Search results

Universities provide entrepreneurship-specific education (ESE) to equip students with the entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking assets required to pursue entrepreneurial careers. Building upon insights from a dynamic view of human capital, the paper explores the linkage between ESE investment, alertness, and risk-taking asset accumulation, and the outcome relating to the intention “to become an entrepreneur” (henceforth termed an “entrepreneurial mindset”).

Survey information from 189 students from three universities in the Ukraine was hand collected. Hierarchical multiple ordinary least squares regression analysis and slope analysis were used to test presented hypotheses.

ESE students reported higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. Further, ESE students who accumulated the connection entrepreneurial alertness asset reported higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. ESE students were more oriented to higher entrepreneurial mindset when they had accumulated more connection entrepreneurial alertness asset. ESE students who accumulated the risk-taking propensity asset reported lower intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. ESE students were more oriented to higher entrepreneurial mindset when they perceived less risk.

The paper makes a novel contribution by considering whether ESE promotes different elements of entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking assets. Building upon insights from a broader conceptualization of the entrepreneurial alertness asset (Tang et al., 2012), the paper conceptualized for the first time the linkage between three elements of entrepreneurial alertness and student entrepreneurial mindset. Further, the paper conceptualized linkage between two elements of risk-taking relating to risk-taking perception asset and risk-taking propensity asset, and higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. Assets relating to entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking perception need to be honed in transition economy contexts associated with political structures that did not promote individual risk-taking.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of microfinance loans on poverty reduction amongst women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The authors set out to establish whether there exists an optimal loan size to attain the objectives of women entrepreneurs and poverty reduction in this country.

This exploratory study is based upon an empirical investigation of 123 semi structured interviews as well as in-depth, semi structured interviews with a sub sample of ten women entrepreneurs who secured microfinance loans for their new or established enterprises.

Emergent results show that access to finance is important for female entrepreneurs and helps them realise their potential as entrepreneurs. An optimal, poverty reduction, microfinance size has been identified. A range of entrepreneurial characteristics were found to be critical to the success of women led enterprises in general and to poverty reduction amongst their families in particular.

This research focuses upon a relatively small sample of female entrepreneurs operating in the Pakistani economy. Although the results could be relevant to women entrepreneurs in other developing countries, caution should be exercised when attempting to generalise these finding to other contexts.

Emergent results make a contribution to research on women entrepreneurship in general and optimal microfinance loan size in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the entrepreneurship education and training (EET) needs of small family businesses operating in the agricultural sector of the Indian economy.

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a survey of 122 agricultural family firms in the Indian state of Punjab. Responses were analysed using descriptive statistical methods to establish causal relationships between key variables and EET needs in these family firms.

Results show that owner/managers of small family businesses have low levels of EET and hence higher needs. Lack of sufficient funds and low awareness about the availability of training are the most significant challenges for these family firms in accessing financial education and training. Factors such as level of education and training of the owner/manager were found to be major determinants of family firms’ take up of EET.

This research paper makes an empirically rigorous contribution to a relatively under‐researched aspect of small family businesses operating in India. The results established that EET is a prerequisite for economic growth in the agricultural sector of the Indian economy.

This paper is the second in a series of conceptual, contextual and empirical contributions that, individually and cumulatively, seek to analyse, develop and link two important fields of research: “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship education”. Part 2 aims to provide a critical evaluation of entrepreneurship education and its impact upon graduate entrepreneurship in the UK.

A comprehensive literature review and a structured evaluation of current knowledge on topics related directly and indirectly to “entrepreneurship education” in the UK.

It appears that conceptual, contextual, design and delivery differences can have a considerable influence upon entrepreneurship education courses delivered in the UK. There are significant definitional as well as conceptual and contextual issues affecting the design of relevant programmes and the delivery of the chosen curriculum. Consequently, a number of actual and perceived barriers need to be overcome in order to facilitate a better understanding of stakeholder needs and learning patterns.

The evaluation and interpretation of relevant research results represent the author's own perception and experiences, and should therefore be viewed with caution. It is suggested that the content of this paper is subject to the usual bias and singular perspective generally attributable to “viewpoint” articles.

The paper measures the outcomes of entrepreneurship education is still proving difficult and inconclusive. More in‐depth research is needed on current UK entrepreneurship education provision and initiatives in order to gain a better understanding of the scope and limitations of a wide range of entrepreneurship education programmes.

This paper provides a critical evaluation of entrepreneurship education in the UK.

This paper aims to explore whether an integrated conceptual model (ICM) relating to factors drawn from entrepreneurial event theory (EET) (i.e. perceived desirability and perceived feasibility) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (i.e. attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) explains more of the variance relating to the intention to become an entrepreneur than individual EET or TPB models.

Survey information from 192 students from three universities in the Ukraine was hand collected. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses presented.

Models relating to EET, the TPB and the ICM explained 40 per cent, 55 per cent and 60 per cent of the variance in the entrepreneurial intention dependent variable, respectively. Students reporting higher levels of perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise) and perceived behavioural control were more likely to report the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. No significant negative interaction effect between perceived desirability and perceived feasibility was detected.

The study does not evaluate the benefits of enterprise modules. The results can be generalised to the Ukraine and comparable transition economy contexts.

The formation of entrepreneurial intentions in more students could be increased if enterprise teaching seeks to nurture higher levels of attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise), and higher levels of perceived behavioural control.

Structural equation modelling was used to test the predictive accuracy of EET, TPB and ICM perspectives. Direct and indirect effects between factors and the intention to become an entrepreneur were considered.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

This article is the first in a series of conceptual and empirical contributions that, individually and cumulatively, seek to analyse, develop and link two important fields of research: “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship education”.

The paper undertakes a critical literature review and a methodical evaluation of current knowledge on topics related directly and indirectly to “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship education”.

A critical evaluation of the literature on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education has highlighted a number of definitional, conceptual and contextual weaknesses inherent in these two interrelated fields of research. Importantly, both fields of knowledge share similar definitional weaknesses and methodological inadequacies. The paper proposes an encompassing working definition of entrepreneurship (including intrapreneurship) and a basic typology of relevant entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities. This converging approach combines the two units of analysis, i.e. the entrepreneur and/or the intrapreneur as well as the entrepreneurial and/or intrapreneurial firm. In terms of a basic typology, the paper recommends Westhead and Wright's suggestion that entrepreneurs can be categorised into three broad groups: “novice,” “serial,” and “portfolio,”. This “converging approach” to entrepreneurship would bridge the most obvious aspects of empirical discord and provide better comparative and more generalisable research.

The evaluation and interpretation of emergent results represent the author's own perceptions, experiences and biases – and should therefore be viewed with caution. Thus, this article is subject to the usual bias and singular perspective which is generally attributable to “viewpoint” articles.

The paper proposes an encompassing working definition of entrepreneurship and a basic typology of relevant entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities.