The research on entrepreneurship education�entrepreneurial intentions has yielded mixed results. We meta-analyzed 73 studies with a total sample size of 37,285 individuals and found a significant but a small correlation between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions (inline image). This correlation is also greater than that of business education and entrepreneurial intentions. However, after controlling for pre-education entrepreneurial intentions, the relationship between entrepreneurship education and post-education entrepreneurial intentions was not significant. We also analyzed moderators, such as the attributes of entrepreneurship education, students' differences, and cultural values. Our results have implications for entrepreneurship education scholars, program evaluators, and policy makers.

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Meta-Analytic Review

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

Using a teaching model framework, we systematically review empirical evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) in higher education on a range of learning outcomes, analysing 159 published articles from 2004-2016. The teaching model framework allows us for the first time to start rigorously examining relationships between pedagogical methods and specific outcomes. Re-confirming past reviews and meta-analyses, we find that EE impact research still predominantly focuses on short-term and subjective outcome measures and tends to severely under-describe the actual pedagogies being tested. Moreover, we use our review to provide an up-to-date and empirically rooted call for less obvious, yet greatly promising, new or underemphasised directions for future research on the impact of university-based entrepreneurship education. This includes, for example, the use of novel impact indicators related to emotion and mindset, focus on the impact indicators related to the intention-to-behaviour transition, and explore the reasons for some of the contradictory findings in impact studies including person-, context- and pedagogical model-specific moderators.

The impact of entrepreneurship education in higher education: A systematic review and research agenda

Entrepreneurial education is the process of providing individuals with the ability to recognise commercial opportunities and the insight, self-esteem, knowledge and skills to act on them. It includes instruction in opportunity recognition, commercialising a concept, marshalling resources in the face of risk, and initiating a business venture. It also includes instruction in traditional business disciplines such as management, marketing, information systems and finance. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and introduction of a new program in Entrepreneurship at the University of Tasmania. Within this program the process and responsibility of learning has largely been reversed through the process of student centred learning. This method of learning represents a challenging departure from the traditional mainstream teaching practices. In considering the benefits achievable from this teaching method, this paper also considers the difficulties in transferring increased responsibility to students to manage their futures.

A contemporary approach to entrepreneurship education

In higher education institutions, entrepreneurship learning based on successful entrepreneurial role models may promote education for sustainable development. Several theoretical perspectives, such as the human capital theory, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and self-determination theory, argue that entrepreneurship education is positively correlated with entrepreneurial intentions of students, as it provides adequate know-how and skills and motivates them to develop their entrepreneurial careers. In entrepreneurship education programmes, exposure to successful entrepreneurial models could be a significant factor for stimulating students’ confidence in their ability to start a business and for improving their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This study aims (i) to identify characteristics viewed by students as being specific to a successful entrepreneur, (ii) to establish the influence of exposure to successful entrepreneurial role models (chosen by students) during entrepreneurship education classes on student entrepreneurial intentions, and (iii) to assess how such exposure influences the attitudes of students towards entrepreneurship. For this purpose, the authors ran a pilot experiment with 30 graduate students enrolled in a Business Creation course using a research methodology that combined qualitative techniques with quantitative measures. Content and statistical analyses were utilised to examine differences in student entrepreneurial intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship after being exposed to successful entrepreneurial models. Our study provides evidence that entrepreneurship education based on successful entrepreneurial role models may positively influence the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of students and could lead to higher orientation of student perception towards social benefits of entrepreneurship (new jobs) compared to financial ones (high income). However, our findings stress that if educators want to improve the efficiency of education focused on developing entrepreneurial skills, graduate programmes should be designed differently for business and non-business students, since studying successful entrepreneurial stories impacts these two groups differently.

Entrepreneurship education through successful entrepreneurial models in higher education institutions

Orientation: Little research has been done into the impact of entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial role models on entrepreneurship as a career choice, especially in developing countries. Research purpose: The purpose of the study is to firstly explore the differences in entrepreneurial intentions between entrepreneurship students and non-entrepreneurship students, and secondly to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intentions as well as between role models and entrepreneurial intentions. Motivation for the study: There is a need for stakeholders, such as training authorities and training providers, to understand the influence of entrepreneurship education and role models on entrepreneurial career choice. Knowing this could assist in developing and implementing more effective entrepreneurial education programmes. Research design, approach and method: The study was conducted amongst a convenience sample of 269 final-year students, of which 162 (60.2%) were entrepreneurship and 107 (39.8%) non-entrepreneurship students from a higher education institution in Johannesburg. The entrepreneurial intentions of entrepreneurship students were compared with those of non-entrepreneurship students. The findings of the study suggest that entrepreneurship students have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than non-entrepreneurship students, and that there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions and between role models and entrepreneurial intentions respectively. Practical/managerial implications: Entrepreneurship stakeholders can use the findings of the study to improve curriculum design, delivery methods and assessment strategies in their efforts to advance entrepreneurship. Contribution/value-add: The findings of the study suggest that entrepreneurship education and role models can influence students’ entrepreneurial intentions in a developing country.

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Willem F. du Toit

Papers

Entrepreneurial education’s and entrepreneurial role models’ influence on career choice