There is a long-standing debate about whether entrepreneurs and nonentrepreneurs differ in risk aversion levels. The paper addresses international differences in risk and entrepreneurial attitudes of university students, specifically in the USA and Brazil. This paper also aims to add to the ongoing debate surrounding the risk attitudes of entrepreneurial persons when compared to non-entrepreneurial persons. The data from the paper was generated from an economic experiment. The economic experiment included a sample of students from both the USA and Brazil. Subjects completed a shortened version of the Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation (EAO) and then participated in an investment game. Summary HighlightsContributions: This paper contributes to the debate surrounding international entrepreneurial attitudes and risk attitudes. The paper employs a unique research methodology when approaching this topic. An economic experiment is used to empirically test for differences in risk attitudes based on entrepreneurial attitudes. Research questions/purpose: There are two primary purposes of this study. One is to investigate whether individuals with entrepreneurial attitudes are more likely to invest in a risky asset when compared to subjects with non-entrepreneurial attitudes. The second is to determine if individuals in the USA were more or less entrepreneurial than subjects in Brazil and if they demonstrated differing risk attitudes. Results/findings: The findings suggest that the US subjects were more entrepreneurial than those in Brazil, and this held true for two different specifications of the entrepreneurial variable. Individuals in Brazil and the USA did not differ in their risk-taking behavior. Finally, entrepreneurial individuals were more willing to invest at a higher rate into a risky asset when compared to non-entrepreneurial subjects. Limitations: There are a couple of limitations due to the research methodology and sample population. First, all subjects in the experiments, in both the USA and Brazil, were university students. This leads to difficulty in generalizing the results to the general public. Also, the sample size was limited to 78 in the USA and 54 in Brazil. Finally, the study measured entrepreneurial attitudes among individuals who were not actually entrepreneurs. The instrument used, the Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation, has predictive validity; however, it has not been testing for temporal predictive validity. Theoretical implications and recommendations: Theory suggests that risk-taking is a component of entrepreneurial orientation. This paper adds to this theory by finding support for a positive relationship between financial risk-taking and entrepreneurial attitudes. Practical implications and recommendations: The practical implications are relevant primarily for policy makers. The individual-level, microdata gives insight into the differences in risk-taking between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial individuals.Subjects in the USA were found to be more entrepreneurial than the sampl...

A group of six colleges and universities (East Carolina University, Iona College, John Carroll University, Millikin University, Rowan University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute) partnered up to co-host the January 2020 USASBE Conference in New Orleans, LA, with the theme Interdisciplinary & Experiential Entrepreneurship Education. The conference thematically aligned its overall program with this special issue, which features scholars and programs representing the arts, design, engineering, liberal arts, physical sciences, STEM, and – yes – business. This editorial further discusses the importance of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education as an inherent feature of itself to truly evolve as a discipline.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of business students in India toward business managers (not self-employed) and entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach Students’ perceptions of the ethical behaviors of business managers and entrepreneurs were measured using the Bucar and Hisrich (2001) model. The scale comprises 20 behavioral descriptors, and the students were asked to indicate the degree to which they believed entrepreneurs and business managers would consider these actions as ethical. Findings Responses to general items of ethical behavior demonstrated a difference in the perception of Indian students between business managers and entrepreneurs. Originality/value This study contributes to the field of entrepreneurship in two ways. One involves the results of the hypothesis testing presented herein to evaluate the perceptions of business students in India toward entrepreneurs and business managers. The second contribution is comparing these results to that of a similar study using a US sample (Batchelor et al., 2011) to compare the differences in perceptions toward entrepreneurs and business managers across these two nations.

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