Abstract
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the faculty members' attitude toward establishing a business center in the College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A structured questionnaire comprised three sections: demographic variables such as gender and age, questions regarding the faculty's attitude toward a dental college business center, and a comparison between a business center and private clinics. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the groups with scale response variable; independent t-test, analysis of variance, and factor analysis were also conducted. RESULTS: The study results show that 43 respondents were men and 26 were women. Twenty respondents were ranked in the position of assistant professor, whereas 38 were ranked as associate professors, and 11 as professors. In total, 88.5% of female faculty members supported the idea of establishing a business center at the dental college, whereas 65% of male faculty members supported the same idea. There is a statistically significant difference among them (P < 0.05). The factor analysis extracted three factors named as "treatment accessibility," "treatment effectiveness," and "treatment cost." The factor loading ranges from 0.652 to 0.867, and altogether they explain 79% of the total data variance. CONCLUSION: Our study proved that 65.1% of male and 88.5% of female dental faculty of the college supported the idea of establishing a business center at the dental college as funding is needed to invest in dental education and research programs in order to formulate the next generation of practitioners to serve the population. This study will add to the progress of establishing a business center in dental education and provides the patient with a treatment accessibility and effectiveness in a low-cost budget.