The development of an instrument to determine the perceptions of Gauteng small business operators of their support systems

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study has two main aims, first, the development and validation of a surveyquestionnaire in the field of small business support; second the determination ofGauteng small business operators' perceptions about their small businesssupport.The importance of studying small businesses and small business supportsystems is realised through the background and literature of this study which suggests an enormous contribution of the small business industry towards theSouth African Gross Domestic Product (GOP) and towards the eradication ofunemployment.The following research methodologies were used in achieving the aboveobjectives: An exploratory descriptive survey was used. The purpose of theexploration was to gain new insight into the relatively unknown research area ofinstrument development in the areas of small business support. A probabilitysampling method, that is a systematic random sampling, was used in theselection of 60 participants who are small business operators. Sampling wasdone from a population frame presented in a directory of small businessesregistered with the Gauteng Chamber of Businesses.Data collection was done through face-to-face interviews using the developedsurvey instrument. The developed instrument was intended to collect thefollowing type of data: demographic data, data on small business activities andLikert scale data on small business support.The validation of the questionnaire items presented in the Likert scale format wasdone using factor analysis, a statistical procedure for synthesising large amountsof data. The results of the factor analysis scale revealed that finance andaccessibility of information are the most important factors of small businesssupport systems. Questionnaire validation through the use of factor analysis acknowledged the limitation of using a small sample, which renders factoranalysis results not fully reliable.The determination of small business operators' perceptions on the importance ofdifferent support systems was done using Thurstone's Law of ComparativeJudgement. The results of the Thurstone comparison are that access toinformation, training and skills development, are the most important supportsystems listed by the respondents.Findings on the majority of respondents about business activities are:• they sell their products in the local markets, were started before 1983, startedtheir businesses with the intention of becoming their own bosses.• they operate within the inner cities and employ 1 to 49 employees.• they have not been trained on how to operate a small business but also donot think that training would enhance their managerial performance.The main Substantive findings of perceptions by the majority of operators aboutsmall business support are that:• they favour in-service/on hands training and business partnerships.• believe that finance is the biggest problem facing small businesses.• view most financial institutions as unsympathetic towards their needs.• consider independence as one of the most important activities withinbusinesses.• view product marketing as beneficial, but consider advertising media costly.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University