New Perspectives on Entrepreneurship Education

Dear Colleagues,

The role of entrepreneurship in meeting societal challenges cannot be overestimated. Both policy makers and scholars recognize the need to stimulate entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship education (Von Graevenitz et al. 2010; Varblane and Mets 2010; Nabi et al. 2017). Entrepreneurship education development and research have run somewhat in parallel with entrepreneurship research (Neck and Corbett 2018). These two lines of research do, however, intersect in some respects, one of them being entrepreneurial competencies (Bacigalupo et al. 2016). The competence models, on the one hand, identify what the important characteristics of an entrepreneur are and, on the other hand, indicate personal capabilities that entrepreneurship education should provide to students. For promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, it would be useful to understand how the interface between these two approaches creates the best outcomes for society.  

Therefore, in the ever-evolving entrepreneurship education, all the current traditional research topics remain relevant (e.g., Fayolle and Kyrö 2008; Fayolle 2013; Nabi et al. 2018; Kozlinska et al. 2020; Mäkimurto-Koivumaa and Belt 2016). The changing environment is forcing us to ask again and again how entrepreneurship education affects the employment of graduates and which teaching methods are the most effective. What is happening in entrepreneurship pedagogy? How can we measure the impact of entrepreneurship education on students and which programs are most effective for which target group? We continue to lack longitudinal and experimental studies.

These modern times also present new challenges that were not present before but have already changed our lives in new ways. The new challenges are related to entrepreneurship education under COVID-19 (e.g., Maritzet al. 2020). The conditions for conducting studies have changed, as well as the goals set for entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship practice faces similar challenges, starting from the appearance of novel services and new business models to renewed competencies of entrepreneurs. Thus, the education system likely needs to bring the process of teaching entrepreneurship to another level, or the old methods should be practiced in a new way.

Some challenges have matured more slowly, including global warming and the general deterioration of the living environment. In this context, governments have set new targets. The European Union's 2050 climate neutrality goals (EC 2018, 2019) have created a societal need for green transformation and sustainability competencies (Lozano et al. 2017). Environmental awareness is not enough for the sustainable transformation of society, including the natural environment and the economy. What could be the role of entrepreneurship education in shaping an active green transformation by a citizen? An answer to this question can be broader than just  the role of entrepreneurship as a necessary competence to implement green transformation and entrepreneurship education as an enabler of this process. The development of an active, conscious, green transformation-oriented citizen prompts the identification of an appropriate age and level of education, at which such an educational outcome is possible to achieve; it also prompts for the identification of methods that are most appropriate to achieve the specific learning goals. In a broader realm, entrepreneurship education (research) faces a number of challenges in the context of civic competencies, but also in understanding the entrepreneurial (green transformation) learning process phenomena generally (Mets et al. 2021).

Entrepreneurship education, in a diverse array of contexts and for different purposes, including training for technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship, creative industries, international, social and technology entrepreneurship, among others, is another promising direction to explore (e.g., Lackéus and Middleton 2015; Hockerts 2018). Startup education and training, which could be seen as an incentive for the birth of new technology companies (e.g., Harms 2015) might be a fruitful topic to delve into in any of these contexts.

Frontier research papers that open up new perspectives in understanding entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship linkages are also welcome. Published research may introduce new aspects to entrepreneurship psychology and pedagogy. Furthermore, aspects of entrepreneurial learning and education (Hägg and Gabrielsson 2019) and the processes that link education to the real entrepreneurial process. We have examples where entrepreneurship education practitioners have inspired entrepreneurship researchers with an entrepreneurship process model (Moroz and Hindle 2012; Cunneen and Mankelow 2007; Mets et al. 2019). In this process, a gap that emerged between entrepreneurship education and the essential features of entrepreneurship could and should be overcome. Among them, EntreComp (Bacigalupo et al. 2016), as a European framework for entrepreneurial competence, may be adapted to the entrepreneurial process and green transformation (Mets et al. 2021).

This Special Issue of Administrative Sciences ‘New Perspectives in Entrepreneurship Education’ aims to address the topics outlined above. The call also welcomes submissions on adjacent topics that fit into the general trend of modernizing higher education and linking entrepreneurship theory with practice.

References 

Bacigalupo, M., Panagiotis, K., Yves, P. and Van Den Brande, L. 2016. EntreComp: The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework. Brussels: Publications Office of the European Union.

Cunneen, D.J. and Mankelow, G.J. 2007. Towards a Process Model of Independent Growth Firm Creation. Small Enterprise Research, 15(1), 90-105.

EC (European Commission). 2018. A Clean Planet for all: A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy. Brussels: European Commission.

EC (European Commission). 2019. The European Green Deal. Brussels: European Commission.

Fayolle, A. 2013. Personal Views on the Future of Entrepreneurship Education. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 25(7-8) 692-701

Fayolle, A. & Kyrö. P. (Eds) 2008. The Dynamics between Entrepreneurship, Environment and Education. Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham, UK

Harms, R. 2015. Self-regulated learning, team learning and project performance in entrepreneurship education: Learning in a lean startup environment. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 100: 21–28.

Hockerts, K. 2018. The Effect of Experiential Social Entrepreneurship Education on Intention Formation in Students. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship 9(3): 234-256, DOI: 10.1080/19420676.2018.1498377

Hägg, G. and Gabrielsson, J. 2019. A systematic literature review of the evolution of pedagogy in entrepreneurial education research. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 26(5): 829–61.

Kozlinska, I., Mets, T., Rõigas, K. 2020. Measuring Learning Outcomes of Entrepreneurship Education Using Structural Equation Modeling. Administrative Sciences 10(3): 58, 1−17.10.3390/admsci10030058.

Lackéus, M. and Williams Middleton, K. 2015. Venture creation programs: bridging entrepreneurship education and technology transfer. Education + Training 57(1): 48-73. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-02-2013-0013

Lozano, Rodrigo, Michelle Y. Merrill, Kaisu Sammalisto, Kim Ceulemans, and Francisco J. Lozano. 2017. Connecting Competences and Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: A Literature Review and Framework Proposal. Sustainability 9(10): 1889.

Maritz, A.; Perenyi, A.; de Waal, G.; Buck, C. 2020. Entrepreneurship as the Unsung Hero during the Current COVID-19 Economic Crisis: Australian Perspectives. Sustainability 2020, 12(11): 4612. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114612

Mets T., Holbrook J. and Läänelaid S. 2021. Entrepreneurship Education Challenges for Green Transformation. Administrative Sciences 11(1):15. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci11010015

Mets, T., Trabskaja, J. and Raudsaar, M. 2019. The entrepreneurial journey of venture creation: Reshaping process and space. Revista de Estudios Empresariales. Segunda Época 1: 61-77.

Mäkimurto-Koivumaa, S. and Belt, P. 2016. About, for, in or Through Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education. European Journal of Engineering Education 41 (5): 512–529.

Moroz, P. W. and Hindle, K. 2012. Entrepreneurship as a Process: Toward Harmonizing Multiple Perspectives. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice 36(4): 781-818.

Prof. Tõnis Mets
Dr. Inna Kozlinska
Dr. Mervi Raudsaar
Dr. Iuliia Trabskaia
Guest Editors

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• entrepreneurship education
• entrepreneurship pedagogy
• entrepreneurial education
• entrepreneurship competence model
• entrepreneurship teaching methods
• experiential learning
• process-based learning
• challenges of entrepreneurship education