Entrepreneurial sensemaking and transdisciplinary graduate entrepreneurship education

Abstract

Purpose There is pressure to transform graduate education in ways that better prepare and socialize students for academic careers that require entrepreneurial activities and/or professional pathways outside of academia. The inclusion of entrepreneurial learning in graduate curricula and programs is one strategy for responding to such calls. Yet, there lacks an understanding of how graduate students outside of the business fields make sense of entrepreneurial content relevant to their academic interests and career aspirations. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore entrepreneurial sensemaking by non-business graduate students enrolled in a transdisciplinary entrepreneurship course. Design/methodology/approach A single case study design was used to explore how seven nonbusiness graduate students in a transdisciplinary entrepreneurial leadership course made sense of entrepreneurial content relevant to their academic interests and career aspirations. Data were collected through direct observations, semi-structured interviews and the administration of an entrepreneurial leadership proclivity assessment tool. Findings Through experiential learning intentionally centering entrepreneurship, graduate students acquire entrepreneurial knowledge in ways that enhance their agency and sense of empowerment without diluting or overriding their academic and/or professional intentions. Practical implications Sensemaking is framed as a pedagogical resource for fostering the integration of entrepreneurial content in transdisciplinary graduate courses and experiences in ways that align with and support the academic interests and career aspirations of individual students. Originality/value A novel entrepreneurial sensemaking approach to the integration of entrepreneurial content with transdisciplinary curricula that is directly responsive to calls for graduate education transformation is introduced.