Entrepreneurial income and poverty alleviation in the Philippines: Evidence from the 2012 FIES

• Main Author: Pacificador, Karla Jenine P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Entrepreneurship > Philippines; Poverty > Philippines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5516
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study focuses on Filipino household entrepreneurship covering 26,415 households in the whole Philippines. It aimed to establish a link between household entrepreneurship to the current issue of poverty. Given that entrepreneurship is a means to improve a households economic standing, this study aimed to investigate the contribution of household entrepreneurship to poverty alleviation in the country. Through the utilization of Sequential Explanatory Mixed Method adopted from Creswell (2014) that implemented quantitative (Descriptive Analysis, ANOVA, Chi-square analysis and Regression analyses) and qualitative (Case Study Method used by Cosmos Corporation) research through a three-stage design, the following conclusions were derived; The factors that contributed to a higher entrepreneurial income were; household heads education, household size, marital status (divorced, widowed, separated), savings, and those that were located in regions with lower poverty incidence. Inversely, the factors that reduced household entrepreneurial income were; presence of dependent children, more members employed for pay, there were additional sources of income, evidence of opportunity-driven motivation and those that were situated in regions with higher poverty incidence (ARMM, Regions 5, 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11,12, MIMAROPA, Caraga). The difference on income was not that significant between necessity and opportunity under the following income classes; below 40,000, 100,000- 249,000 and the difference was much more significant under 40,000-59,999 and 60,000-99,999 pesos. Necessity-driven households were found to have higher entrepreneurial income composition (more than 75% or 100,000 and above) There were significant differences in the poverty status of households based on their income composition. Majority of the households, both poor and non poor, have mixed-income structure. Households that have a single source of income were found to be non-poor. Lastly, poor households were characterized to have; lower levels of education, bigger family sizes, there were more dependent children present and, are located in ARMM. In conclusion, the study did not reveal strong evidence that household entrepreneurship significantly contributes to poverty alleviation in the country. More poor households were also observed to be engaged in entrepreneurial activities out of necessity and out of choice. If the subjects were to be employed, it would decrease the likelihood of engaging in household entrepreneurship as observed from the non-poor households income structure. Key recommendations of this study were made for entrepreneurial research, academe, government policymakers, government-support groups, and households. These include utilization of FIES for further entrepreneurial studies and help identify gaps as a basis for making informed policy recommendations and provide necessary interventions to help empower the poor to move out of poverty. Existing programs or policies should be strengthened and communicated to Filipino households for awareness through the help of government-support groups.