Understanding the Sociological Aspects Impacting the Business Endeavour Among Bumiputera Graduates

Abstract

In 2020, 202,400 from 5.36 million graduates in Malaysia were unemployed. Although the unemployment may have happened mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and various Movement Control Order (MCO), 16,000 of them were already unemployed for more than a year. The situation has raised a question as to why they did not become entrepreneurs. Hence, the researcher interviewed seven Bumiputera graduate entrepreneurs to understand the sociological aspects impacting the business endeavours among the graduates. The sampling techniques used were purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The researcher found that the ultimate reason for getting into universities is to be employed, not to do business. Bumiputera also does not have entrepreneurial culture. Instead, they have a culture of working for others. Although most participants were aware that social status is important for social networks that are crucial for business development, some thought that it is not essential for them because they only want to do business just to survive. Their past working experience also played a vital role in leading them to become entrepreneurs.