Search Results (11)

In recent years, entrepreneurial learning in higher education institutions has been promoted and supported to help students become job creators rather than job seekers. The main purpose of entrepreneurial learning is to develop entrepreneurial competencies in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to attain the entrepreneurial goal of new value creation. This value extends beyond only economic value and job creation; it can, therefore, also benefit students who do not become entrepreneurs but who choose to think entrepreneurially. However, an enduring problem is ensuring that the entrepreneurial learning process is interactive, effective, and meaningful to the students. Correspondingly, self-directed learning (SDL) can be used in higher education to enhance entrepreneurial learning. This paper discusses the analyses of the role and importance of self-directed learning in the process of entrepreneurial learning for students in higher education institutions, informed by an exploratory systematic literature review. The findings reveal that SDL can play an important role in enhancing entrepreneurial learning by initiating the learning process to develop students’ entrepreneurial skills, mindset, motivation, creativity, and innovation, which serve as competencies for success as entrepreneurial thinkers. Based on the findings, the author concludes that SDL plays an important role in enhancing entrepreneurial learning in higher education institutions. Adopting SDL as a key strategy for teaching and learning in higher education can improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurial learning and help develop students into entrepreneurial thinkers. The practical implications are that the use of SDL in entrepreneurial learning can develop a spirit of creativity, create value on several levels, and empower students to become job creators instead of job seekers as higher education institutions prepare them for life after graduation. Full article

The digital economy is an important engine in leading the high-quality development of the economy, and entrepreneurship is an endogenous force propelling economic growth. These factors are essential drivers for advancing the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry and improving efficiency. This study integrates entrepreneurship into the analytical framework of industrial development and explores the primary pathways and theoretical mechanisms of the digital economy for the high-quality development of the construction industry from the dimensions of entrepreneurial innovation spirit and entrepreneurial pioneering spirit. On this basis, we empirically test the role mechanism between the digital economy, entrepreneurship, and the high-quality development of the construction industry. The results of this study indicate that (1) the digital economy significantly promotes the high-quality development of the construction industry through an improvement in technical efficiency; (2) the innovation and entrepreneurship of entrepreneurs are important mechanisms for the digital economy to promote the high-quality development of the construction industry, and at this stage, entrepreneurial spirit promotes more than the spirit of innovation; and (3) the development of the digital economy plays a greater role in enhancing low-productivity regions and the central and eastern regions, and the inclusive characteristics of the digital economy are beginning to emerge. Full article

As a fundamental unit of sustainable economic development, corporate green development is significantly influenced by entrepreneurs’ spirit and new-quality productivity. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the intrinsic connections among entrepreneurs’ spirit, new-quality productivity, and corporate green development. This study leverages data from 17,079 A-share manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2022. It employs a dual-dimensional fixed-effects model to investigate the mechanisms, pathways, and effects of entrepreneurs’ spirit on corporate green development, with new-quality productivity serving as a mediating variable. The findings reveal that (1) stability tests using the IV method and Heckman’s two-step method indicate that entrepreneurs’ spirit significantly promotes corporate green development; (2) mediation-effect tests show that new-quality productivity partially mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ spirit and corporate green development; and (3) heterogeneity-effect tests demonstrate that the promoting effect of entrepreneurs’ spirit on corporate green development is more pronounced in large enterprises compared to small- and medium-sized enterprises, in eastern enterprises compared to those in central and western regions, and in less competitive enterprises compared to more competitive ones. These conclusions not only enrich the research on corporate green development but also aid in the formulation of corporate-green-development strategies, thereby contributing to sustainable economic development. Full article

Digital technology is an important tool that influences employees from the healthcare sector to manifest their intention to become an entrepreneur. Furthermore, the last pandemic crisis underlined the importance of digitalizing the relationship between medical staff and patients. The research aims to evaluate how digital technology influences the development of the entrepreneurial spirit of young people working in the medical field. The data were gathered from a sample of 395 young people with medical studies and analyzed with SMARTPLS4 using the PLS-SEM method. The motivation of young people with a background in the medical field to become entrepreneurs is strongly influenced by the objective assessment of the level of digitalization of the medical field. The usability and availability of new technology give people with a background in the medical field the desire to become an entrepreneur in this domain. The young people perceive their entrepreneurial potential in complementarity with the level of digitalization of the medical field. The research’s theoretical and practical contributions are underlined by the features of the young people that consider new technology as an omnipresent tool in their life. In the medical field, there are few theoretical papers and studies on the entrepreneurial spirit of young people with a background in healthcare, and our research underlines the importance of training the entrepreneurial competencies of young people in the medical field. The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the relevance of entrepreneurial competencies in building sustainable healthcare practices and identifying the deficiencies of healthcare systems to find timely solutions for the benefit of the patients. Therefore, the challenges related to the medical services market require a new approach to doctors’ entrepreneurial competencies. Full article

Improving the entrepreneurial performance of farmers is conducive to increasing their income, reducing poverty, and securing livelihoods. In the quest for sustainable livelihoods, non-cognitive skills are becoming increasingly significant. Based on data from the 2018 Chinese Family Panel Study, this paper uses the ‘Big Five’ personality traits and a cross-sectional regression model to construct an indicator system to analyze farmers’ non-cognitive skills empirically and determine how these skills affect entrepreneurial performance. The results are as follows: (1) non-cognitive skills that significantly affect farmers’ entrepreneurial performance are, in order of influence, openness, extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. After considering endogeneity and substitution-explained variables, the above conclusions are still robust. (2) Heterogeneity analysis finds that farmers over 40 and those who start their businesses in cities have higher returns on non-cognitive entrepreneurship. (3) The paper confirms that non-cognitive skills improve farmers’ entrepreneurial performance through human and social capital effects. Therefore, entrepreneurs should consciously improve their non-cognitive skills by cultivating an enterprising and innovative spirit and social skills. The government’s entrepreneurship training for farmers should also focus on setting up courses in non-cognitive skills development to enhance farmers’ entrepreneurial literacy and skills. Full article

Relying on the hybrid organization literature and the circular economy literature, our study aims at theorizing how hybrid organizations adopt circular economy business models to contribute to sustainable development. Through six in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs located in different regions of Italy and operating in different industries, we theorize that four aspects are unique to hybrid organizing that adopt a circular economy business model. We find that hybrid organizations foster sustainable development thanks to their ability to develop and maintain relationships with the surrounding organizational realities. Additionally, we find that hybrid organizations contribute to sustainable development thanks to their motivation to guard and watch over the natural environment and human beings. In addition, we find that hybrid organizations foster sustainability by educating, spreading knowledge, and ennobling the human spirit. We therefore present a conceptual model that shows how hybrid organizations that adopt circular economy models contribute to sustainable development. In sum, our findings expand on previous literature, add new knowledge, and integrate fields of research that usually develop in silos. Full article

This study aims to identify the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among Syrian refugees in Turkey. The research, based on planned behaviour theory, focused on the impact of the refugee context on those intentions and thus on the attitudes and behaviour of entrepreneurs. The study is based on the positivist paradigm, and a quantitative methodology was used to collect data. We preferred the method of convenience sampling and chose 122 entrepreneurial projects at the beginning of 2020. The results show that psychological characteristics have no significant impact. Motivation, conviction, and independence are not sufficient conditions for the choice of an entrepreneurial profession. Self-standards do not affect the entrepreneurial intentions of refugees, as support from family and friends may not be sufficient reason to engage in an entrepreneurial project. However, entrepreneurship emerged among the refugees distinguished by perseverance, efficiency, a spirit of innovation, prior experience, adequate perceptions of barriers, and having the resources needed to implement projects. The refugee context has a negative emotional impact on entrepreneurship for reasons related to conditions of instability, language difficulties, the need for capital to invest, and a lack of entrepreneurial knowledge. The research findings can be used to support the role of humanitarian organisations, UN agencies, and host governments in developing a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial intentions in the refugee context. Full article

Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a key contributor to the economic development of countries and societal wellbeing. Building and sustaining an adequate entrepreneurial climate challenges—to a high extent—transitional economies world-wide, pushing these countries to develop policies and strategies aimed to sustain high-quality national entrepreneurship. The paper seeks to understand the key determinants of a country’s entrepreneurial environment that drive potential entrepreneurs to assume an entrepreneurial status. It attempts to examine the countries’ entrepreneurial environment factors that influence the development of entrepreneurial spirit and affect the potential entrepreneurs’ decision to start a new venture as a desirable career opportunity. Entrepreneurial spirit is measured by entrepreneurial desirability, feasibility and social stability, taken from the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) 2018 data on national entrepreneurship. The results of the linear regression employed in the paper suggest that, in transitional economies like Romania, clear and stable rules and regulations, manageable taxes, an overall beneficial economic situation, as well as availability and accessibility of technology, may lead to greater entrepreneurial drive and ambition, which is fundamental to sustaining economic growth. The article ends with a discussion about the results and implications of the research. Full article

Business incubators create value by combining the entrepreneurial spirit of start-ups with the resources that are typically available to new businesses. It is widely recognized that knowledge-based entrepreneurial companies are the main creators of economic growth, and such enterprises require special business development services. Therefore, the study aims to examine the role of business incubators in providing greater services (networking services, capital support, and training programs) in entrepreneurship development. Secondly, it also examines the mediating and moderating role of business start-up and government regulations for entrepreneurship. Using a quantitative methodology, we examine 567 samples through structural equation modeling. We find that the business incubators are playing an effective mediating role in providing networking services, capital support, and training programs to individuals and entrepreneurs, which are significant for entrepreneurship development, whereas business start-up positively mediates the relationship between networking services, capital support, training programs, and entrepreneurship development. Government regulations for entrepreneurship have a direct effect on entrepreneurship development. More importantly, government regulations for entrepreneurship have a positive moderating effect between business start-up and entrepreneurship development. Our study identifies the critical resources needed to improve the quality of business incubators and to ensure the availability of such resources to improve entrepreneurship development. Full article

In China, new generation entrepreneurs are gradually becoming the main force of intergenerational inheritance. New generation entrepreneurs have different educational background, growth experience and personality characteristics from the old generation entrepreneurs. They are endowed with the historical mission of an innovative generation. Therefore, it is of great significance to reveal the key factors influencing their innovative behavior and find out how to inspire their innovative behavior. Based on grounded theory and in-depth interviews, this study used NVivo 11 to deal with the recording materials. After a series of steps including open coding, spindle coding, selective coding and theoretical saturation test, it constructed a theoretical model of innovative behavior and innovative performance for new generation entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to improve the theory of entrepreneur innovation behavior and provide guidance for government to cultivate innovative spirit and innovative ability of new generation entrepreneurs. The research showed that: (1) New generation entrepreneurs’ personal traits and educational background affect their perceptions of innovation. (2) Risk awareness, understanding of innovation content and social capital would influence innovation behaviors. (3) Innovation behaviors further lead to changes in organization performance. Therefore, government should provide more opportunities for new generation entrepreneurs to widen their knowledge, social resources and innovation environment. Full article

Entrepreneurial activities of college students have received unprecedented attention under the “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” program. This program encourages individuals to start their own businesses and stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative genes of the nation. Sustainable entrepreneurship is a new form of entrepreneurship that plays an important role in addressing the employment problems of college students, promoting sustainable social and economic development, and alleviating China’s environmental problems. Based on the platform of the China College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (CSIPC) organized by the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China, we investigated the specific paths of personality trait influence on sustainable entrepreneurial intention of college students with entrepreneurial alertness and opportunity recognition as mediating variables. We conducted an empirical analysis based on 316 data collected from CSIPC participants. Results of data analysis show that personality traits had a significantly effect on sustainable entrepreneurial intention of college students, and entrepreneurial alertness and opportunity recognition played a mediating role between personality traits and sustainable entrepreneurial intention of college students. This study contributes to research on sustainable entrepreneurship and the practices of colleges to foster sustainable entrepreneurs. Full article