Industry and Higher Education

This article explores how students learn from venture creation in higher education by using a novel empirical approach: the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET). This inductive research approach provides extraordinarily rich data that enable a thorough and holistic understanding of students’ learning processes. The participant selection differentiates students who pursue venturing throughout their entrepreneurship education programme and those who exit venturing halfway through, and the article is the first to pinpoint differences between how students with and without ventures in the same environment learn. The findings reveal that students who choose to exit their new ventures learn based on a community of practice – which is facilitated by other students’ venture creation – while the learning process of students who pursue venturing is in line with previous research. Thus, the present article contributes by empirically demonstrating what previous conceptual contributions have suggested: that researchers should emphasise situated and social learning as an integral element of students’ learning in action-based entrepreneurship education. For practice, the findings imply that entrepreneurship education programmes, in which students learn through venture creation, should be organised in a way that leads them to establish relationships and interact with each other on a regular basis.

Previous studies have attempted to examine and explain the integration of technology into the learning process. Most of these studies are related to the disciplines of pedagogy and informatics. The rest of the relevant literature cannot be definitively assigned to one discipline, but is often located at the intersection with the field of management. Taking a creative inquiry approach to analyzing this body of literature, the following key issues have been identified as of major relevance for future research. First, we must further explore what kind of influence the organizational culture of higher education institutions (HEIs) has on the strategy and implementation of integrating technology into the learning process. Second, we need to determine whether the integration of technology into the learning process at HEIs has the potential to support organizational development (mission, etc.) and/or adaptation, and whether an entrepreneurial culture could foster this potential.

This article investigates the influence that attending university classes can have on entrepreneurial processes leading to the creation of start-ups. In particular, attention is focused on the three main components of intellectual capital (IC) – human, relational and structural capital – that individuals can develop in university classes and that can affect their intentions with regard to entrepreneurship. From an empirical point of view, the article tests whether human, relational and structural capital have a different impact on start-up expectations by comparing young university students, young graduates and older people. The statistical analysis is based on binomial logistic regression models and uses second-hand data retrieved from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor website and provided by 2000 Italian respondents. The results reveal noticeable differences between young university students, young graduates and older people, indicating that IC components affecting entrepreneurship processes do vary in relation to the profiles of aspiring entrepreneurs.

This article proposes a new framework for designing business education programs which combines behavioral and business competencies to provide students, through experiential learning, with the tools necessary to succeed in their career paths and actively participate in the economic and societal development of diverse communities. The authors develop the framework by applying elements from the methodology for building conceptual frameworks in multidisciplinary contexts based on grounded theory. The framework, holistic in nature, is composed of the design process and the corresponding supporting elements and processes needed to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial behavior, including emotion and inspiration, in students who will engage in differing roles when they graduate. It promotes a responsive curriculum with a sharp focus on pedagogy as well as the process of curriculum implementation from mission statement to outcomes assessment.

This article, through an empirical investigation, examines (a) the attitudes toward entrepreneurship among those of a productive age, and (b) the effect of the economic and political characteristics of a country on an individual’s tendency toward entrepreneurship. An anonymous questionnaire was designed and administered to a random sample of 180 people, ranging in age from 18 to 58, in the Athens area (Attica region) during the 2015–2016 academic year. Of those issued, 100 were completed sufficiently for analysis (response rate: 55.5%). The study supports the view that entrepreneurship is a vital asset for sustainable development and that integrating entrepreneurship into the formal education system (including higher education), together with greater flexibility, consistency, and continuity in public policy, will help improve its impact.

As the ongoing evolution in the higher education sector changes the roles of universities, entrepreneurial practices become more prominent in their agendas. The literature on academic entrepreneurship focuses predominantly on the commercialization of research and less on other intrapreneurial activities—namely those performed by non-academic employees. To fill this gap, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence universities’ faculty members and non-academic staff to engage in intrapreneurial activities. The article analyzes Latvian university employees’ perceptions of 13 organizational, individual, and environmental factors and how they influence intrapreneurial behavior. Regarding the organizational factors, the results show that higher trust in managers, more available resources for innovative ideas, less formal rules and procedures, and greater freedom in decision-making can lead to higher levels of intrapreneurial behavior. With regard to individual factors, intrapreneurial behavior is associated with an employee’s initiative, but is not correlated with risk-taking and personal initiative. As to external factors, while environmental munificence is positively correlated with innovativeness, dynamism and unfavorable change influence employees’ engagement in intrapreneurial activities.

Policymakers in many countries have lit on tech-entrepreneurship as an essential element for economic development. To this end, South Africa’s Technology Innovation Agency, with co-sponsorship from the Swiss–South African Joint Research Programme, has run a cross-country tech-entrepreneurial training programme for local tech-entrepreneurs since 2010. This study reviews participants’ assessment of the training programme utilizing the Tech-Entrepreneurship Survey of 2016, designed and administered by the authors. From analysis of the participants’ rich feedback on their motivations for enrolment, the quality of training received and the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, clear indications emerge of what worked and what did not work. This enables the identification of focus areas for tech-entrepreneurship programme owners and policymakers in pursuit of tech-entrepreneurship expansion.