Unpacking Entrepreneurial Education: Learning Activities, Students’ Gender, and Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship

Abstract

To promote entrepreneurship among students, academic institutions should focus on developing a positive entrepreneurial personal attitude (EPA), since it is a strong antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions, which in turn predict actual entrepreneurship. Previous research finds that EPA is lower for women than men, which is related to the acknowledged gap between women and men in entrepreneurial activity. The present work builds on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to examine how nine different entrepreneurship-focused academic activities in school impact on students' EPA, paying special attention to gender differences. We use a sample of 918 students from a French business school to analyse gender differences in the mechanisms based on ELM central and peripheral routes to promote EPA through academic activities. Posthoc tests are also performed to explore differences by gender at different academic levels. The results have important implications for academic institutions wishing to promote entrepreneurship since we unpack entrepreneurial education into individual academic activities. In particular, results suggest that students' gender and academic level should be considered when designing activities to promote entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship education and its gendered effects on feasibility, desirability and intentions for technology entrepreneurship among STEM students

“…In our second contribution, we highlight the importance of different entrepreneurship education measures and content. In doing so, we join recent calls for unraveling what types of entrepreneurship education activities are best suited for women (Padilla-Angulo et al, 2022). Our study also responds to calls from Mosey et al (2017) for more research exploring the role of entrepreneurship education and university support measures for the generation of talent and the experience of individuals in relation to technology entrepreneurship.…”

“…Second, we expand knowledge on the role of entrepreneurship education by adopting more fine-grained measures of the types of entrepreneurship education and by conducting additional post-hoc analyses related to the entrepreneurship education content. Thus, we join recent calls for unpacking the types of entrepreneurship education activities that are most helpful for women (Padilla-Angulo et al, 2022). Third, we contribute to a better understanding of the theoretical basis of intentions for technology entrepreneurship by zooming in on the intersection of sectorial (STEM) and gender assumptions (e.g.…”

“…Second , we expand knowledge on the role of entrepreneurship education by adopting more fine-grained measures of the types of entrepreneurship education and by conducting additional post-hoc analyses related to the entrepreneurship education content . Thus, we join recent calls for unpacking the types of entrepreneurship education activities that are most helpful for women (Padilla-Angulo et al. , 2022).…”

“…We should also acknowledge that, following other studies examining gender effects of entrepreneurship education (e.g. Padilla-Angulo et al, 2022;van Ewijk and Belghiti-Mahut, 2019), we focus on biological sex as our measure, instead of on gender as masculine or feminine identity independent of a person's biological sex. Future research can focus on gender identity and examine perceptions of masculinization in the STEM field as a potential moderator.…”

Can entrepreneurial knowledge boost the entrepreneurial intent of French students? The mediation role of behavioral antecedents

“…According to Ajzen (2005), intentions are expected to be put into action if the appropriate opportunity arises. Roxas (2014) argues that entrepreneurial knowledge as an external factor can contribute to the development of entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions, which prompted Padilla-Angulo et al (2021) to assert that knowledge-based attitudes can predict entrepreneurs’ actual intentions. According to Iwu et al (2021), these attitudes are made up of a complex set of ideas, knowledge, values and beliefs that serve as the cognitive component of students in developing and organizing pioneering projects (Pulka et al , 2015).…”