Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Investigation of Factors that Influence African Americans' Entrepreneurship in STEM Fields

博士论文研究：影响非裔美国人 STEM 领域创业的因素调查

• 批准号: 1633305
• 负责人: Alejandro Rodriguez
• 金额: $ 2.01万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-15 至 2019-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1633305&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Investigation; Factors

Minority business entrepreneurship, specifically in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) provides multiple opportunities for innovation, job creation, high earning potential, and for increasing the diversity of the U.S. workforce to reflect current population demographics. The purpose of this dissertation research is to understand the factors of STEM programs that influence STEM-educated African American graduates to pursue high tech entrepreneurship. Currently, there is evidence that while the U. S. has experienced growth in the number of African American entrepreneurs, this growth has not occurred in STEM fields, which are highly linked to high tech firms. Knowledge about African American STEM entrepreneurship is limited, as current data sets captures minimal information on the background or education of entrepreneurs. This research aims to fill that gap by analyzing administrative and survey data collected from STEM program alliances (collaborations between multiple colleges/universities) across the country. A greater understanding of which factors in education influence African Americans to pursue entrepreneurship can provide empirical data to guide policies and programs that encourage and support African Americans in STEM, allow for the modification or re-evaluation of existing programs, and promote the linking of entrepreneurial activities with STEM-support programs.This research identifies what educational experiences predict African American entrepreneurship in STEM fields by reviewing existing STEM-support programs. The review of these programs and their components such as social networking, mentoring, role models, and financial support, allows identification of bridging factors which encourage entrepreneurship, as well as to what degree knowledge about entrepreneurship is provided. The results of a quantitative analysis of survey data from undergraduate and graduate STEM-support programs as well as business owner characteristics aims to reveal the relationship between these factors and entrepreneurship in STEM fields. These results can be used to determine which factors are more likely to cultivate entrepreneurship among African Americans.

少数族裔创业，特别是在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域，为创新、创造就业机会、高收入潜力以及增加美国劳动力的多样性提供了多种机会，以反映当前的人口结构。本论文的研究目的是了解STEM项目影响STEM教育的非裔美国毕业生追求高科技创业的因素。目前，有证据表明，尽管美国非洲裔美国企业家的数量出现了增长，但与高科技公司高度相关的STEM领域却没有出现这种增长。关于非裔美国人STEM创业的知识有限，因为目前的数据集捕获的关于企业家背景或教育的信息很少。这项研究旨在通过分析从全国STEM项目联盟(多所学院/大学之间的合作)收集的行政和调查数据来填补这一空白。更好地了解教育中哪些因素影响非裔美国人追求创业，可以提供实证数据来指导鼓励和支持非裔美国人在STEM领域的政策和计划，允许修改或重新评估现有计划，并促进创业活动与STEM支持计划的联系。本研究通过审查现有的STEM支持计划，确定教育经验对STEM领域非裔美国人创业的预测。审查这些项目及其组成部分，如社交网络、指导、榜样和财政支持，可以确定鼓励创业的桥梁因素，以及提供创业知识的程度。对本科生和研究生STEM支持项目的调查数据以及企业主特征的量化分析结果旨在揭示这些因素与STEM领域创业之间的关系。这些结果可以用来确定哪些因素更有可能培养非裔美国人的创业精神。