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A REVIEW OF INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM FOR ENTERPRISE EDUCATION

    https://doi.org/10.1142/S2737566822500086Cited by:1 (Source: Crossref)
    This article is part of the issue:

    Abstract

    This article reviews the use of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) mechanism in delivering enterprise education to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in Nigeria. Using desk research and review of system performance report, the suitability of the IVR mechanism as an alternative approach towards ensuring inclusiveness in entrepreneurship education is highlighted. The review revealed that deploying learning systems that take into considerations geographical locations without internet infrastructure and also socio-economic factors of intending and existing entrepreneurs for enterprise education is crucial and equally promising. The challenges and opportunities of online and continuing education during the COVID-19 pandemic are summarized. There is the need for further exploration of IVR interventions to make them more effective and policy interventions on affordable online teaching and learning platforms accessible to persons of varied economic divide.

    1. Introduction

    The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions across the world making the adoption of other modes of teaching and learning apart from face-to-face sacrosanct. The global outbreak has continued to affect how countries respond to the shift from the traditional method of learning to innovative and alternate modes of delivery. The period has also exposed the weaknesses of the existing online learning infrastructure, the limited exposure of instructors of online teaching, as well as the non-conducive environment for learning at home, equity, and academic excellence in terms of different learning offerings (Reimers2022). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most developing countries relied majorly on the traditional mode of delivery for especially entrepreneurship education and training. However, the pandemic has provided stakeholders in the education sector with the opportunity to introduce digital learning (Dhawan2020). There has also been the issue of inclusiveness in education which primarily hinges on the socio-economic factors and limited infrastructure of those living in rural areas.

    Expectedly, most countries turned to distance learning, online learning, and continuing education as the panacea for this sudden global pandemic, despite the problems posed to both instructors and the learners (Pokhrel and Chhetri2021). Thus, transitioning from traditional face-to-face learning to alternate learning methods that take into consideration inclusiveness and reach, becomes a priority. Apart from learning in higher institutions using digital methods, there have been efforts aimed at addressing unemployment challenge through entrepreneurship education. This is in line with the belief that skills and knowledge of entrepreneurial/business management are essential to run successful enterprises and create employment opportunities.

    The desire of any serious country is to have a vibrant youth ecosystem capable of contributing in significant terms to its socio-economic growth and development. In essence, the youth should ordinarily radiate creative energy that could lead to improved livelihoods. In Nigeria, the youths have been described as having the potentials of competing with their peers across the world due to the ingenuity they have continued to display in different areas. Nigerian youths have also been described as enterprising, highly creative, and innovative. However, the rising unemployment level and the accompanying implications remain a source of worry to many.

    According to the National Bureau of Statistics, youths constitute over 33.6 million (16.8%) of Nigeria’s population. In the near future, it is expected that the youth will form the bulk of the population. Many believe that the youths possess vibrant energy, that could position Nigeria as a prosperous country. Despite these attributes and their dynamism, unemployment seems to be a serious challenge limiting youth’s contributions to society. Statistics show that the jobless rate in Nigeria rose to 33.3% in the last quarter of 2020. Nigerian youths have shown their marks in such areas as technology, arts, and entertainment and have increasingly shown interest in exploring different domains of the creative industry. These have led to the establishment of enterprises/businesses by young Nigerians.

    However, most of the businesses by young Nigerians have not been performing optically in terms of income generation, expansion, diversification, and other growth indicators. The poor performance of these businesses has been attributed majorly to the lack of entrepreneurial/managerial skills for those seeking to create employment through businesses and those seeking employment. Access to market opportunities by existing businesses has also been identified as a contributing factor. These young Nigerians clearly require support if they must gain meaningful employment, run sustainable businesses, and have improved livelihood.

    In addressing these issues, a program — Transforming Nigerian Youth program — was designed to help youth and women. The program seeks to create a network of entrepreneurial and managerial change makers across the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in Nigeria, for improved livelihood and business sustainability. To ensure inclusiveness and greater participation of the target audience, the program apart from the use of a learning management system also has an interactive voice response system which is now gaining attention in education delivery.

    The use of emerging technologies in entrepreneurship training and especially in interventions targeting young persons interested in starting and growing their enterprises appears to be evolving due to the ability of such technologies to reach many people and in different backgrounds. The deployment of such technology in training can complement the instructor’s efforts to engage participants in an intervention, especially in a challenging setting, such as in remote and rural areas (Smith et al.2016).

    In some cases, such projects can diminish the barriers reported in interventions delivered in the traditional face-to-face including literacy or the disclosure of personal and sensitive information. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a novel phone-based platform that can be used to deliver health behavior interventions (Boyce2000). An IVR system has been described as a telephone-based technology utilizing touch-tone or feature phones to enable users to interact with the system using the telephone keypad as the interface and the human speaker is changed with high-quality recorded interactive script (Piette et al.2015). In recent times, software for voice recognition has been used that might further improve the acceptability and the effectiveness of the IVR and learners can interact in real time with the IVR system or make and receive IVR calls (Smith et al.2016). The IVR has several advantages, including simplicity, convenience, and confidentiality (Piette et al.2015).

    While IVR systems are relatively new in terms of entrepreneurship training, a major benefit is the significant cost savings compared to usual care (Kassavou and Sutton2017). A number of studies, mainly systematic literature reviews, have documented the incremental effects resulting from the use of IVR especially in healthcare settings (Smith et al.2016). IVR systems have also been extensively used for data collection for different purposes. There is a need to determine the effectiveness of the IVR in promoting entrepreneurship training. This paper therefore reviews the use of the interactive voice response mechanism in delivering enterprise education to the MSME sector in Nigeria. Thus, the aim is to provide evidence for the enhancement of the system for the promotion of entrepreneurship training especially to ensure inclusiveness. The challenges and opportunities of online and continuing education during the COVID-19 pandemic are summarized and way forward suggested.

    2. Digital Innovations and Entrepreneurship Education/Training

    Emerging technologies have become relevant for the transmission of information and communication within and outside regions. It included the use of handheld personal devices, cellphones, the Internet, and the Web, as well as several other emerging inventions. The challenges of learning development have caused stakeholders to focus on new and more effective approaches to learning that will enable information and knowledge to travel faster and farther, engender information and knowledge sharing on a large scale, create access to just-in-time information urgently required, and in all, significantly reduce learning costs (Linawati and Sudiarta2010).

    In recent times, there is a huge change from the old learning model of standardization to a new paradigm of personalization in education and this is fast evolving. Subsequently, the educational system will pivot through artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and the metaverse that will create a more integrated learning system. Advancement in education technology will help youths sharpen their unique aptitudes, boost motivation and creativity, and allow them to work at their own pace as they find purpose within the industry. With very few gaps in entrepreneurial learning, these youths will have a clearer business path because of the support they receive from digitized learning that can be revisited occasionally (Hamilton2022). Cloud-based applications have allowed training institutions to build virtual campuses to engage women and youths, creating a digital community where modules, tasks, progress, coursework, and achievements can be tracked. Encouraging a transformation of minds to promote entrepreneurship, allowing youths to appreciate the relevance of job creation through personalized learning modes, is an emerging priority.

    Several learning institutes have pivoted to e-learning systems that ensure learning takes place through digital platforms like Open Educational Resources (OER) that exist under an open domain without restrictions (UNESCO2016) which are freely accessible over the Web or Internet. The OER medium represents a combined effort to help equalize access to knowledge and educational opportunities globally (Bissell2009), as well as Web 2.0 and 3.0 learning systems. Despite the huge role this medium has played in refining the learning system, there are a lot of disadvantaged people who would not be able to access the learning materials on the platforms because they lack Internet access and other basic amenities. This brings us to ensuring that e-learning is freely accessible to all using simpler technological devices and applications.

    Entrepreneurship education is a topic of global recognition and has taken different forms in different territories. For instance, entrepreneurship education has been adopted in many universities in the United Kingdom to allow students to consider business creation as a career option. This type of education encourages enterprising behavior that is essential for start-ups and large organizations making use of non-traditional learning mechanisms, in essence technology-based entrepreneurial education has an interesting potential to increase national wealth and competitiveness (Moreland2006Botham and Mason2007).

    In Nigeria, there is a shortage of entrepreneurial skills required for small businesses to thrive. This can be attributed to a lack of entrepreneurial education in our educational system which focuses majorly on theories rather than providing youths interested in economic development, with the adequate skills to drive change. During the next decade, with the rise of artificial intelligence and automated technology, traditional learning roles will reduce and likely be replaced by emerging technologies that advance the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills. There is a need to prepare young entrepreneurs for a digital, global future, becoming familiar with the learning and communication tools used in the business world, so that they can compete favorably with international economies in the nearest future.

    3. Learning Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Learning from home was an option prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this was often seen as luxury with most educators subscribing to physical learning because of its practicality offerings. The advent of the pandemic brought a rapid migration of many educational environments to virtual learning. Kuckertz et al. (2020) reported that the occurrence of a crisis oftentimes comes with a need for fast and effective decision-making.

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 20 years of education gain has been wiped out, especially in developing countries where there was already a slow progression toward attaining the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 by 2030 because basic infrastructures for learning are lacking and therefore caused longstanding inequalities (United Nations2021). Even before the pandemic, there have been discrepancies in the knowledge base of entrepreneurs which translate to the way opportunities are identified and value propositions are made. The pandemic, however, heightened the concerns of knowledge and skill acquisition because of restrictions in movement and closure of learning institutions. Inequalities in income and access to infrastructures like the Internet and electricity, have increased the difficulty of entrepreneurs. The pandemic reveals how digital innovations can address serious concerns in learning and training more businesses and economies during and after the crisis. It is believed that to recover learning losses in the post-COVID-19 era, emerging innovations for capacity building and knowledge learning sessions should be widely adopted.

    According to DeVaney et al. (2020), the pandemic has largely disrupted the educational system such that 91% of students in the world were affected at the peak of the crisis. Studies have focused on corporate response to the management of pandemics and developing capabilities (Parker and Ameen2018) with very little attention paid to innovation in education (Ferreira et al.2018). A study conducted by Parnell et al. (2022) showed that the impact of COVID-19 on learners is negative because many programs for athletes were either postponed or canceled due to lockdown and safety measures. However, the study did not take into consideration the rapid increase in digital skills and practices that the pandemic introduced to many learners and educators. This study will focus on how educators have been innovative around learning models and the unique opportunity this presents to changing the conventional ways of learning. The study also explores innovative and creative approaches to handling virtual learning after the pandemic to ensure that educators are prepared for uncertainties.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted revolutionary and innovative learning methods like e-learning and mobile learning which were not considered effective in the time past especially in Nigeria. Far from the traditional mode of learning where trainers moderate the transmission of knowledge through a fixed schedule that occurs within the confines of a lecture room, sustainability in education would require diversification in learning modes to promote remote learning. During the pandemic, several individuals in developing countries became unemployed and faced economic hardship which could span a long period if they are unable to secure job offers soon enough as the pandemic eases out. Thus, entrepreneurship training, courses, and programs are very crucial at this period to help start-ups, create jobs, and improve the economic conditions of the populace (Pittaway and Cope2007).

    Entrepreneurship education is key to the successful introduction of innovative education in a post-pandemic era. Learning in this field should be transferred to a digital space for sustainability considering the stay-at-home policies and restrictions experienced during the pandemic. A study conducted by Maloney (2017) revealed that technologies which allow for pre-recorded curriculum are to be encouraged as they ensure the spread of knowledge and skills that are vital for the formation of entrepreneurial competencies to establish performance specifics among the MSME (Nabi et al.2017). Despite highlighting the need for a pre-recorded curriculum, their study did not explore suitable platforms that can be leveraged to roll out these curricula with or without the use of Internet bandwidth and data for different categories of learners.

    Also, the emergence of innovation is always associated with risks. For instance, the ability to measure the impact of pre-recorded learning modules on entrepreneurial behavior is challenging and learners might not adequately network or interact with experts for more information relating to the practice of the knowledge already acquired. This, therefore, calls for a need for periodical follow-ups, monitoring, and evaluation of enterprises that have passed through learning program.

    4. SDGs 4 and 9 and Implications for Developing Country

    Sustainable development is the ability of current generations to meet their needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (IISD2014). The United Nations 2030 Agenda lays emphasis on the need to incorporate the most recent scientific knowledge with quality data and ensure easy transfer of knowledge within industries to advance sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, as they address global challenges (United Nations2015). The focus is on equitable quality education as the foundation for inclusive and sustainable industrialization, where enterprises have access to the knowledge they are ordinarily deprived of due to a lack of resources.

    According to the Institute of International Education, there is a wide gap in access to infrastructure between the developed and developing nations as 90% of people who do not have access to the Internet are from developing countries (IIE2021). Students without reliable Internet access and/or technology often find it difficult to participate in digital learning; for instance, 95% of students in Switzerland, Norway, and Austria have access to a computer and the Internet for learning but only 34% in Indonesia have this access (OECD, PISA2018). Also, in the United States, young people from privileged backgrounds had access to a computer and the Internet to carry out their schoolwork but unfortunately, 25% of those from disadvantaged homes had no access. This digital divide makes it impossible for equal access to the acquisition of skills and knowledge required for businesses to thrive, especially in developing countries. In the light of this, there is a need to innovate around knowledge sharing with the use of more accessible platforms that allows young entrepreneurs increased convenience and flexibility while acquiring this expertise.

    Promoting sustainable industries and investing in research and innovation are important ways to facilitating sustainable development. Unfortunately, despite Nigeria’s vision to integrate the SDGs in an inclusive and people-centered manner, the country still lacks good infrastructure. The greatest drag on Nigeria’s sustainable economic growth and development is its deficit in basic physical infrastructure. Nigeria’s infrastructure ranks 132nd out of 138 countries (Schwab2016). There are still electricity shortages, lack of access to the Internet, poor transportation infrastructure, and poor educational facilities. A functioning and resilient infrastructure is the foundation of every successful community, thus, to meet future challenges, the industries and infrastructure must be upgraded. For this, there is a need to promote innovative sustainable technologies and ensure equal and universal access to information and financial markets. This will bring prosperity, improve entrepreneurship, and ensure we build stable and prosperous societies.

    5. Connectivism Learning Theory

    The Connectivism Learning Theory is one of the recent theories of e-learning first introduced on a blog in 2004 by a psychologist and higher education teacher, George Siemens, and later updated and published in 2005 (Siemens2006) to better understand how technologies have enabled learning and knowledge sharing across the Web and other digital spaces which was not possible centuries ago. The Connectivism Learning Theory has been applied to explain the process of learning, Siemens argues that learning goes beyond an individual but occurs within and across networks. Learning connects specialized information sets and these connections allow people learn beyond their current state of knowing (AlDahdouh et al.2015).

    According to Siemens, Connectivism is a model of learning that ensures the integration of principles explored as chaos, network, and complexity and also an understanding that decisions rely on rapidly altering foundations (Siemens2004). Technologies over time have changed to a more personalized and individualized medium. The theory posits that students can learn from devices and decision-making is itself a learning process (Siemens2006), in recent times, many learners access course modules via technology, digital devices, and social networks than ever before (McHaney2011). The proponent of the Connectivism Learning Theory lays emphasis on eight key principles:

    Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions.

    Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

    Learning may reside in non-human appliances.

    Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.

    Nurturing and maintaining connections are needed to facilitate continual learning.

    Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

    Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all Connectivist learning activities.

    Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information are seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

    6. Connectivism Learning Theory and the Interactive Voice Response System

    One key principle of the Connectivism Theory is that learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions. This gives learners the opportunity to choose learning on a digital platform that accepts their diversity and learning patterns. The theory also emphasizes that learning may reside in non-human appliances, hence, the ability of educators to innovate around learning platforms and applications is necessary to support learning at various categories. The Connectivism Theory is a framework used to understand learning in a digital age, according to Siemens (2004) the Internet technologies such as Web browsers, search engines, online discussion forums, and social networks all contribute to new channels of learning. More interestingly, the interactive voice response system offers a unique avenue of learning, in that it provides a virtual learning model to entrepreneurs which is easily accessible without existing online learning barriers like telecommunications connectivity and language.

    7. The Transforming Nigerian Youth Program

    The Transforming Nigerian Youth program involves the conceptualization, development, and facilitation of enterprise management training for young entrepreneurs and MSME in core business management skills. The intervention provides additional support and professional services to the beneficiaries with potentials to create at least five jobs each; it also offers market linkages and promotion for their products and services.

    The objectives of the intervention are as follows:

    (1)

    To transform the mindset of youth in Nigeria to become more entrepreneurial, and to equip them to be self-employed or employable.

    (2)

    Develop the management capacity, facilitate market access, and provide support services to existing MSME being run by young persons in such a way that enables them to scale and create more jobs.

    (3)

    Deepen the entrepreneurial curriculum and methodology in select higher education institutions across states, thus ensuring a sustainable enterprise culture among staff and students.

    (4)

    To engage relevant stakeholders through advocacy to enhance opportunities for job creation for youth, especially young women, and to re-orientate Nigerian youth to see jobs within the MSME space as dignifying.

    In essence, the theory of change for the Transforming Nigerian Youth program proposes that for improved livelihood and business sustainability of young Nigerians including women, there is a need to spur growth in small businesses leading to employment generation, increased revenue, and improved business practices. To achieve these outcomes, there is a need to have increased managerial and technical competence of young persons, especially women, enhanced productivity in the businesses supported, and improved understanding of entrepreneurship training in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. The willingness of the beneficiaries to participate and complete trainings, utilize skills in their business, and the satisfactory macroeconomic conditions would help in ensuring the attainment of the project goals.

    8. Methods

    A review of literature on digital innovations and entrepreneurship training/education with focus on interactive voice response mechanism was conducted. There was also a review of the performance report of the IVR system used for the entrepreneurship training.

    9. Discussion

    The use of the interactive voice response mechanism in the delivery of training to entrepreneurs has been gaining attention. For the Transforming Nigerian Youth program, IVR is deployed to ensure inclusiveness and reach more beneficiaries. The interactive voice response is an automated feature that allows users to interact with any feature phone using voice via a keypad. The system performs actions based on the answers of the caller through the telephone keypad or their voice response. The IVR solution focuses on providing learners access to the course content via a subscription model using short code. Before access can be granted, learners must register on the platform to gain access using the short dialing code. The listed procedure allows for learners to listen to course content on the platform. Figure 1 shows the process flow of the IVR while Fig. 2 shows the course flow of the IVR.

    Fig. 1.

    Fig. 1. Process flow for the IVR.

    Fig. 2.

    Fig. 2. Course flow for the IVR.

    Core business management/entrepreneurial courses are available on the IVR system. There are a total of 11 courses on the IVR platform. In order to deepen inclusiveness, the courses are delivered in English, pidgin (which is a grammatically simplified version of English), and three major Nigerian languages — Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo. A review of the IVR system shows that there are totally 12,419 users comprised of 8,292 males and 4,127 females in the second year. Reviews from the users show that the training via the IVR is effective in terms of provision of knowledge in business skills. The program has also assisted some users in goal setting, business plan, record keeping, and customer service, amongst others. However, in terms of delivery, the users reported a much lower rate of onboarding on the platform, this means that it takes time for a user to be onboarded on the platform. The users also complain of not being able to unsubscribe from the IVR platform.

    10. Conclusion

    The review of the interactive voice response system as an emerging innovation in the delivery of enterprise training concludes that although some studies have been carried out on alternate modes/platforms for entrepreneurship education, suitable platforms taking into consideration the lack of Internet bandwidth and data for different categories of learners need to be explored further. The system helps ensure that persons who are ordinarily excluded from learning benefit due to the nature of the platform which works with feature phones without the need for Internet or smart devices. The identified issues with the IVR include making the onboarding process on the system faster and simpler. There is also a need to include a tracking mechanism to determine such information as most listened-to course and courses with the most active subscription/engagement.

    There is a need for further exploration and investigation on affordable online teaching and learning platforms accessible to persons of varied economic divides. Efforts should also be intensified to develop processes for assessments and timely feedback on the IVR system. There should also be policy interventions aimed at adopting IVR and other systems for enterprise training. Making the IVR and similar platforms more user-friendly and interactive should also be an area of future research.

    IVR-based approaches provide opportunities for reaching more people for entrepreneurship training. The research provides initial evidence on the application of IVR to entrepreneurship training. Thus, the study adds to the literature on emerging digital innovations for entrepreneurship training that have policy implications and provide useful insights for additional research. This is the first review to examine the effectiveness of interactive voice response approach to entrepreneurship training. The findings of this review can help inform the design of IVR approaches targeting entrepreneurship training. More studies are needed to elucidate further the components of IVR approaches that make them effective. There should also be studies with empirical evidence to test the effectiveness using objective outcome measures and robust designs.