly every innovation/advancement is
tagged after information; information age, information explosion, information
economy, information society, and so on. Perhaps, this is because information
has become indispensable in the overall development of the global society. Kemp
(1976) cited in Madhusudhan (2008) concurs that information has been rated as
the fifth need of man ranking after air, water, food, and shelter. Human beings
generally use information in their day to day activities to meet a particular
need or the other. What, then, is the meaning of this very popular and world
acknowledged word information?
The word information has been defined by various schools of
thought. Riley (2012) defined information as data that has been processed in
such a way as to be meaningful to the person who receives it.Business
Dictionary described information as that which can lead to an increase in
understanding and decrease in uncertainty’. Information can also be described
as the knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or
circumstance(Random House College Dictionary, 2009). This is to mention a few,
but in the context of this study, information is seen as knowledge communicated
verbally or orally to individuals and is used in decision-making.
Nowadays, information has become a critical factor for
political participation and social inclusion and the basis for competitiveness
at the individual, organizational and national levels (Babalola, Sodipe, Haliso
& Odunlade, 2012). The implication of this assertion is that the urge to
use a piece of information stems out of the user’s need. It arises as a
consequence of a need perceived by the information user, who in order to
satisfy it makes demand upon formal or informal sources or services, resulting
in success or failure.
According to Odunsaya and Amusa (2003), information needs
vary, depending on the purpose for which information is sought. In other words,
the type of information needed and the purpose for which it is being sought
determines the user’s pattern of seeking. Information need is a requirement
that drives people into information seeking. An information need evolves from
an awareness of something missing, which necessitates the seeking of
information that might contribute to understanding and meaning.
In accordance with the study of Odusanya and Amusa (2003),
there are three approaches to information seeking. These are:
1.
The
user-values approach which focuses on perception of utility and value of
information systems;
2. The sense-making approach which
examines the way people make sense of their worlds and how information is used
in this process; and
3.
The
anomalous state-of-knowledge (ASK) which examines how people seek information
concerning situation about which their knowledge is incomplete.
Information seeking behaviour has been described as the way
and manner people gather and seek for information for their personal use,
knowledge updating and development (Ajiboye and Tella, 2007). In other words,
information seeking behaviour principally encompasses how individuals scout
round for information to meet a particular need irrespective of the source or
sources of the information.
The concept of information seeking behaviour is not alien to
the academic environment. Traditionally, the hallmark of academic environment
has always been teaching and learning for knowledge acquisition, which is often
characterized with information seeking and usage. A typical academic
environment consists of the students, researchers, non-academics and other
service providers such as the informal sector entrepreneur.
Faire-Wessels (1990) in Kakai et al., (2004) refers to it as
a way people search for and utilized information. From the above definitions
therefore, it can be deduced that information seeking behaviour is the
purposive search for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some
goals. In the courseof seeking for information to do research and assignments,
the individual may interact with manual information systems (such as newspaper
or a book) or with computer-based systems (such as the Internet-world wide
web).The need of information seeking behaviour arises due to information need
of the information seeker, who in order to satisfy it, makes demands upon
formal or informal information sources or services, resulting in either success
or failure. Taylor (2001) also noted that after interacting with the
information sources what a user actually needs may not eventually tally with
what is practically available, due to constraints either within the stock or
due to the user’sown inadequacy.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
Over the years, information seeking has been human process
that requires adaptive and reflective control over the afferent and efferent
actions of the information seeker.Information seeking behaviour (ISB) resulted
from the recognition of some needs, perceived by the user, who as a consequence
makes demand upon on formal system in order to satisfied the perceived
information need.
Pure water is essential to humans and other life forms
even though it provides no calories or organicnutrients. Access to safe drinking pure water has
improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but
approximately one billion people still lack access to safe pure water in
Nigeria most especially in Ekpoma. However, some entrepreneurs have observed
that Ekpoma town is seriously lacking safe pure water because of the area
located. This geared entrepreneurs to deem it fit in order for them to make
more profit. Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate various
aspects of information seeking behaviour of business school students, and
little research has been conducted on an examination of the information
behaviour of new entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of a business. It has been
observed that no research has been done on the information seeking behaviour of
entrepreneurs of pure water producers in Ekpoma, Edo State. The study will
identify the information needs of entrepreneurs of pure water producers in
Ekpoma town, the information seeking behaviour of pure water producers, as well
as the sources preferred for acquiring the needed information. So the
researcher intends to fill this gap.
1.3 Objectives
of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigate the information
seeking behaviour of entrepreneurs of Pure Water Producers in Ekpoma, Edo State.
The specific objectives are:
1. To identify the information needs of entrepreneurs
2. To assess the information seeking behaviour
of entrepreneurs
3. To find out the sources preferred for
acquiring needed information
4. To identify reasons associated with the preferred entrepreneurs
information sources
1.4 Research
Questions
Based on the objectives of this study, the following
research questions were formulated:
1. What are the information needs of
entrepreneurs?
2. What is the level of information seeking
behaviour of entrepreneurs?
3. What sources are preferred by entrepreneurs
for acquiring needed information?
4. What are the reasons associated with entrepreneurs’
information sources?
1.5 Significance
of the Study
This study will be of immense benefits in the following
ways:
1. There is no doubt that the findings
of this study would be of great benefit to entrepreneurs and society at large.
This would no doubt improve upon the current techniques and behaviour exhibited
by entrepreneurs while using information resources.
2. This study is actually timely
because it would help users to improve their information seeking skills by
providing them with the requisite skills in order to effectively meet their
information needs.
3. It is hoped that the findings of this
research will be useful for entrepreneurs to know that the use of quality
information will help them undertake their responsibilities more effectively.
4. It will help business organization to know
the importance of information resources.
1.6 Scope
of the Study
This research work is restricted to the information
seeking behaviour of entrepreneurs of Pure Water Producers in Ekpoma, Edo State.
The study covers all pure water producers in Ekpoma, Edo State.
1.7 Limitation
of the Study
In the process of
undergoing through this study, the following factors will militate against the
research work. However, these factors do not make the findings skeptical.
The limiting factors
include:
i)
Time:
As
at the period of this study, the researcher undertook numerous tasks,
especially the course work and other academic tasks. Based on that, the
researcher considered the specified time to be too short for the study.
ii)
Finance:
This
was one of the major challenges faced by this study. The researcher does not
have enough money to carry out this study. Preparing the questionnaire and its
administration cost a lot of money. Therefore, the researcher sourced for fund
to enable her carry out the work successfully.
iii)
Limited
Data: This is another challenge, which the researcher faced
during this study.
Though the researcher
encountered the above, it did not affect the quality of the work.
1.8 Operational
Definition of Terms
Information: Knowledge communicated or received concerning
a particular fact or circumstance.
Behaviour: This is way in which one acts or conducts oneself,
especially toward others.
Needs: A condition or situation in which something must be
supplied in order for a certain condition to be maintained or a desired state
to be achieved.
Information Need: Refer to that need originating from
a vague awareness of something missing and then culminating in locating
information that contributes to understanding and meaning.
Information Seeking Behaviour: Refer to the way and manner people
search for and utilize information.
Information Seeking: It is a conscious effort to acquire
information in response to a need or gap in the knowledge of a client.
Entrepreneur: This is a
person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the
hope of profit.
Entrepreneurship: This is
the willingness to take risks and develop, organize and manage a business
venture in a competitive global marketplace that is constantly evolving.
Knowledge: Facts,
information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the
theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
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