Lena Lee

Attitude Towards Entrepreneurship Education and New Venture Creation

Does an individuals positive attitude towards entrepreneurship education promote the growth of new ventures? It appears that it does. The empirical results presented in this paper support a prima facie claim that a relationship exists between attitude towards entrepreneurial education and business start-up. The aim of this paper is to investigate the hypothesised positive relationship between new venture founding and attitude towards entrepreneurial education (AEE). Limited if any research on new venture founding in the past has explored the contribution of AEE in business start-ups. A survey is carried out on a large sample (more than 15,000) of tertiary students residing in Singapore. In analysing the dataset, we have controlled for various factors in the regression analysis. Due to the limitations of our study, we are cautious not to assert any causal link between these 2 variables. The implications of the results to policy makers and educators are discussed along with suggestions for future research in order to refine our present understanding of these relationships.

Entrepreneurship Education - A Compendium of Related Issues

Current years have witnessed the ongoing interest in entrepreneurship, which is essentially understood as the emergence and growth of new businesses (Rosa et al., 1996). A wide range of factors have contributed to the revival of interest in entrepreneurship in USA, Europe and many other countries. In recent years, many industrialized countries have suffered from economic recessions and high unemployment rates. Given the prevailing economic conditions, policy makers worldwide have now begun to recognize the instrumental role of entrepreneurship for economic growth. New and growing businesses are seen as a solution to rising unemployment rates, and as a major catalyst to national economic prosperity (Acs et al., 1999; Bruyat and Julien, 2000). As a result of the proliferating emphasis worldwide on entrepreneurship as the catalyst for economic development and job creation, policy makers have developed a wide array of measures to support entrepreneurship (Gnyawali and Fogel, 1994; Maillat, 1998). Key among these is the call for academic institutions, such as universities, to contribute through appropriate educational programs, i.e., entrepreneurship education (Laukkanen, 2000). There appears to be a consensus that entrepreneurship education and training has a major role to play in the economic development of a country (Gibb, 1996). The nature, relevance and appropriateness of entrepreneurship education have been subject to increasing scrutiny since the late 1960s (Vesper, 1985) and it has been touted as an effective means of entrepreneurial learning (Johannisson, 1991). Indeed, entrepreneurship education has become an obvious complement to venture capital and incubators as tools in propelling economic advancement (McMullan and Long, 1987). Whilst there clearly is a rise in entrepreneurial spirit and hence, an increase in entrepreneurship education across nations worldwide, information supporting these assertions and descriptions of the roles of entrepreneurship education to educate and inspire individuals remain largely scattered and sporadic. This chapter aims to consolidate and synthesize the issues surrounding university entrepreneurship education such as whether or not entrepreneurship can be taught, the structure, effectiveness, and potential growth of entrepreneurship courses, ethical issues as well as new perspectives on entrepreneurship education.

Cognitive Divergence Among Entrepreneurship National Experts: Analysis of Gem Data 2000-2003

This paper presents new empirical evidence on the existence of cognitive divergence among actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. These cognitive disjoints among the actors were examined on the 9 entrepreneurial framework conditions (hereinafter referred to as EFCs), which were developed in the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) study. The EFCs, which consist of factors such as financial support, government policies, government programmes, education and training, research and development transfer, internal market openness, access to physical infrastructure and culture and social norms are postulated to facilitate the development of new firms and/or the growth of nascent firms. Past studies, which were based on institutional and social perception theories have examined the existence of perception differences among distinct individuals, groups or clusters, but little is known about the cognitive disjoints among the key players/actors in the entrepreneurial economy. This void in the literature leaves open many questions. Are there significant differences in perception among the key actors of entrepreneurship on the entrepreneurial framework conditions? If there are, in what areas do these perceptions converge and diverge? What are the implications of cognitive divergence among these actors? The actors were selected based on 4 distinct groups: policy makers, entrepreneurs, investors, and venture support professionals.

Entrepreneurship by Circumstances and Abilities: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy

Prior studies have found that job dissatisfaction and self-efficacy are significant factors influencing individuals’ entrepreneurial propensity. Existing literature on entrepreneurship often regards job dissatisfaction as an entrepreneurial push factor and self-efficacy as an entrepreneurial pull factor. The argument is that individuals who are dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to seek alternative mode of employment such as self-employment. In other words, poor job circumstances may push individuals to leave their paid employment to start their own businesses. On the other hand, personal abilities such as self-efficacy may pull individuals toward starting their own businesses in areas where they are confident and competent in. Despite the importance of job dissatisfaction and self-efficacy for new venture creation, few if any studies have examined the entrepreneurial phenomena from a holistic perspective. Utilizing concepts from the P-E fit and self-efficacy literatures, this paper argues that the path to entrepreneurship is a multi-faceted interactive process between individuals’ personal attributes and their work environment. We specifically examined how IT professional’s personal attributes such as innovation orientation and self-efficacy condition individuals for an entrepreneurial career in unsatisfactory work environments.

Technological Innovation Activities in Firms and Propensity of Individuals Starting New Businesses

Prior studies have found that knowledge gained from work experience is a way to gather insights for business opportunity recognition. However, little is known about the specific types of knowledge that lead to business founding. Utilizing concepts from knowledge spillovers and from the opportunity recognition literatures, this paper argues that through an organization’s technological innovation activities, employees develop specialized knowledge that provides them with the entrepreneurial opportunities to found new businesses. Besides highlighting the positive relationship between technological innovation activities in organizations and the propensity of individuals leaving the organizations to start new businesses, this paper also provides a more fine-grained explanation of the types of technological innovation activities that can lead to business founding. We argue that knowledge acquired through product innovations is more easily appropriated by individuals for commercial uses, while knowledge acquired through process innovations must be integrated with other parts of the organization to be valuable. This study proposes that product innovation activities in an organization more so than process innovation activities in an organization are related to new business founding. Implications for opportunity exploitation and ways to appropriate knowledge spillovers are discussed.

Venture Capital in Singapore

In the last twenty years, venture capital has emerged as a key area of interest for both academic researchers and financial professionals. This rising interest is well aligned with the development of the venture capital industry both in the US and globally. Historically, the origin of the venture capital industry can be traced back to the early 1900s when venture capital firm, Charterhouse and other banks provided the first pool of venture capital in UK. Likewise, one of the worlds largest venture capital institution, 3i, which is based in the UK started investing since the mid-1940s (Coopey and Clarke, 1995). Although the venture capital industry has its origin in the UK, by the end of 1960s, the USA began to assert its predominance in venture capital investment as compared to other countries worldwide. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2003 Study, US accounted for 65% (USD 21.2 billion) of the total classic venture capital invested domestically in 2002 as compared to the rest of the 28 GEM nations surveyed (35%, USD 11.2 billion).