Governing the entrepreneurial mindset: Business students’ constructions of entrepreneurial subjectivity

Abstract

Promoting entrepreneurship education to develop the entrepreneurial competences and mindsets of citizens has become an important mission on the supranational educational policy agenda. This endeavour constructs the ideal of a self-guided entrepreneurial subject who is active, adaptable and capable of tolerating uncertainty. Using the theorizations of governmentality, we attempt to discover in this study how entrepreneurial subjectivity is being constructed and negotiated among university-level business students. The data consist of the writing assignments of a group of students (N = 24) enrolled in entrepreneurship studies in a Finnish university. The findings illustrate how entrepreneurial discourse, as a culturally appropriate manner to express oneself as a self-disciplined and self-governed subject, is adopted by students and reproduced in the practices of entrepreneurship education. We suggest that among educators the aim to educate entrepreneurial subjects should be recognised as a political, moral and, hence, negotiable objective, rather than as a value-neutral or imperative goal.

The construction and regulation of collective entrepreneurial identity in student entrepreneurship societies

“…Entrepreneurship is promoted by offering EE and events and activities around entrepreneurship for all HE students across disciplines. The objectives of EE in HEIs are three-fold (Donnellon et al, 2014;Hytti and O'Gorman, 2004;Laalo and Heinonen, 2016): learning to understand entrepreneurship, become an entrepreneur, and become entrepreneurial. In HEIs entrepreneurship is enhanced by different interest groups, such as the ESs that actively promote the values of entrepreneurship, disseminate best practices and network across sectors.…”

“…The purpose of this study is to critically investigate how collective identity is constructed and regulated by board members and other active members of two ESs in Finland. Authors argue that entrepreneurship has become institutionalized in HEIs as the pivot around which identities are properly formed without being critically challenged (see, however, Farny et al, 2016;Hytti, 2018;Laalo and Heinonen, 2016;Laalo et al, 2019). In what follows, identity work from the point of view of identity construction and regulation will be discussed, after which the data and methods will be introduced and the results presented with some final remarks.…”

Yrittäjäyhteisön taika

“…Yrittäjyyskasvatus voidaan ymmärtää ylikansalliseksi koulutuspoliittiseksi projektiksi, jonka ajamiseen osallistuvat kansainväliset toimijat, kuten Euroopan unioni ja taloudellisen yhteistyön ja kehityksen järjestö OECD. (Harni & Pyykkönen 2018, 287-289;Korhonen 2012;Laalo & Heinonen 2016. ) Korkeakoulujen yrittäjyystoimintaa voidaan pitää osana sekä korkeakouluinstituutioiden yritysmäistymistä että yrittäjyyskasvatusta.…”

“…(Harni & Pyykkönen 2018;Julkunen 2008b;Kauppinen & Kaidesoja 2014;Keskitalo-Foley ym. 2010;Kettunen 2008;Laalo & Heinonen 2016. ) Korkeakoulut määrittyvätkin kansallisen kilpailukyvyn kannalta entistä tärkeämmiksi, koska niiden tehtävänä pidetään itsenäisten, osaavien ja luovien -yrittäjämäisten -subjektien tuottamista jälkiteollisen yhteiskunnan tarpeisiin.…”

Current Changes in the World of Work, Conditions of Subjectification and Governmentality

“…Durante la lectura fluctuante de estos artículos, se excluyeron los que tienen como foco las finanzas (Pellandini-Simányi, Hammer, y Vargha, 2015), el psy complex (Bailey, 2015;Matza, 2012), el espacio social (Dlaske, Barakos, Motobayashi, y McLaughlin, 2016;Zuckerwise, 2012) y las políticas públicas en educación (Dahlstedt y Hertzberg, 2012;Suspitsyna, 2010). De igual manera, se excluyeron las investigaciones en las que los sujetos de interés no son trabajadores (Gutiérrez Monclus y Pujol Tarrès, 2016;Hay, Kapitzke, y Cbse, 2009;Laalo y Heinonen, 2016;Lolich, 2011;Motobayashi, 2016;Varman, Saha, y Skålén, 2011;Wong, 2010).…”