Levelling the playing field: Could entrepreneurship education compensate the lack of entrepreneurial pedigree and prior experience?

Other conference contribution, 2022

Questions we care about: In the last four decades, the importance of entrepreneurship education for societal renewal has seen a dramatic rise. Policy arguments state that to spur economic development, a more entrepreneurially oriented workforce is needed. To increase our understanding of how entrepreneurship education impacts entrepreneurial careers, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurship education, in the form of venture creation programs (VCPs), mitigate or surpass a lack of entrepreneurial career antecedents, such as entrepreneurial pedigree or prior entrepreneurial experience. We ask: What role do VCPs play in the subsequent career choice of graduates regarding career impact relative to prior entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial pedigree?

Approach: This paper investigates the role of VCPs, entrepreneurial pedigree, and prior entrepreneurial experience regarding early career choice. A broad perspective of entrepreneurial career is considered, across four occupational forms: self-employed, entrepreneurial employment (intrapreneur), hybrid (self-employed and employed in parallel), and conventional employment. To investigate career choice, data from graduates of VCPs at three universities in Northern Europe was collected through an online survey. Questions addressed graduate background prior to education, yearly occupational employment subsequent to graduation, and graduates’ own perception of entrepreneurial activity in employment positions. The survey was sent to 1326 graduates (total graduate population = 1568) and received 692 responses (52.2% response rate).

Results: The educational context of VCPs, whether Ind-VCP or Corp-VCP, mitigated prior entrepreneurial experience. Although prior entrepreneurial experience interacted with Ind-VCP in making a career as self-employed more likely, this was not the case for Corp-VCP, in subsequently choosing intrapreneurial careers. Entrepreneurial pedigree had no significant effect on career choice other than for hybrid careers.

Implications: Entrepreneurial experience gained from VCPs seems to influence graduates towards future entrepreneurial careers. For some, a VCP is the first entrepreneurial experience, while others are building existing entrepreneurial experiences. Evidence supports the conclusion that many VCP graduates lacking prior entrepreneurial experience instead develop entrepreneurial competencies (knowledge, skills, and judgmental abilities) through the program, which prepares them to engage in subsequent entrepreneurial careers. For policy and practice, entrepreneurship education can level the playing field for students aspiring to an entrepreneurial career but lacking prior entrepreneurial experience or entrepreneurial pedigree. This is an important insight when considering the need to spur innovativeness among businesses transitioning towards sustainable futures and/or recouping from the economic downturns created and perpetuated by the pandemic. Our evidence illustrates that action-based, contextualized education in entrepreneurship creates graduates that engage either as self-employed or as change agents (working with initiating and developing new opportunities) in established businesses.

Value/Originality: This study offers novel evidence that entrepreneurship education can level the playing field for students preparing for entrepreneurial careers but lacking prior entrepreneurial experience or an entrepreneurial pedigree.