Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
E-Business Preparedness of the Future Philippine
Workforce
Graduating students from the reputed top four universities in the Philippines (Asiaweek,
2000; CHED Bulletin, 2000) were surveyed to assess the e-business preparedness of the
future Philippine workforce. From this survey (with sampling sizes of 81 to 95 per university),
the following were revealed (see Tables 1 and 2):
1.
On a scale of 5, student's knowledge of the e-business was at a moderate average of
3.57. This was startling, considering that the students spent relatively long times
surfing the Internet. At 7.1 hours per week, it was at par with the United States'
university student's average (www.student.net).
2.
This lack of knowledge of e-business could be explained by the meager 8.8 hours the
student spent during his entire stay in the university to study about e-business or the
Internet in classes. Follow-up interviews revealed that less than 1 hour of this time was
spent on discussions about e-business.
3.
Students enrolled in Computers (Comp) or Business (Bus) knew e-business better than
students in Arts/Education (Art/Edu) and Engineering/Science (Eng/Sci). This was
mainly due to the higher average surfing time (SURF) and time spent in studying e-
business (STUDY) by the former. Regression analysis proved that knowledge of e-
business (KNOW) was greatly influenced by SURF and STUDY at 95% confidence
level, as embodied in the regression line: KNOW = 1.31 + 0.17 SURF + 0.10 STUDY, with
R
= 0.8126, (
t
= 5.1), (
t
= 3.9), (
t
= 3.7). Computer usage time (USE), was not significantly
correlated with KNOW.
4.
Most Philippine students (93%) believed that e-business would not be just a fad. All
students of computer degrees agreed.
Table 1. E-business preparedness of Philippine students, by university (as of January 2001)
Unversities
A
B
C
D
Ave
(USE)Ave. time spent using computer for the past 6 months ( hours per week ):
15.1
11.2
14.6
14.79
13.9
(SURF)Ave. time spent in surfing the internet for the past 6 months ( hours per week
7.8
4.6
7.4
8.57
7.1
(STUDY)Time spent in class studying about internet or e-business for the past 3 years
9.3
4.4
9.6
11.89
8.8
(KNOW) Knowledge of e-business (on scale of 5)
3.66
3.33
3.73
3..84
3.57
(NOT FAD)% of students who believe Ecommerce is not a fad
0.918
0.93
0.91
0.88
0.91
Table 2. E-business preparedness of Philippine students, by course
Course
Comp
Bus
Eng/Sci Art/Edu
Ave
USE
20.53
15.49
11.39
8.30
13.93
SURF
9.02
8.78
6.52
4.37
7.17
STUDY
14.35
9.25
8.15
3.54
8.82
KNOW
4.02
4.01
3.25
3.01
3.57
NOT FAD
1.00
0.89
0.89
0.86
0.91
