How to Educate Entrepreneurs?

Graevenitz, Georg von and Weber, Richard (2011): How to Educate Entrepreneurs? Discussion Papers in Business Administration 2011-2

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education has two purposes: To improve students’ entrepreneurial skills and to provide impetus to those suited to entrepreneurship while discouraging the rest. While entrepreneurship education helps students to make a vocational decision its effects may conflict for those not suited to entrepreneurship. This study shows that vocational and the skill formation effects of entrepreneurship education can be identified empirically by drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. This is embedded in a structural equation model which we estimate and test using a robust 2SLS estimator. We find that the attitudinal factors posited by the Theory of Planned Behavior are positively correlated with students’ entrepreneurial intentions. While conflicting effects of vocational and skill directed course content are observed in some individuals, overall these types of content are complements. This finding contradicts previous results in the literature. We reconcile the conflicting findings and discuss implications for the design of entrepreneurship courses.

• Item Type: Paper
• Form of publication: Preprint
• Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intention, theory of planned behavior, structural equation models, two stage least squares.
• Faculties: Munich School of Management; Munich School of Management > Discussion Papers; Munich School of Management > Discussion Papers > Entrepreneurship
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• JEL Classification: L11, L13, O34
• Language: English

References

AJZEN, I. (1985): Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior, Heidelberg, NewYork: Springer, chap. From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior, 11–39.

——— (1987): “Attitudes, traits, and actions: dispositional prediction of behavior in person- ality and social psychology,” Advances in experimental social psychology, 20, 1–63.

——— (1991): “The Theory of Planned Behavior,” Organizational behavior and human de- cision processes, 50, 179–211.

AJZEN, I. AND M. FISHBEIN (2004): “Questions raised by a reasoned action approach: com- ment on Ogden (2003),” Health Psychology, 23, 431–4.

AKERLOF, G. AND R. KRANTON (2002): “Identity and schooling: Some lessons for the economics of education,” Journal of Economic Literature, 40, 1167–1201.

ALLGOOD, S., W. BOSSHARDT, W. V. D. KLAAUW, AND M. WATTS (2010): “Economics Coursework and Long-term Behavior and Experiences of College Graduates in Labor Mar- kets and Personal Finance,” Economic Inquiry, 1–24.

ANDERSON, L. W. AND D. R. KRATHWOHL, eds. (2001): A Taxonomy for Learning, Teach- ing, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, New York: Longman.

AUDRETSCH, D. AND M. FRITSCH (2002): “Growth regimes over time and space,” Regional Studies, 36, 113–124.

BAGOZZI, R. AND Y. YI (1989): “The degree of intention formation as a moderator of the attitude-behavior relationship,” Social Psychology Quarterly, 52, 266–279.

BANDURA, A. (1977): “Social Learning Theory,” .

BAUM, C., M. SCHAFFER, AND S. STILLMAN (2007): “Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing,” Stata Journal, 7, 465– 506.

BAUM, C. F., M. E. SCHAFFER, AND S. STILLMAN (2002): “IVREG2: Stata module for extended instrumental variables/2SLS and GMM estimation,” Statistical Software Compo- nents, Boston College Department of Economics.

BIRD, B. (1988): “Implementing Entrepreneurial Ideas: The Case for Intention,” Academy of Management Review, 13, 442–453.

BISHOP, J. (2006): “Drinking from the fountain of knowledge: Student incentive to study and learn-externalities, information problems and peer pressure,” Handbook of the Economics of Education, 2, 909–944.

BLAU, P. (1977): Inequality and heterogeneity: A primitive theory of social structure, Free Press New York.

BOLLEN, K. (1996): “An Alternative Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) Estimator for Latent Variable Equations,” Psychometrika, 61, 109–121.

BOLLEN, K. AND W. DAVIS (2009): “Two Rules of Identification for Structural Equation Models,” Structural Equation Modeling, 16, 523–536.

BOLLEN, K., J. KIRBY, P. CURRAN, P. PAXTON, AND F. CHEN (2007): “Latent Variable Models Under Misspecification: Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and Maximum Likeli- hood (ML) Estimators,” Sociological methods & research, 36, 48.

BOLLEN, K. A., S. RABE-HESKETH, AND A. SKRONDAL (2008): “Structural Equa- tion Models,” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, ed. by H. B. Box- Steffensmeier J and D. Collier, oxford University Press, chap. 18, 432–455.

BROCKHAUS, R. (1980): “Risk Taking Propensity of Entrepreneurs,” Academy of Manage- ment Journal, 23, 509–520.

BROWN, C. AND M. CORCORAN (1997): “Sex-based differences in school content and the male-female wage gap,” Journal of Labor Economics, 15, 431–465.

CHANDLER, G. AND D. LYON (2001): “Issues of Research Design and Construct Mea- surement in Entrepreneurship Research: The Past Decade.” Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 25, 101–114.

FAYOLLE, A., B. GAILLY, AND N. LASSAS-CLERC (2006): “Assessing the Impact of En- trepreneurship Education Programmes: A New Methodology,” Journal of European Indus- trial Training, 30, 701–720.

FISHBEIN, M. AND I. AJZEN (1980): Understanding attitudes and predicting social behav- ior, Englewood-Cliffs, NY: Prentice Hall.

——— (2010): Predicting and Changing Behavior: The Reasoned Action Approach, Psy- chology Press New York.

FITZSIMMONS, J. AND E. DOUGLAS (2010): “Interaction between feasibility and desirability in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions,” Journal of Business Venturing.

GAGE, N. L. (2009): A Conception of Teaching, Springer-Verlag.

GARDNER, H. (1983): Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Basic Books.

GARTNER, W. (1988): “Who is an Entrepreneur? Is the Wrong Question,” American Journal of Small Business, 12, 11–32.

GOSLING, S., P. RENTFROW, AND W. SWANN (2003): “A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains,” Journal of Research in personality, 37, 504–528.

GUNDRY, L. AND H. WELSCH (2001): “The ambitious entrepreneur High growth strategies of women-owned enterprises,” Journal of Business Venturing, 16, 453–470.

HECKMAN, J., L. BORGHANS, A. DUCKWORTH, AND B. TER WEEL (2008): “The Eco- nomics and Psychology of Personality Traits,” Journal of Human Resources.

KIRBY, J. AND K. BOLLEN (2009): “Using Instrumental Variable Tests to Evaluate Model Specification in Latent Variable Structural Equation Models,” Sociological methodology, 39, 327–355.

KOLVEREID, L. (1996a): “Organizational Employment versus Self-Employment: Reasons for Career Choice Intentions.” Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 20, 23–31.

——— (1996b): “Prediction of Employment Status Choice Intentions.” Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 21, 47–57.

KOLVEREID, L. AND E. ISAKSEN (2006): “New Business Start-up and Subsequent Entry into Self-employment,” Journal of Business Venturing, 21, 866–885.

KRUEGER, N. (1993): “The impact of prior entrepreneurial exposure on perceptions of new venture feasibility and desirability,” Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 18, 5–21.

KRUEGER, N. AND A. CARSRUD (1993): “Entrepreneurial Intentions: Applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour,” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 5, 315–330.

KRUEGER, N., M. REILLY, AND A. CARSRUD (2000): “Competing Models of En- trepreneurial Intentions,” Journal of Business Venturing, 15, 411–432.

KURATKO, D. (2005): “The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends, and Challenges,” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29, 577–598.

LIN ~ A ´ N, F. (2008): “Skill and Value Perceptions: How Do They Affect Entrepreneurial Inten- tions?” International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, 4, 257–272.

LIN ~ A ´ N, F. AND Y. CHEN (2009): “Development and Cross-Cultural Application of a Specific Instrument to Measure Entrepreneurial Intentions,” Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 33, 593–617.

MART ´INEZ, A. C., J. LEVIE, D. J. KELLEY, R. J. SAEMUNDSSON, AND T. SCH\OTT (2010): A Global Perspective on Entrepreneurship Education and Training, Global En- trepreneurship Monitor.

MONTAN ~ O, D. E. AND D. KASPRZYK (2008): “Theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the integrated behavioral model,” in Health Behavior and Health Education, ed. by K. Glanz, B. K. Rimer, and K. Viswanath, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, chap. 4, 67–96, 4 ed.

NUNNALLY, J. C. (1978): Psychometric theory, McGraw-Hill.

OGDEN, J. (2003): “Some problems with social cognition models: a pragmatic and concep- tual analysis,” Health Psychology, 22, 424–8.

OOSTERBEEK, H., M. VAN PRAAG, AND A. IJSSELSTEIN (2010): “The impact of en- trepreneurship education on entrepreneurship skills and motivation,” European Economic Review, 54, 442–454.

OREOPOULOS, P. AND K. G. SALVANES (2011): “Priceless: The Nonpecuniary Benefits of Schooling,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25, 159–184.

REVELLE, W. AND R. ZINBARG (2009): “Coefficients a, ß, ?H, and the GLB: Comments on Sijtsma,” Psychometrika, 74, 145–154.

REYNOLDS, P., D. STOREY, AND P. WESTHEAD (1994): “Cross-national comparisons of the variation in new firm formation rates,” Regional Studies, 28, 443–456.

ROBINSON, P., D. STIMPSON, J. HUEFNER, AND H. HUNT (1991): “An Attitude Approach to the Prediction of Entrepreneurship,” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 15, 13–31.

SCHERER, R., J. ADAMS, S. CARLEY, AND F. WIEBE (1989): “Role Model Performance Effects on Development of Entrepreneurial Careerc preference,” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 13, 53–71.

SHAH, R. AND S. GOLDSTEIN (2006): “Use of structural equation modeling in operations management research: Looking back and forward,” Journal of Operations Management, 24, 148–169.

SHAPERO, A. AND L. SOKOL (1982): Encyclopaedia of entrepreneurship, Prentice Hall, chap. The social dimensions of entrepreneurship.

SHESHINSKI, E., R. STROM, AND W. BAUMOL (2007): Entrepreneurship, innovation, and the growth mechanism of the free-enterprise economies, Princeton University Press.

SOUITARIS, V., S. ZERBINATI, AND A. AL-LAHAM (2007): “Do Entrepreneurship Pro- grammes Raise Entrepreneurial Intention of Science and Engineering Students? The Effect of Learning, Inspiration and Resources,” Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 566–591.

STOCK, J. AND M. YOGO (2002): “Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression,” NBER Working Paper.

TKACHEV, A. AND L. KOLVEREID (1999): “Self-employment intentions among Russian students,” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 11, 269–280.

VON GRAEVENITZ, G., D. HARHOFF, AND R. WEBER (2010): “The Effects of En- trepreneurship Education,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76, 90–112.

WEBER, R. (2010): “Am I an Entrepreneur? - Updating Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Inten- tions through Entrepreneurship Education,” unpublished manuscript.

ZINBARG, R., W. REVELLE, I. YOVEL, AND W. LI (2005): “Cronbach’s a, Revelle’s ß, and Mcdonald’s ?H : Their Relations With Each Other and Two Alternative Conceptualizations of Reliability,” Psychometrika, 70, 123–133.