Susan Mueller

Increasing entrepreneurial intention: effective entrepreneurship course characteristics

Ajzens model of planned behaviour was used to measure the impact of specific entrepreneurship course characteristics on entrepreneurial intention. Course characteristics with a hypothesised positive influence on entrepreneurial intention were identified through literature research and an exploratory study. The hypotheses were tested with a quantitative study which was designed as an ex ante/ex post measurement. Course elements such as business planning activities, role models, student-oriented teaching and feedback processes are efficient components to increase entrepreneurial intention through its antecedents.

What Do Entrepreneurs Actually Do? An Observational Study of Entrepreneurs' Everyday Behavior in the Start‐Up and Growth Stages

In this study, we used the sociological method of structured observation to investigate the everyday behavior of six entrepreneurs in the start–up stage and six entrepreneurs in the growth stage. Our results suggest the existence of both commonalities and differences between these two stages with regard to activities, functions, exploration vs. exploitation, and communication. Building on these detailed observations, we develop a taxonomy specifying the constitutive elements of entrepreneurs’ behavior on a continuum that spans from single, discrete actions of entrepreneurs to actions concerning the broader organization.

Entrepreneurship Education: A Systematic Review Of The Methods In Impact Studies

The majority of studies that analyze the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions, and venture activities report positive influences. However, several scholars have recently cast doubts about research methods and the generalizability of entrepreneurship education impact studies. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review of the methods used in entrepreneurship education impact studies. Our results uncover significant methodological deficiencies and question the overwhelmingly positive impact of entrepreneurship education. Based on this evidence, we propose a series of recommendations to improve the reliability and validity of entrepreneurship education impact studies and we outline promising topics which are currently under-researched.

Entrepreneur ambidexterity: a study of entrepreneur behaviours and competencies in growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises

This article uses the sociological method of structured observation to explore the every day behaviour of entrepreneurs from an exploration-exploitation perspective. Six entrepreneurs leading successful growth-oriented businesses were observed for a four-day period and 2305 ‘units of action’ performed by the entrepreneurs were recorded. Six behavioural patterns that allowed them, their management team or the organisation as a whole to pursue ambidexterity were identified. In contrast with the existing high-level approaches of ambidexterity, this study provides a synthesis of entrepreneur behaviours and competencies to achieve ambidexterity at the operating level.

Social Entrepreneurship and Broader Theories: Shedding New Light on the ‘Bigger Picture'

Abstract This article documents the results of a research workshop bringing together six perspectives on social entrepreneurship. The idea was to challenge existing concepts of the economy, the firm, and entrepreneurship in order to shed new light on social entrepreneurship and on our existing theoretical frameworks. The first two contributions use a macro-perspective and discuss the notion of adaptive societies and the tragedies of disharmonization, respectively. Taking a management perspective, the next two focus on the limits of conventional assumptions in management theory, particularly human capital theory and resource-based view. The final two contributions follow an entrepreneurship perspective highlighting the usefulness of mobilization theory and the business model lens to social entrepreneurship. Despite this diversity, all contributions share the fact that they challenge narrow definitions of the unit of analysis in social entrepreneurship; they illustrate the aspect of social embeddedness, and they argue for an open-but-disciplined diversity of theories in social entrepreneurship research.

Social Entrepreneurship Research as a Means of Transformation: A Vision for the Year 2028

Abstract In this essay we suggest directions and perspectives for social entrepreneurship research that could result in a state in which social entrepreneurship would have become mainstream. This includes the need to delineate and define social entrepreneurship vis-à-vis commercial entrepreneurship, the question of growth and scaling up of social ventures, the role of social entrepreneurship on a macroeconomic level, and the use of critical theory as a theoretical lens. Our recommendations are inspired by a Professional Development Workshop on ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Future Directions in Education and Research’ organized by the authors at the Academy of Management Conference 2010 in Montréal.

THE DISTINCTIVE SKILLS OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

Addressing the need to identify distinctive skills for social entrepreneurs, we conducted an exploratory, qualitative study based on interviews with social entrepreneurs. We identified seven skills, three out of which have not been previously mentioned by entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship scholars. These skills include an ability to induce behavioral change and educate target groups; co-creation with multiple stakeholders; and developing solutions that aim to address the root cause of a social problem. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for further research, as well as how the identified skills can be taught in experiential learning format.

Service Learning in Social Entrepreneurship Education: Why Students Want to Become Social Entrepreneurs and How to Address Their Motives

Service learning has been identified as a suitable approach to teach social entrepreneurship. However, in order to design service learning in an appropriate way, it is necessary to better understand why students want to become a social entrepreneur as opposed to a traditional entrepreneur. Thus, this study aims at identifying distinct student motives for preferring social entrepreneurship. According to our research, reasons typically mentioned by students who prefer a social entrepreneurship career over a commercial entrepreneurship career belonged to the following categories: impact, personal motives, and considering social and economic aspects. From this understanding, we derive recommendations for the design of service learning in social entrepreneurship programs. We hope that these recommendations will contribute to a student-oriented design of service learning that incorporates students’ own motives.

Talking about a Better Place: How Shai Agassi is Creating a Mass Market for Electric Vehicles

According to creation theory, opportunities do not exist independently of entrepreneurs; instead they are created by the actions of entrepreneurs. However, little is known about the process of how opportunities are actually acted upon. We explore the role of communication in opportunity enactment by analysing an extreme case: Shai Agassi and the frequently cited business model innovation of his company Better Place, with which he wants to eliminate the car industry’s dependence on oil. For the first time, we take a look at the practice of communication of the case and find patterns that play a vital role in creating a market. The findings of our case study research can help entrepreneurs to understand communication practices for changing an established industry. The findings also further advance our understanding of entrepreneurial practices within creation theory.

Rescue an Enterprise from Failure: An Innovative Assessment Tool for Simulated Performance

Despite the fact that half of all start-ups fail during the first 5 years of their existence, failure is currently neglected in entrepreneurship education. We posit that what is needed is a competence that allows entrepreneurs to become aware of dangers and weaknesses in the firm – a kind of Sense of Failure (SoF) – and a competence that allows them to use heuristics to react to these dangers, i.e., the competence profile Rescue an Enterprise from Failure (REF). In this paper, we discuss measures for capturing these two constructs and initial validation results. It is the first time that this kind of performance-oriented test instrument has been applied to measure an entrepreneurial competence supposed to prevent entrepreneurial failure. However, we want to point out that our test captures a “simulated” performance that requires participants to describe how they would act based on a written case.