Lessons from entrepreneurial failure through vicarious learning

Abstract

Despite its widespread occurrence, the topic of failure is barely addressed in entrepreneurship education. Consequently, students are given an incomplete and unrealistic picture of the complexity of being entrepreneurs. This study explores the pedagogical potential of introducing vicarious learning about failure in educational programs rather than focusing solely on starting, growing and success. Taking a qualitative approach, this study examined students' reflective reports written after an interview with an entrepreneur on their experience of failure. Using concepts emerging from these reports and theoretical constructs, it was established whether and how students drew lessons and reflections from the failure stories. The findings show that interviewing and reflecting about the experiences of entrepreneurs allow for vicarious learning from failure, yet without students having to experience it themselves. The lessons learned and the reflections feed each other in a continuous loop. Students recognized that entrepreneurship involves trial and error instead of one straight road. Important lessons include the importance of adaptable behavior, access to key resources, insights in business development and the benefits of networking. Hence, this article contributes to the pedagogy of entrepreneurial education and provides initial suggestions for educators to introduce vicarious learning about failure as a topic in their programs. RÉSUMÉ Malgr e sa fr equence elev ee, le sujet de l' echec est a peine abord e dans l'enseignement de l'entrepreneuriat. En cons equence, il est communiqu e aux etudiants une image incompl ete et irr ealiste de la complexit e d'être un entrepreneur. Cette etude explore le potentiel p edagogique de l'apprentissage par procuration sur l' echec dans les programmes educatifs, plutôt qu'une focalisation seulement sur le d emarrage, la croissance et la r eussite. En adoptant une approche qualitative, l' etude a examin e les rapports de r eflexions r edig es par les etudiants a la suite d'un entretien avec un entrepreneur, centr e sur son exp erience de l' echec. A l'aide de ARTICLE HISTORY

The entrepreneurial mindset in entrepreneurship education: what can we learn from S-O-R models?

“…Bolinger and Brown (2015) argue that the role of EE is to acknowledge both costs and benefits of failure in order for students to acknowledge its complexity. Finally, Alvarado Valenzuela et al. (2020) propose vicarious learning as a safe approach in an educational situation for students to increase their knowledge and positive perception of the role of failure by drawing on someone else's experience.…”

Animating Entrepreneurship: The Educational and Analytical Merits of Creating Cartoons

“…Empathy also is crucial to educators, who must attend to the perspectives of students, and researchers, who must understand the perspectives of both research subjects and readers of academic articles. The consumption of fiction can offer learners a vicarious experience of entrepreneurial work (Dust, 1981; Alvarado Valenzuela et al, 2020).…”

Does vicarious entrepreneurial failure induce or discourage one's entrepreneurial intent? A mediated model of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and identity aspiration

“…In fact, a previous study called attention to the positive effects of vicarious failures. For example, in a related study in the entrepreneurial pedagogy literature, Alvarado Valenzuela et al (2020) showed the positive effects of vicarious business failures from entrepreneurship training perspectives. This study reported that students who interviewed entrepreneurs about their previous failures developed a sense of realism about running their business ventures.…”

“…In fact, research suggests that EFs could help entrepreneurs learn from failures through a long-term process (Klimas et al, 2021). Those entrepreneurs who successfully managed their failures and initiated subsequent entrepreneurial activities can exert a positive effect on others in the community by transferring their learned lessons, as suggested by Alvarado Valenzuela et al (2020).…”

“…An intriguing recent line of work indicates that the effects of EF are not only limited to those who experienced failure in business but also extend to others who observed such failures (Alvarado Valenzuela et al, 2020;Klimas et al, 2021). It is important to understand the impact of EFs on the entrepreneurial intent of those people in their vicinity who indirectly experience and observe business failures for two reasons.…”