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It is unclear how nascent entrepreneurs make decisions during the venture creation process. The purpose of this paper is to investigate decision-making logics and their transformation over time among student entrepreneurs who aim to create new business ventures in the higher education setting.

The study employs the mixed methods approach through the use of survey and observation data. The longitudinal survey data comprise three surveys collected via an internet-aided tool. The constructs of causation and effectuation are measured using previously tested scales (Chandler et al., 2011). Non-participant observation data were collected during the course, focussing on the venture creation processes of four different start-ups, and were analysed thematically.

The findings show three transformation patterns – doubts in how to proceed, unwillingness to proceed, and unsatisfactory team dynamics – that led individuals towards a coping decision-making logic in which no causation or effectuation is emphasised. The findings illustrate that, despite this stage of decision-making logic, the learning process continues: Even if no new business venture is launched, entrepreneurship education can still generate learning outcomes that improve students’ understanding of entrepreneurship as well as understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs.

This study brings the theories of causation and effectuation into the teaching of entrepreneurship. Of particular value to scholars is the fact that the study generates new understanding of the decision-making logics during new venture creation. Accordingly, this study sheds new light on the transformation and complementarity of the decision-making logic of an individual as new ventures emerge in an educational context reflecting the real-life start-up context.

The purpose of this research is to explore how employee attitudes affect management behaviour in the corporate entrepreneurship (CE) setting. The paper focuses on the co‐evolutionary processes of practices and elements of the social structure, i.e. simultaneous top‐down and bottom‐up influences.

Organisation‐level data from individuals in the Finnish public‐sector health and social care organisation was obtained. The questionnaire comprised Likert‐scale attitude statements on different aspects of management behaviour, enabling structures, and individual attitudes. The data analysed consisted of 523 responses. Factor analysis and reliability tests were used to create aggregated measures for different CE antecedents and hierarchical regression analysis in order to test the causal model derived from the previous literature.

Empirical evidence of the crucial role of individual attitudes and action in CE was found, thus indicating that certain attitude types influence management behaviour. Straightforward communication emerged as the most important bottom‐up modality in that it is needed if individual attitudes are to influence managers.

The results challenge and complement previous research in the field of CE in recognising the crucial role of individual employees. The findings suggest that CE is not catalysed from the bottom up by silent followers, even though superiors find them comfortable to manage. It is rather the self‐confident and satisfied corporate entrepreneurs with initiative who critically question the existing working modes and thus catalyse CE. Finally, suggestions for further research were offered.

The aim of this article is to explore the entrepreneurial‐directed approach to teaching within one university‐level course in corporate entrepreneurship (CE) for Master's‐level students, and to gain a deeper understanding of the viability of the pedagogical methods used in teaching CE. The paper seeks to describe and examine the approach in the light of the theoretical concepts behind it, the pedagogical methods and applications used to reach the course objectives, and the learning outcomes.

A combination of qualitative research methods and observation techniques were used during and after the course in order to explore the learning outcomes of the students and to evaluate the applicability of the approach in achieving the learning objectives. All of the research material was analysed in the context of the entrepreneurial‐directed approach.

The results reveal that the approach is well suited to teaching CE in a university setting, perhaps even better suited than it is to entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial‐directed approach may be a constructive, educational and fruitful experience for students and teachers.

Longitudinal research is needed in order to trace how the entrepreneurial‐directed approach has succeeded in fostering entrepreneurial behaviour in students.

The case study gives some practical ideas on how the approach could be used in teaching CE.

Few researchers have discussed and analysed how entrepreneurship is taught, and research on teaching CE is almost non‐existent. This study attempts to fill both of these gaps.

This paper aims to address the impact of a person's motivation to study entrepreneurship on their subsequent levels of performance in terms of the generation of business ideas, while taking into account the effect of student team behaviour.

The paper hypothesises that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as team behaviour influence the learning outcome and that team behaviour moderates the relationship between motivation and learning outcomes. A survey was used to generate data. A total of 117 students, who participated in pre‐programme, and post‐programme surveys, provided the sample data. First, explorative factor analyses were employed to examine the latent variables. Second, hierarchical lineal regression analyses were carried out to test the proposed hypotheses.

It was found that intrinsic motivation has a negative effect on the learning outcome while extrinsic motivation had a positive one. However, the team (and in particular the resources that become available) positively moderates the relationship between the intrinsic motivation and the outcomes.

The paper contributes to the evaluation and research practices of different entrepreneurship education initiatives. The data are derived solely from business students, a factor that may cause bias in the results. In addition, the paper relied on self‐assessed perceptions of learning outcomes, since the stakeholder evaluations were team‐level measurements.

Students on entrepreneurship education programmes have different forms of motivation for studying entrepreneurship, and those tend to affect their satisfaction with the outcome of their studies. Using teams on an entrepreneurship course seems to generate more positive outcomes for students with both low and high intrinsic motivation, but particularly among the latter group. Ultimately, the results suggest the need for greater flexibility in course design.

The paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of how entrepreneurial learning outcomes are affected by student motivation and team behaviour. It makes an original contribution in distinguishing between an extrinsic and an intrinsic motivation to study entrepreneurship, and highlights the effect on learning outcomes of resources acquired through team behaviour. It also illustrates an opportunity to study the impact of entrepreneurship education, particularly when the creation of a new venture is not an immediate objective of the course.

The paper aims to describe the manner in which entrepreneurship policies are embedded in the national contexts and then through analysis offers a deeper understanding of the development of Finnish and Irish entrepreneurship policies. It seeks to focus on three questions: What is the context for entrepreneurship policies in the studied countries?; What kind of governance structure for entrepreneurship policy can be identified and derived from theoretical perspectives?; and What policy instruments and content are associated with governance rationale?

The empirical data involve primary data on national entrepreneurship policy documents illustrating the governance structure for policy development and implementation, as well as policy objectives and targets. Additionally, concrete policy measures were studied within six sub‐areas of entrepreneurship. The analysis is based on a framework with two layers of policy: governance structure, and specific policy measures.

The results show that the countries studied are implementing strikingly similar approaches in entrepreneurship policy‐making: state‐institutional coordination marked by a strong role for the government, complemented by a more recent shift towards a competitive approach. Because political, national and economic context plays a significant role in understanding entrepreneurship policy approaches it is justified to add a third layer, context, to the framework.

Particular measures or good practices cannot be imported from other countries without understanding the theoretical rationale and policy context for the measures.

The study highlights the role of time and path‐dependency in policy‐making; therefore, future research and evaluations on entrepreneurship policies need to be strongly contextualised.

This paper aims to investigate the relationships between student creativity, various opportunity search strategies, and the viability of business ideas developed during an entrepreneurship education module.

The paper sets out hypotheses on the associations between individual creativity, opportunity search strategies and the viability of business ideas generated. A group of 117 students provided the sample data by participating in pre‐programme and post‐programme surveys. Explorative factor analysis was employed to examine latent variables, and factor structures were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was then used to test the resulting hypotheses.

The results show that creativity is not directly associated with the viability of the business idea. Creativity does, however, strengthen the creative opportunity search strategies and the use of opportunity identification strategies based on knowledge acquisition. Accordingly, the influence of creativity on the viability of the business idea is fully mediated by those opportunity search strategies that are creative and based on knowledge acquisition. They both have a positive effect on the perceived viability of the business idea.

The study illustrates the co‐existence of art and science in the process of recognising entrepreneurial opportunity, which involves individual action and reflection in order for a viable business idea to be developed.

Although creativity is perceived as a valuable element of the generation of business ideas, it has to be accompanied by opportunity search activities in order to generate viable business ideas. The findings emphasise the role of creative behaviour in devising the business idea and also of incorporating creative thinking into business planning.

The paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of how individual creativity affects the viability of business ideas as well as the way in which students search for business opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the identity work of postgraduate students participating in an entrepreneurship training programme for life sciences. The paper aims to analyse what kind of entrepreneurial identities are constructed and in what ways in the context of the programme.

The paper relies on learning diaries and other written materials harvested from seven participants. Drawing on a social constructivist analysis, the materials were analysed by drawing attention to the kind of identities created, the contradictions that surfaced and how those were resolved in the written materials.

Two distinct entrepreneurial identities were constructed by the participants: the heroic and the humane. The first is the stereotypical role prototype that the participants experiment with. For the male participants this seems acceptable and normal. If they were in possession of more information, knowledge and skills they could identify with this heroic entrepreneurial identity. However, the female participants constructed an alternative identity; the humane entrepreneur running a low-tech firm with modest business goals or acting as an intrapreneur in an existing organisation.

Future research should consider entrepreneurship programmes as arenas for (gendered) identity work.

Entrepreneurship training should not only provide the participants with business knowledge and skills but facilitate their entrepreneurial identity work.

The paper contributes to understanding entrepreneurship education as a context for entrepreneurial identity construction and extends the understanding of the expected outcomes of entrepreneurship education programmes. The study demonstrates how entrepreneurial identity construction processes in the context of entrepreneurship training are gendered.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the roles and mission assigned to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in Finnish entrepreneurship policy, and how they are reflected in policy actions.

A discourse analysis of policy missions and content was conducted based on selected policy documents related to the government entrepreneurship programmes run in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.

The analysis identifies a clear evolution in the policies over the years, but no radical changes; indicating that policies develop incrementally by adding to previous schemes. In addition, the analysis reveals the changes in focus, measures and key actors involved in the policies. In general, the documents emphasise the need to create more jobs of better quality, to stimulate economic growth and recently also to foster a more sustainable society. There is a limited role for entrepreneurship in introducing innovation and change to society.

Besides analysing entrepreneurship policy there is a need to develop a better understanding of policy entrepreneurship, that is, the promotion of significant policy change. In addition, research evidence needs to be better incorporated into the formulation of policies.

Policymakers should be critical of policy development in order to create truly entrepreneurial policies. In order to promote entrepreneurship, more emphasis should be placed on developing incentives and measures supporting the identification and discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities, not merely on facilitating exploitation.

The paper contributes to entrepreneurship policy discussions by offering fresh insights into where entrepreneurship literature, policies and actions, and social reality intersect. The paper’s main contribution is to clearly show what is being promoted by the entrepreneurship policies and how, and the pitfalls of the current approaches compared to the understanding of entrepreneurship as a phenomenon.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the entrepreneurial‐directed approach to entrepreneurship education by discussing different teaching techniques aimed at infusing entrepreneurial skills and behaviour among students in the university setting.

The authors experimented with the entrepreneurial‐directed approach in their university‐level teaching, and used a combination of qualitative research methods and observation techniques to evaluate its feasibility and applicability. Information sources analysed include written material, e.g. learning diaries provided by the students, teachers' observations, and group discussions during the programme.

The study provides information on recent studies on entrepreneurship emphasising the core role of opportunity – discovering, evaluating and exploiting it – and reviews teaching techniques currently used in entrepreneurship education. The entrepreneurial‐directed approach seems to be well suited to the teaching situation as it encourages students to broaden their perspectives, and also to develop the entrepreneurial skills and behaviour required for their studies.

The paper provides a useful source of information for teachers interested in developing a more entrepreneurial approach, as well as for academics interested in the substance and nature of entrepreneurship education. The approach represents an experiential learning challenge to teachers and students in that it decreases the predictability and control of the teaching situation, on the other hand, increases the interest in learning and teaching.

The value of the approach is in integrating knowledge, experience and action within one entrepreneurship programme.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of job satisfaction on the intended retirement age of self‐employed and organisationally‐employed white‐collar professionals. The analysis also examines potential boundary conditions imposed by other domains of life for the applicability of this relationship.

The study employs ordered probit regressions to analyse primary survey data comprising 1,262 Finnish white‐collar professionals.

The econometric results suggest that job satisfaction is a significant determinant of the intention to retire later and thus prolong a career. The analysis does not find a difference in the effect of job satisfaction between salary earners and self‐employed individuals. However, the analysis finds that other domains of life influence how job satisfaction affects retirement‐age intentions, and that these influences differ between self‐employed and salaried respondents.

The findings imply that developing measures to improve the job satisfaction of (highly educated) older workers is an alternative to the widely debated regulatory approach of prolonging working careers by increasing the statutory retirement age. The principal limitation is the focus on white‐collar professionals in a single country.

This is the first empirical comparison of the effect of job satisfaction on the intended retirement age between salary earners and self‐employed individuals. It is also the first examination of the effect of job satisfaction on retirement intentions or behaviour that accounts for the effects of other domains of life satisfaction.