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Success Through Failure: Towards a Problem-Based Approach to Entrepreneurship Education

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Theorising Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Education

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship Education (EE) is expanding rapidly in the US and around the world. Developing entrepreneurs has become a default solution to the current economic stagnation as a way to spur economic growth and poverty reduction. Yet there has been a paucity of research on the effectiveness of EE on today’s students. This chapter compares the process-based and problem-based approaches to EE. We examine the underlying assumptions embedded in each approach and then differentiate each approach against the unique characteristics of today’s students. There is emerging research on the ineffectiveness of process-based programmes, which rely on business plans and models with pre-determined outcomes. We argue that problem-based courses that focus on providing students with concrete entrepreneurial experiences are the most effective way to actually develop entrepreneurs from our current students.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

    John Alver Dobson

  2. DYME Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Lisa Dobson

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  1. John Alver Dobson
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  2. Lisa Dobson
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Correspondence to John Alver Dobson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Anáhuac, Mexico, Mexico

    Guillermo J. Larios-Hernandez

  2. Plymouth Marjon University, Plymouth, UK

    Andreas Walmsley

  3. Universidad Anáhuac, Mexico, Mexico

    Itzel Lopez-Castro

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Dobson, J.A., Dobson, L. (2022). Success Through Failure: Towards a Problem-Based Approach to Entrepreneurship Education. In: Larios-Hernandez, G.J., Walmsley, A., Lopez-Castro, I. (eds) Theorising Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87865-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87865-8_10

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