Entrepreneurial Learning as a Driver of Innovation in Higher Education

Dear Colleagues,

Entrepreneurial learning has been a distinct domain in entrepreneurship research, confronting the question of “how entrepreneurs learn” (Cope, 2005; Corbett, 2005; Politis, 2005). Politis (2005) has set the scene for entrepreneurial learning as a process to identify and exploit opportunities; a perspective that has been enriched by the role of the learning asymmetry (Corbett, 2007; Dimov, 2007; Kakouris et al., 2025), the role of sentiments (Shepherd, 2004), the conception of career paths (Politis, 2005; Tampouri et al., 2025), and others. By understanding the learning processes that underly entrepreneurship, it is also possible to transfer them in educational settings to inform entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurs appear as “exceptional learners” (Smilor, 1997) meaning that they learn from a large variety of sources and in different routines and manners. Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently expanded these possibilities for learning, affecting businesses and how information or knowledge asymmetries emerge and are gestated in an uncertain economic terrain (e.g., Ramoglou et al., 2025). Through learning, the elevation of personal mental schemes from “novice” to “expert” is possible, through sequences of experiential events with ranging transformational potential (Krueger, 2007). Critical incidents (Cope, 2003; Cope & Watts, 2000) and learning from failure (Lattacher & Wdowiak, 2020; Politis & Gabrielsson, 2009) are especially important but not always possible in classrooms (Shepherd, 2004). Recent instruction based on learning cycles is promising (Crosina et al., 2024) though challenging in implementation. Networks and social learning are also fundamental premises for learning (Pittaway et al., 2011, Rae, 2017). Thus, entrepreneurial learning in the modern era is recognized as an indispensable component in business venturing though complex and underexplored in the literature (Aaboen et al., 2025).

Concurrently, worldwide higher education strives to incorporate entrepreneurial learning in its practice. Policies suggest entrepreneurship as a driver for innovation and economic development in modern knowledge-driven economies, while envisaging fostering of the entrepreneurial mindset to both students and educators, instilling a “third mission” (Etzkowitz, 2016) to higher education and research institutes, and in general, innovation through valorization and spillover of knowledge (Audretsch & Keilbach, 2007). However, such outcomes can be possible only through entrepreneurial learning, which sheds light on how individuals learn to become entrepreneurs and the demands of entrepreneurial mindsets (Kakouris & Bokeas, 2025). Hägg and Gabrielsson (2020) remark for entrepreneurship that “scholarly discussions moved from addressing the issue of teachability to a greater emphasis on learnability”. Not surprisingly, much of entrepreneurship education leaks from formal settings to informal ones and extracurricular activities. Such a tendency reveals the inherent complexity and peculiarity of entrepreneurial learning that cannot be confined in traditional environments and processes. This circumstance motivates the present call for papers in order to explore aspects of entrepreneurial learning that have remained obscure in the extant literature.

This Special Issue aims to gather research on the abovementioned issues to provide insights for the role of entrepreneurial learning in modern higher education. Indicative, but not exhaustive, research questions could include the following:

• What are appropriate and efficient learning theories to inform entrepreneurial learning?
• Are there cognitive or non-cognitive aspects of entrepreneurial learning that have not been adequately studied so far?
• How does the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) affect entrepreneurial learning?
• What kinds of entrepreneurial learning favor innovation instead of replication and standardization?
• What new or “unexpected” capacities can entrepreneurial learning rely on?
• How does entrepreneurship education target genuine entrepreneurial learning?
• Entrepreneurial learning in different educational levels (primary, secondary, tertiary) and settings (formal, non-formal, informal).
• How does entrepreneurial learning relate to sustainability and social change?
• What is the role of external (and internal) stakeholders in entrepreneurial learning?
• How are higher education institutes concerned with entrepreneurial learning?

The present call invites empirical or theoretical research on these topics. Submissions will be considered on a double-blind peer review basis, and the resulting collection will integrate complementary aspects of the current status of entrepreneurial learning and education.

References

Aaboen, L., Gabrielsson, J., & Politis, D. (2025). Introduction to the Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurial Learning: Reviewing the past and guiding the way forward. In Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurial Learning (pp. 1-23). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Audretsch, D. B., & Keilbach, M. (2007). The theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship. Journal of Management Studies, 44, 1242–1254.

Cope, J. (2003). Entrepreneurial learning and critical reflection: Discontinuous events as triggers for ‘higher-level’ learning. Management learning, 34(4), 429-450.

Cope, J. (2005). Toward a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(4), 373-397.

Cope, J., & Watts, G. (2000). Learning by doing–an exploration of experience, critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 6(3), 104-124.

Corbett, A. C. (2005). Experiential learning within the process of opportunity identification and exploitation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(4), 473-491.

Corbett, A. C. (2007). Learning asymmetries and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 97-118.

Crosina, E., Frey, E., Corbett, A., & Greenberg, D. (2024). From negative emotions to entrepreneurial mindset: A model of learning through experiential entrepreneurship education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 23(1), 88-127.

Dimov, D. (2007). Beyond the single-person, single-insight attribution in understanding entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(5), 713-731.

Etzkowitz, H. (2016). The entrepreneurial university: vision and metrics. Industry and Higher Education, 30(2), 83-97.

Hägg, G., & Gabrielsson, J. (2020). A systematic literature review of the evolution of pedagogy in entrepreneurial education research. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 26(5), 829-861.

Kakouris, A., & Bokeas, S. (2025). Informing the entrepreneurial mindset: A dialectical approach for educational use. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, DOI: 10.1177/25151274251386422

Kakouris, A., Liargovas, P., & Fulford, H. (2025). Experiential learning style and entrepreneurial opportunity perception: An entrepreneurial learning perspective. In Handbook of research on entrepreneurial learning (pp. 103-119). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Krueger, N. F. (2007). What lies beneath? The experiential essence of entrepreneurial thinking. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(1), 123-138.

Lattacher, W., & Wdowiak, M. A. (2020). Entrepreneurial learning from failure. A systematic review. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 26(5), 1093-1131.

Pittaway, L., Rodriguez-Falcon, E., Aiyegbayo, O., & King, A. (2011). The role of entrepreneurship clubs and societies in entrepreneurial learning. International Small Business Journal, 29(1), 37-57.

Politis, D. (2005). The process of entrepreneurial learning: A conceptual framework. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(4), 399-424.

Politis, D., & Gabrielsson, J. (2009). Entrepreneurs' attitudes towards failure: An experiential learning approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 15(4), 364-383.

Rae, D. (2017). Entrepreneurial learning: peripherality and connectedness. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 23(3), 486-503.

Ramoglou, S., Chandra, Y., & Jin, Q. (2025). Opportunity Search in the Era of GenAI: Navigating Uncertainty in an Expanding Universe of Imaginable but Unknowable Futures. Journal of Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.70011

Shepherd, D. A. (2004). Educating entrepreneurship students about emotion and learning from failure. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(3), 274-287.

Smilor, R. W. (1997). Entrepreneurship: Reflections on a subversive activity. Journal of Business Venturing, 12(5), 341-346.

Tampouri, S., Kakouris, A., Liargovas, P., Krueger, N., & Sarri, K. (2025). Entrepreneurial Career: A Critical Occupational Decision. Education Sciences, 15(11), 1450.

Dr. Alexandros D. Kakouris
Prof. Dr. Aiketerini Sarri
Dr. Norris Krueger
Guest Editors

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• entrepreneurial learning
• entrepreneurship education
• innovation
• entrepreneurial competence
• higher education