Graduates of venture creation programs - where do they apply their entrepreneurial competencies?

Journal article, 2023

The assessment of entrepreneurship education outcomes should move beyond a focus on firm creation and associated economic impact to consider a more nuanced view that pays attention to graduates and their entrepreneurial competencies. There is currently limited understanding to what extent entrepreneurial competencies developed through entrepreneurship education are applied in graduates' subsequent careers across various occupational roles, either as employees or as self-employed. Our analysis is based on a survey administered to 556 graduates from three Nordic master-level entrepreneurship education programs (1997-2018), all identified as venture creation programs. We find that, to a large extent, entrepreneurial competencies developed through venture creation programs are applied in subsequent careers across multiple occupational roles encompassing self-employment, hybrid entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurship education is relevant not only to new firm creation but also to entrepreneurial positions in established organizations when it comes to graduates' application of entrepreneurial competencies in subsequent careers. Plain English Summary Entrepreneurial competencies developed through entrepreneurship education are applicable to careers other than "start-up entrepreneur." This article examines graduates from three entrepreneurship education programs in Northern Europe where students experienced venture creation as part of the education. Graduates report the extent to which they apply entrepreneurial competencies (AECs) in their subsequent career. The most common career among graduates is self-employed entrepreneur, closely followed by a career as intrapreneur, where graduates apply their entrepreneurial competencies in established organizations. A smaller group of graduates have careers as hybrid entrepreneurs, where they combine paid employment with self-employment. A minority group of graduates have more conventional careers as full-time employees in established companies, where entrepreneurial tasks are not their main activities. The results indicate that venture creation programs provide fertile ground for graduates to engage in a broad spectrum of entrepreneurial careers. From the analysis, we found that a career as an intrapreneur is more similar to a self-employed entrepreneur than to a conventional employee. An implication for entrepreneurship education is that real-life educational experience through venture creation is applicable to entrepreneurial careers beyond start-ups. Additionally, the study provides a first attempt to connect entrepreneurial competencies developed through education with how such competencies are manifested in graduates' subsequent careers, motivating a discursive shift in how policies could spur a more entrepreneurial society that goes beyond a narrow start-up perspective.