Toward a Dynamic Learning Perspective of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

373This conceptual article introduces a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship that builds upon existing "dominant" theoretical approaches to understanding entrepreneurial activity. As many aspects of entrepreneurial learning remain poorly understood, this article maps out and extends current boundaries of thinking regarding how entrepreneurs learn. It presents key conclusions from emergent empirical and conceptual work on the subject and synthesizes a broad range of contributory adult, management, and individual learning literature to develop a robust and integrated thematic conceptualization of entrepreneurial learning. Three distinctive, interrelated elements of entrepreneurial learning are proposeddynamic temporal phases, interrelated processes, and overarching characteristics. The article concludes by demonstrating how a "learning lens" can be applied to create further avenues for research in entrepreneurship from a learning perspective.

Entrepreneurial learning in family business

“…These include how learning takes place through networks (Deakins and Freel, 1998;Shaw, 1998Shaw, , 2000Taylor and Thorpe, 2000) and through critical events /episodes (Cope, 2001;Deakins and Freel, 1998). It examines the role of personal theory (Rae, 2000;Rae and Carswell, 2000) and organisational routines (Costello, 1996).…”

“…The use of the term also relies heavily on the work of Cope (2003;2005) who argued that learning is becoming accepted as an integral element of entrepreneurial practice and study. This paper examines learning as situated within social practice, as essentially social in nature (Lave and Wenger, 1991).…”

Untitled

“…After the fact, she said: "Coworkers should be people you can command and they should sign a confidentiality agreement and a non-competition agreement when joining the firm". These instances demonstrate that the entrepreneurs benefited from 'learning by doing' [Cope, 2005], which consists of lessons learned from one's own mistakes, or lessons learned after encountering and solving problems [Deakins, Freel, 1998;Young, Sexton, 1997]. Dalley and Hamilton (2000) underline the importance of experience: "It seems accepted that there are no shortcuts in the learning process, that surviving various 'trials by fire' is almost a rite of passage, and that there can never be any substitute for experience" [Dalley, Hamilton, 2000, p.…”

The role of organizational ties managed by practice firms. The case of Perting Ltd

“…Moving from the classroom to the laboratory, this methodology applies experiential learning where the student learns the business by doing it (Lackeus, 2015;Cope, 2005;Minniti and Bygrave, 2001), acquiring knowledge and developing entrepreneurial skills, abilities and competences (Borgese, 2011;Kiraly, 2011). From this point of view, it is exceeded the «talk and chalk approach» of the topics, encouraging a new way of learning business administration disciplines (Veneziani, 2012;Le Boterf, 2000).…”