Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to explore innovative entrepreneurship and to gain insight into the educational practices and experiences that increase the likelihood that a student would graduate with innovative entrepreneurial intentions. To this end, we administered a battery of assessments to 3,700 undergraduate seniors who matriculated in the spring of 2007; these students attended one of five institutions participating in this study. Results showed that, after controlling for a host of personality, demographic, educational, and political covariates, taking an entrepreneurial course and the assessments faculty use as pedagogical strategies for teaching course content were significantly related to innovation intentions. Implications for higher education stakeholders are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
There is another type of entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, which is of enormous importance for the general welfare, though it is not the central concern of this paper. This arena of entrepreneurship focuses on encouraging and assisting the world’s enormous impoverished population, for whom the model of entrepreneurship provided by technologically advanced economies is not always relevant. The educational needs of those who engage in social entrepreneurship, like the needs of its beneficiaries, are very different from those of the innovative entrepreneurs in developed economies. For excellent discussions of social entrepreneurship, see Lounsbury and Strang (2009) and Mars (2009).
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
Ajzen, I. (2002). Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 1–20.
Astin, A. W. (1991). Assessment for excellence: The philosophy and practice of assessment and evaluation in higher education. New York: Macmillan/Onyx.
Banta, T. W., Lund, C. J., Black, C. J., & Oblander, F. W. (1996). Assessment in practice: Putting principles to work on college campuses. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Baumol, W. J. (2004). Education for innovation: Entrepreneurial breakthroughs vs. corporate incremental improvements. Working Paper 10578, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Baumol, W. J., Litan, R. E., & Schramm, C. J. (2007a). Good capitalism, bad capitalism, and the economics of growth and prosperity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Baumol, W. J., Litan, R. E. & Schramm, C. J. (2007b). Sustaining entrepreneurial capitalism. Capitalism and Society, 2(2), Article 1. http://www.bepress.com/cas/vol2/iss2/art1
Béchard, J., & Grégoire, D. (2005). Entrepreneurship education revisited: The case of higher education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(1), 2–43.
Block, J. (1995). A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 187–215.
Brawer, F. B. (1997, April 28). Simulation as a vehicle in entrepreneurship education. Digest No. 97-1, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Clearinghouse on Entrepreneurship Education, Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Cantillon, R. (1755). Essai sur la Nature de Commerce en General. Paris: Chez Fletcher Gyles.
Chilosi, A. (2001). Entrepreneurship and transition. MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies, 11, 327–357.
Colyvas, J. A., & Powell, W. W. (2007). From vulnerable to venerated: The institutionalization of academic entrepreneurship in the life sciences. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 25, 219–259.
de Bruin, A., Brush, C. G., & Welter, F. (2006). Introduction to the special issue: Towards building cumulative knowledge on women’s entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(5), 585–593.
De Faoite, D., Henry, C., Johnston, K., & van der Sijde, P. (2003). Education and training for entrepreneurs: A consideration of initiative in Ireland and the Netherlands. Education & Training, 45(8/9), 430–437.
Donckels, R. (1991). Education and entrepreneurship experiences from secondary and university education in Belgium. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 9(1), 35–42.
Drucker, P. F. (1993). Innovation and entrepreneurship. New York: Harper Business.
Fairlie, R. W. (2008). Estimating the contribution of immigrant business owners to the U.S. economy. Report prepared for the Small Business Administration. Retrieved on December 1, 2011 from http://archive.sba.gov/advo/research/rs334tot.pdf
Fayolle, A., Gailly, B., & Lassas-Clerc, N. (2006). Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes: A new methodology. Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(9), 701–720.
Garavan, T., & O’Cinneide, B. (1994). Entrepreneurship education and training programmes: A review and evaluation. Journal of European Industrial Training, 18(8), 3–13.
Gartner, W. B., & Vesper, K. H. (1994). Experiments in entrepreneurship education: Successes and failures. Journal of Business Venturing, 9, 179–187.
Gibb, A. A. (1996). Entrepreneurship and small business management: Can we afford to neglect them in the twenty-first century business school? British Journal of Management, 7(4), 309–321.
Giroux, H. A., & Giroux, S. S. (2004). Take back higher education: Race, youth, and the crisis of democracy in the post-civil rights era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Goldstein, H. (2011). Multilevel statistical models (4th ed.). West Sussex: Wiley.
Gorman, G., Hanlon, D., & King, W. (1997). Some research perspectives on entrepreneurship education, enterprise education and education for small business management: A ten-year literature review. International Small Business Journal, 15(3), 56–78.
Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B, Jr. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504–528.
Grossman, L. (2005, January 25). “Grow up? Not so fast.” Time, 26–35.
Hills, G. E. (1988). Variations in university entrepreneurship education: An empirical study of an evolving field. Journal of Business Venturing, 3, 109–122.
Hood, J. N., & Young, J. E. (1993). Entrepreneurship’s requisite areas of development: A survey of top executives in successful entrepreneurial firms. Journal of Business Venturing, 8, 115–135.
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.
Katz, J. A. (2003). The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education: 1876–1999. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 283–300.
Kauffman Panel on Entrepreneurship Curriculum in Higher Education. (2008). Entrepreneurship in American higher education. Kansas City, MO: Kauffman Foundation.
Kirzner, I. M. (1973). Competition and entrepreneurship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Klatt, L. A. (1988). A study of small business/entrepreneurial education in colleges and universities. The Journal of Private Enterprise, 4, 103–108.
Kourilsky, M. L., & Esfandiari, M. (1997). Entrepreneurship education and lower socioeconomic black youth: An empirical investigation. The Urban Review, 29(3), 205–215.
Kourilsky, M. L., & Walstad, W. B. (2000). The E generation: Prepared for the entrepreneurial economy?. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Kuratko, D. F. (2005). The emergence of entrepreneurship education: Development, trends, and challenges. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 577–597.
Levenburg, N. M., Lane, P. M., & Schwarz, T. V. (2006). Interdisciplinary dimensions in entrepreneurship. Journal of Education for Business, 81(5), 275–281.
Liñán, F. (2004). Intention-based models of entrepreneurship education. http://congreso.us.es/gpyde/DOWNLOAD/a9.pdf
Lounsbury, M., & Strang, D. (2009). Social entrepreneurship: Success stories and logic construction. In Steven Heydemann & David Hammack (Eds.), Globalization, philanthropy, and civil society: Projecting institutional logics abroad (pp. 71–94). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Mars, M. M. (2009). Student entrepreneurs as agents of organizational change and social transformation: A grassroots leadership perspective. Journal of Change Management, 9(3), 339–357.
Mars, M. M., & Lounsbury, M. (2009). Raging against or with the private marketplace? Logic hybridity and eco-entrepreneurship, Journal of Management Inquiry, 18(1), 4–13.
Mars, M. M., Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2008). The state-sponsored student entrepreneur. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(6), 638–670.
Matlay, H (2005). Researching entrepreneurship and education, Part 1: What is entrepreneurship and does it matter? Education + Training, 47(8/9), 65–67.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T, Jr. (1999). A five-factor theory of personality. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.
McMullan, W. E. (1988). The economics of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 6(1), 8–18.
McMullan, W. E., & Long, W. A. (1987). Entrepreneurship education in the 1990s. Journal of Business Venturing, 2, 261–275.
Pascarella, E. T. (2006). How college affects students: Ten directions for future research. Journal of College Student Development, 47(5), 508–520.
Pascarella, E. T., Pierson, C. T., Wolniak, G. C., & Terenzini, P. T. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 75(3), 249–284.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Pascarella, E. T., Wolniak, G. C., Seifert, T. A., Cruce, T. M., & Blaich, C. F. (2005). Liberal arts colleges and liberal arts education: New evidence on impacts. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/ASHE.
Plaschka, G. R., & Welsch, H. P. (1990). Emerging structures in entrepreneurship education: Curricula designs and strategies. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 14(3), 55–71.
Porter, L. W., & McKibbin, L. E. (1988). Management education: Drift or thrust into the 21st century?. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Powell, W. W., & Snellman, K. (2004). The knowledge economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 199–220
Rabbior, G. (1990). Elements of a successful entrepreneurship/economics/education program. In C. A. Kent (Ed.), Entrepreneurship education: Current developments, future directions (pp. 53–65). New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Raffo, C., Lovatt, A., Banks, M., & O’Connor, J. (2000). Teaching and learning entrepreneurship for micro and small businesses in the cultural industries sector. Education & Training, 42(6), 356–365.
Ronstadt, R. (1987). The educated entrepreneurs: A new era of entrepreneurial education is beginning. American Journal of Small Business, 11(4), 37–53.
Say, J. B. (1827). A Treatise on Political Economy. 1803 (C. R. Prinsep & C. C. Biddle, Trans., 3rd American edn.). Philadelphia: John Grigg.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1936). The theory of economic development. 1911 (R. Opie, Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Scott, M. G., & Twomey, D. F. (1998). The long-term supply of entrepreneurs: Student’s career aspirations in relation to entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business Management, 26(4), 5–13.
Sexton, D. L., & Bowman, N. B. (1984). Entrepreneurship education: Suggestions for increasing effectiveness. Journal of Small Business Management, 22(2), 18–25.
Sexton, D. L., Upton, N. B., Wacholtz, L. E., & McDougall, P. P. (1997). Learning needs of growth-oriented entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 12, 1–8.
Shane, S. A. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship: The individual-opportunity nexus. Northampton, MA: Elgar.
Sheather, S. J. (2009). A modern approach to regression with R. New York: Springer.
Sheather, S. J., & Jones, M. C. (1991). A reliable data-based selection method for kernel density estimation. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B (Methodological), 53, 683–690.
Simonoff, J. S. (1996). Smoothing methods in statistics. New York: Springer.
Simonoff, J. S. (2003). Analyzing categorical data. New York: Springer.
Solomon, G. T., & Fernald, L. W. Jr. (1991). Trends in small business management and entrepreneurship education in the United States. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 15(3), 25–39.
Solomon, G. T. (2007). An examination of entrepreneurship education in the United States. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 14(2), 168–182.
Solomon, G. T., Weaver, K. M., & Fernald, L. W, Jr. (1994). Pedagogical methods of teaching entrepreneurship: A historical perspective. Simulation and Gaming, 25(3), 338–353.
Stark, J., & Lattuca, L. R. (1997). Shaping the college curriculum: Academic plans in action. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Stumpf, S. S., Dunbar, L., & Mullen, T. P. (1991). Simulations in entrepreneurship education: Oxymoron or untapped opportunity? Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 11, 681–694.
Teranishi, R. T. (2010). Asians in the ivory tower: Dilemmas of racial inequality in American higher education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Tidd, J., Bassat, J., & Pavitt, K. (1997). Managing innovation. Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley & Sons.
van der Sluis, J., van Praag, M., & Vijverberg, W. (2005). Entrepreneurship selection and performance: A meta-analysis of the impact of education in developing economies. The World Bank Economic Review, 19(2), 25–261.
Vesper, K. H., & Gartner, W. B. (1997). Measuring progress in entrepreneurship education. Journal of Business Venturing, 12, 403–421.
Vesper, K. H., & McMullan, W. E. (1988). Entrepreneurship: Today courses, tomorrow degrees? Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 13(1), 7–13.
Weaver, M., Dickson, P. & Solomon, G. (2006). Entrepreneurship and education: What is known and not known about the links between education and entrepreneurial activity. In The small business economy for data year 2005: A report to the president (pp. 113–156). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Small Business Administration.
Zeithaml, C. P., & Rice, G. H. (1987). Entrepreneurship/small business education in American universities. Journal of Small Business Management, 25(1), 44–50.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for its generous support in the funding of this research project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mayhew, M.J., Simonoff, J.S., Baumol, W.J. et al. Exploring Innovative Entrepreneurship and Its Ties to Higher Educational Experiences. Res High Educ 53, 831–859 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-012-9258-3
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-012-9258-3