Purpose – Facing the multiplication of entrepreneurship education programmes (EEP) and the increasing resources allocated, there is a need to develop a common framework to evaluate the design of those programmes. The purpose of this article is to propose such a framework, based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Design/methodology/approach – TPB is a relevant tool to model the development of entrepreneurial intention through pedagogical processes. The independent variables are the characteristics of the EEP and the dependent variables are the antecedents of entrepreneurial behaviour. To illustrate and test the relevance of the evaluation methodology, a pilot study is conducted. Findings – Data are consistent and reliable, considering the small scale of this experiment. The EEP assessed had a strong measurable impact on the entrepreneurial intention of the students, while it had a positive, but not very significant, impact on their perceived behavioural control. Research implications/limitations – This is a first step of an ambitious research programme aiming at producing theory-grounded knowledge. Reproduction of the experiment will allow researchers to test how specific characteristics of an EEP influence its impact and how the impact differs across several cohorts of students. Those comparisons will serve to improve a priori the design of EEP. Originality/value – The new methodology is built on a robust theoretical framework and based on validated measurement tools. Its originality is about a relative – longitudinal – measure of impact over time and a particular use of the theory of planned behaviour which is seen as an assessment framework.

Assessing the Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programmes: A New Methodology

Entrepreneurial intention is a rapidly evolving field of research. A growing number of studies use entrepreneurial intention as a powerful theoretical framework. However, a substantial part of this research lacks systematization and categorization, and there seems to be a tendency to start anew with every study. Therefore, there is a need to take stock of current knowledge in this field. In this sense, this paper carries out a review of the literature on entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 409 papers addressing entrepreneurial intention, published between 2004 and 2013 (inclusive), have been analyzed. The purpose and contribution of this paper is to offer a clearer picture of the sub-fields in entrepreneurial intention research, by concentrating on two aspects. Firstly, it reviews recent research by means of a citation analysis to categorize the main areas of specialization currently attracting the attention of the academic community. Secondly, a thematic analysis is carried out to identify the specific themes being researched within each category. Despite the large number of publications and their diversity, the present study identifies five main research areas, plus an additional sixth category for a number of new research papers that cannot be easily classified into the five areas. Within those categories, up to twenty-five different themes are recognized. A number of research gaps are singled out within each of these areas of specialization, in order to induce new ways and perspectives in the entrepreneurial intention field of research that may be fruitful in filling these gaps.

A systematic literature review on entrepreneurial intentions: citation, thematic analyses, and research agenda

The present research endeavours to comprehend the young S&T graduates’ intention toward pursuing an entrepreneurial career in a developing nation i.e., India. Using a modified version of Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as our conceptual model, we attempted to integrate three additional constructs (perceived career option, entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial personality traits) to explain the relationship between a list of antecedents and entrepreneurial intention (EI). Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique has been implemented while analysing the data, collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey of five premier technology institutes in India. Findings, using a sample size of 476 young Science & Technology graduates at Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), suggest that a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship when reinforced by required entrepreneurial knowledge and the existence of viable entrepreneurial career option significantly influence EI. We found a positive but relatively weak influence of subjective norms on intention formation. Further, our findings recognise that the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and EI is fully mediated by perceived self-efficacy. Moderating effect suggests that student’s perceived self-efficacy boosts the entrepreneurial personality traits to EI relationship. The results also reinforced the appropriateness of incorporating auxiliary constructs in base TPB, as our conceptual model provides additional predictive power and a better understanding of how entrepreneurial intent develops.

Entrepreneurial intention among science & technology students in India: extending the theory of planned behavior

Despite mounting interest in growth mindset interventions, this approach has yet to be applied to the domain of entrepreneurship. In the present research, we developed and tested if a growth mindse...

A Growth Mindset Intervention: Enhancing Students’ Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Career Development:

Smartphone technology is promising for the future development of agriculture, as it can facilitate and improve many operational procedures and can also be combined with precision agriculture technologies. Yet, existing research on smartphone adoption in agriculture is scarce. Therefore, this paper empirically explores the factors influencing smartphone adoption by German farmers. The relationship between farmers, farm characteristics and smartphone adoption was analysed using a binomial logit model. The dataset, collected in 2016, consists of 817 German farmers and is representative in terms of age, farm size and diversification as well as regional distribution across the study area. The results indicate that, among other factors, farmers’ age, education, and farm size are determinants of smartphone adoption. Furthermore, the paper provides descriptive information about the usage of smartphone functions and agriculture-related app functions. Thus, this paper contributes to the literature by identifying key determinants of smartphone adoption in agriculture. The findings may be of interest for policy makers, researchers in the field of precision agriculture technologies as well as developers and providers of farm equipment and precision agriculture technologies that integrate with smartphones, since the paper includes information concerning smartphone use and key factors influencing smartphone adoption.

Smartphone adoption and use in agriculture: empirical evidence from Germany

Although entrepreneurial behavior is proposed as part of the solution to fragile labor markets, in particular in periods of economic and social change, policy makers are struggling to find the right levers to promote it. Despite the extant prior research on entrepreneurial behavior, little is known on the entrepreneurial behavior drivers for the individuals of working age with experience. Prior research explores the influence of entrepreneurial knowledge to study the drivers of experienced individuals evaluating whether or not to engage in an entrepreneurial behavior. This research introduces entrepreneurial knowledge to study the impact of prior experience on entrepreneurial intention. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research work analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention, and the mediating effects of the TPB perceptual variables: personal attitude (PA), social norm (SN), and perceived behavioral-control (PBC). A structural equation model (SEM) has been used to analyze the responses of a sample of 431 experienced individuals of working-age that completed a questionnaire based on Linan & Chen’s, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 593–618, (2009) Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). The results showed that entrepreneurial knowledge positively influences entrepreneurial intention and that this influence is mediated by the perceptual variables of the TPB model (PA, SN, PBC). These findings contribute to the understanding of the entrepreneurial intention for experienced individuals and consolidate the use of the TPB model to study individual entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to individual entrepreneurial knowledge, and strengthen the attractiveness of an entrepreneurial career, if they are interested in fostering entrepreneurial behavior among individuals of working age with experience.

Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention

Despite accounting for a very small percentage of the population that adopts an innovation, the ‘innovators’ and ‘early adopters’ — representing the two earliest groups of individuals to acquire the new product or service — play a crucial role in the dissemination of the innovation to larger market segments. The objective of this paper is to understand the characteristics of these individuals that positively influence their decisions to adopt innovations. We argue that awareness of these traits will enable firms to attain speedier uptake of their offerings while aiding policymakers achieve quicker and wider proliferation of new technologies intended for societal benefit. We undertake a review of the literature studying the diffusion of innovations and show future directions that this framework should take to analyse the adoption lifecycle.

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Innovators and early adopters in the diffusion of innovations: a literature review

Given the increasing interest in sustainable food consumption and production, this study aims to understand how consumers perceive the value proposition of vegan food. Over 120,000 tweets relating to veganism were extracted from Twitter, which were then analysed using the text analytics tool Leximancer to ascertain the predominant themes of conversation taking place around vegan food. Our results show that, in light of the three main drivers for vegan food choice—ethical, personal health, and environmental—surprisingly, we see a limited number of environmental or sustainability motivated tweets. This is a significant finding, as, while vegan food consumption is reported to be sustainable, this is not a preferred topic of conversation for consumers. Value propositions communicated with respect to personal health attributes (e.g., dairy free, gluten free, and nutrition), and consumption benefits (e.g., tasty, delicious) are more likely to resonate with consumers and motivate increased consumption while concurrently delivering environmental benefits as a positive side-effect. Furthermore, the polarity of the attitudes and conversations taking place between vegans and non-vegans on Twitter underscores that a single value proposition is unlikely to reach both groups simultaneously and that different value propositions are likely to be required to reach these respective groups.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2075/pdf?version=1644594384

Exploring Consumer Perceptions of the Value Proposition Embedded in Vegan Food Products Using Text Analytics

Opportunity-based entrepreneurs work in dynamic environments that pose interesting challenges to get efficient access to the resources they need. Thus, based on the social network theory and the Resource-Based theory this article investigates how opportunity-based entrepreneurs use social media to satisfy their resource challenges. More precisely, built on the recent findings suggesting that entrepreneurs strategically network with social media this article sheds light on how entrepreneurs accommodate their capabilities to satisfy their resource needs. The study employed a grounded approach to analyze how technology-based entrepreneurs actively use social media to get access to entrepreneurial resources during their new venture formation process. Data was collected through semistructured interviews to the main founders of startups until a saturation level was reached. Results support that entrepreneurs develop new kind of capabilities, improvisational capabilities, to improve efficiency by using social media to develop their social networks and, in this way, to overcome their resource constraints. Moreover, the article identified that entrepreneurs employ different strategies when developing their social network and that social media allow to develop new capabilities for startup founders.

Entrepreneurs' Bricolage and Social Media

PurposeOf all industries, agri-food has one of the largest environmental impacts. Reducing the production and consumption of meat, dairy and seafood, and moving to predominantly plant-based diets, is key to lowering our environmental footprint. Veg-friendly restaurants play a key role in this transition as they have the capacity to build a greener dining scene (e.g. positively change consumer opinions towards vegan food). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to understand the entrepreneurial journey of veg-friendly restaurateurs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed an inductive-qualitative approach to analyse 12 veg-friendly restaurants in three countries (Spain, Australia and Colombia). In addition to inspecting available data on the restaurants and their menus, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the restaurateurs to uncover (1) the impact of their venture for customers and society, (2) the drivers to establishing their businesses and (3) the challenges faced and strategies used in the management of veg-friendly restaurants.FindingsThis work recognises veg-friendly restaurateurs as key actors in building a sustainable future through a greener dining scene. The authors uncover the main drivers of the entrepreneurial journey and propose a multi-dimensional approach to identity and passion as key antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. The authors also discuss how social and sustainable entrepreneurship may be the expression of an activist behaviour. Finally, challenges and strategies to manage veg-friendly restaurants are discussed with directions that contribute to both theory and practice.Originality/valueA switch towards vegan and vegetarian diets has important implications for ecology, society and the economy. While most research has focused on the consumer side, this paper is unique in understanding how veg-friendly restaurants emerge. This is quite distinctive in the literature regarding sustainable restaurants, which until now, has focused on the managers' adoption of sustainable practices rather than the restaurateurs' entrepreneurial journey. This work additionally builds new insights in the entrepreneurship literature, through uncovering the motivations, experiences and challenges of entrepreneurs that, in most cases, show activist attributes.

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Carla Riverola

Papers

Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention

Innovators and early adopters in the diffusion of innovations: a literature review

Exploring Consumer Perceptions of the Value Proposition Embedded in Vegan Food Products Using Text Analytics

Entrepreneurs' Bricolage and Social Media

Building a greener dining scene: how do veg-friendly restaurateurs “crop up”?