Alain Fayolle

Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes: a new methodology

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...

From craft to science: Teaching models and learning processes in entrepreneurship education

Purpose – The aim of this article is to offer a conceptual framework in entrepreneurship education largely inspired by education sciences and discuss its two main levels, the ontological and educational levels. This framework is then used to discuss various types of entrepreneurship teaching programs, focusing on three broad categories of learning processes.Design/methodology/appraoch – This article uses intensive reviews of literature in the fields of education and entrepreneurship. The teaching framework and the derived propositions are intended to provide a bridge between education sciences and the field of entrepreneurship and seeks to stress the scientific legitimacy of entrepreneurship education.Findings – Finds that there is a need to reconsider entrepreneurship education in its wide diversity, both from an ontological and pedagogical point‐of‐view. The range of theoretical choices, objectives, publics, pedagogical methods and institutional context should be approached through the lenses of multipl...

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Intention: Hysteresis and Persistence

Do entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) really influence participants’ attitudes and intention toward entrepreneurship? How is this influence related to past experience and how does it persist? Researchers and entrepreneurship education stakeholders alike have been looking into this question for quite a while, with a view to validating the efficacy of such programs. The authors of this paper propose to operationalize the concept of entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents in an attempt to address those issues. In particular, we propose an original research design where (1) we measure the initial state and persistence of the impact and not only short‐term effects; (2) we deal with a compulsory program, allowing to avoid self‐selection biases; and (3) we deal with an homogeneous “compact” program rather than programs combining multiple teaching components whose effects cannot be disentangled. Our main research results show that the positive effects of an are all the more marked when previous entrepreneurial exposure has been weak or inexistent. Conversely, for those students who had previously significantly been exposed to entrepreneurship, the results highlight significant countereffects of the on those participants.

Evaluation of entrepreneurship education: behaviour performing or intention increasing?

We are suggesting new approaches in assessing the Entrepreneurship Teaching Programme (ETP). They are based on the theory of planned behaviour which could allow us to measure, under the influences of independent variables related to ETP, attitude changes towards the entrepreneurial behaviour, attitude changes in relation to subjective norms, attitude changes concerning perceived entrepreneurial behaviour control and finally, changes in entrepreneurial intentions. The main research article idea is to consider that it is expected and also feasible to design a dynamic tool using the theory of planned behaviour to assess the ETP and so to measure variations on entrepreneurial intention throughout the education process.

A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION WITHIN SMALL BUSINESS CONTEXT

There is abundant literature about individual entrepreneurship (entrepreneurs) and about corporate entrepreneurship within organizations. But little is written about a related concept like Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in small businesses, and also, about how to describe its role in their strategic formulation.The paper attempts to identify the main attributes of the EO concept and its determinants within small business context. EO consists of three components: Innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking by strategic leaders in these firms. An innovative small business wilI not be an entrepreneurial if it does not take risks or is not sufficiently proactive towards competitors and environment.After describing the emergence of this concept, the paper shows the importance of the EO as a valid strategic orientation for small businesses when they re-think their strategic analyses with Opportunity-based and Resource-based views. Adopting such orientation seems to reflect a needed conciliation between other strategic orientations (market-, technology- and stakeholder orientations) and altogether blending of them.Finally, the paper concludes with proposing some implications for future research to deepen the study (conceptually and empirically) of the EO within small business context.

Entrepreneurial Orientation: The Making of a Concept

Researchers in management science are increasingly concerned with the rigour of their research work and their capacity to build knowledge based on a cumulative research model. This article examines the strength of the entrepreneurial orientation construct, extensively used in entrepreneurship and strategy. Based on a close analysis of the seminal literature, the authors propose a critical evaluation of the development of the construct, which is a preliminary condition to enhancing its operationalization.

Three levels of culture and firms’ entrepreneurial orientation: A research agenda

Numerous studies examining the linkage between corporate entrepreneurship and performance resort to the entrepreneurial orientation construct to assess a firms degree of entrepreneurship. Little conceptual and empirical research has been devoted to understanding the factors and conditions that produce Entrepreneurial Orientation. Generic explanatory variables such as environment, organization, strategy and culture have been mentioned in past research, but though a number of hypotheses have been proposed, few have been thoroughly developed and tested. In this article, we focus on one explanatory variable – culture – that we develop along multiple axes. We propose a conceptual framework that aims to provide a better understanding of how three interdependent levels of culture – national, industry and corporate – influence Entrepreneurial Orientation.

Handbook of research on social entrepreneurship

This timely Handbook provides an empirically rigorous overview of the latest research advances on social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and enterprises. It incorporates seventeen original chapters on definitions, concepts, contexts and strategy, including a critical overview and an agenda for future research in social entrepreneurship.

Is entrepreneurial intention stable through time? First insights from a sample of French students

Currently in France, a high percentage of people over 18 claim that they wish to create a company. The younger they are, the stronger their desire to set up a business. Unfortunately, few of them end up creating a new firm. This research focuses on new business start-up intentions by students who have attended an entrepreneurial awareness course. Our research is based on an empirical study with a sample of people who attended a course in entrepreneurship between 1997 and 2004. Aside from the testing of an intention model (Ajzen, 1991), one of the main objectives of our research is to highlight the entrepreneurial intention level of these people after the course and the stability of this intention over a long period of time. For this exploratory study we used a questionnaire completed by a sample of young graduates in 2004. The data was then analysed. Results are shown and discussed.

Understanding Entrepreneurship: Challenging Dominant Perspectives and Theorizing Entrepreneurship through New Postpositivist Epistemologies

Entrepreneurship is characterized by complex, dynamic and emergent processes, and the interplay between actors, processes, and contexts. Postpositivistic approaches offer the opportunity to examine subtleties of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship by placing emphasis on a range of its dimensions and the interplays between dimensions. Despite a growing body of postpositivistic research in response to such calls, the legitimacy of these approaches is still subject to debate on the grounds of rigor and relevance. This special issue challenges these prevailing but often hidden assumptions governing the conduct and publication of scholarly inquiry in the field of entrepreneurship and offers alternative perspectives for future research.