Economic Development And Community Colleges: Attributes, Attitudes And Satisfaction Levels Of Western North Carolina Stakeholders

Abstract

North Carolina's Rural Prosperity Task Force and the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center have both suggested two very different states in North Carolina: the thriving urban areas and the stagnant rural areas. Both agencies recommended using the North Carolina Community College System as the vehicle for major training and retraining programs as it has a strong mission and record of helping rural residents with literacy and skill development. Because community colleges are often an integral part of their service area, the impact they have on local economies can be very important if leveraged properly.

Earlier research has examined community colleges and their role in economic development from a statewide or multi-state perspective. These efforts examine elected officials', economic development professionals', community college leaders' and the largest employers' opinions of community college economic development services. This study focused on the small business owners from the western 23 counties of North Carolina.

This research identified factors that contribute to effective economic development activities by 11 community colleges in western North Carolina from the small business owners' perspective. The basic research question examined the satisfaction levels of small business owners with regard to the western North Carolina community colleges' economic development activities. Independent variables included type of business, years of small business ownership, number of employees, frequency of participation in community college classes and/or seminars, size of institution, number of counties in the service area community, and gross retail sales in the service area community.

The data indicated a significant relationship between local stakeholders' perceptions of level of satisfaction and level of importance concerning the economic development strategies used by their community college. The data also indicated significant differences in the independent variables type of business, years of small business ownership, number of employees and number of counties in the community colleges' service area for the dependent variable of satisfaction. However, the regression analysis indicated that the significance found in not a powerful predictor of satisfaction.