Encompassing Embodiment in Entrepreneurial Learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a prospective entrepreneurship training model based on experiential learning which will enable the “production” of small business owners or entrepreneurs which is not being achieved by the current methods.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper. It analyses the current approaches in use, identifying inherent weaknesses and the gaps that need to be filled. Through literature reviews and case cites it provides a model that integrates experiential learning into entrepreneurship education.FindingsThe paper shows that appropriate experiential training can truly be integrated into entrepreneurship education in South Africa as in disciplines such as engineering or nursing.Research limitation/implicationsThe model needs to be test implemented to find its efficacy. Just like any model, it may need refinement.Originality/valueThe prospective model is an attempt to produce entrepreneurs and small business owners. This is critical in South Africa where entrepreneurs/business start‐ups are in critical shortage. No known study on work integrated learning (WIL) in entrepreneurship in higher education has been conducted in South Africa or such a model presented.

PurposeAlthough entrepreneurial learning is widely believed as an important factor in shaping one’s entrepreneurial intention, research finds little consistent results on the direct effect of entrepreneurial learning on one’s entrepreneurial intention. To solve the conflicted effects of entrepreneurial learning, the purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurial learning may impact individual entrepreneurial intention.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the authors proposed and tested on a three mediating effect model, in which entrepreneurial learning is associated with entrepreneurial intention through attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control toward entrepreneurship. Moreover, the moderating role of prior exposure to entrepreneurship was proposed and tested. Based on a sample of 200 university students who have taken entrepreneurial courses in Hong Kong, the hierarchical regressions and moderated mediation tests were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that the positive relationship between entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurial intention is significantly mediated by attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control toward entrepreneurship; and the mediating effects of entrepreneurial learning on entrepreneurial intention via attitudes and perceived behavioral control respectively, is moderated by exposure to entrepreneurship.Originality/valueContributing to the literature of entrepreneurship education, this study identifies individuals who exposed to the same entrepreneurship education may perform differently in entrepreneurial learning. The findings also help us to better understand the mechanism through which and under which context one’s entrepreneurial learning may enhance his/her entrepreneurial intention.

The Experience Questionnaire, a research instrument measuring experiential data, was derived from literature on peak performance and peak experience, with constructs extended to comprise negative extremes of performance and feeling. The efficacy of the Experience Questionnaire is tested by addressing accessibility and salience of experiential data and independence of construct events. Data on construct events (peak performance, peak experience, flow, average events, misery, and failure) were gathered from 123 adults. Since over-all event effects were significant on repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis and analysis of variance with repeated measures were used. Construct independence and salience of experiential data are supported by correct classification of 97.7% of construct events and differences among construct events on factor and item scores that provide clear, differential descriptions. Peak performance is characterized by full focus and self in clear process. The role of other people is unimportant. Peak experience is noted for fulfillment, significance, spirituality, and the importance of other people. Play, other people, and outer structure, but not spirituality, are endorsed in flow. Average events have outer structure, but full focus is a negative correlate. Misery is characterized by spirituality and significance, but other people, playfulness, and self in clear process are denied. Failure is characterized by spirituality but lacks fulfillment.

The need for developing new entrepreneurial ways of thinking and acting has been in the agenda for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union countries. In line with their agenda, the Nordic Council of Ministers has been preoccupied with the development of entrepreneurial mindsets among the adult population. Seeking to meet the urgent need for developing entrepreneurial thinking, the Nordic Network for Adult Learning, together with the Nordic Council of Ministers, has elaborated and tested a Scandinavian model for stimulating entrepreneurial mindsets through the transformative learning circles. Based on the study of the TLC pilot project, this chapter explores the process of facilitation of entrepreneurial learning. The literature on entrepreneurial learning and education emphasises on the importance of facilitation; however, this issue is yet to be addressed in-depth. This chapter seeks to fill in this gap and contribute to our understanding of the role that facilitators play in the entrepreneurial and transformative learning processes. Drawing on the social constructionist approach to learning, this chapter discusses how facilitators and learners (entrepreneurs) become co-creators of knowledge and learning experiences.

This playbook targets primarily learning facilitators who operate outside the formal education system. It aims to help them design and facilitate entrepreneurial learning activities in meaningful ways. The playbook can be applied in many setting: developing entrepreneurial competences in adults to increase their employability, up-skilli to face the changing needs of the labour market, career progression, support actors of change, as well as business start-ups within or outside existing ventures. The playbook can be used by the private, the public and the third sector alike. \n\nNo two entrepreneurial learning activities will be alike, nor can an algorithm be scripted to produce the perfect intervention. Even when a format is defined, each learning group, each context bears its own circumstances and a facilitator will have to adapt and make the most of such circumstances. This playbook therefore is not a process guide: it rather provides readers with a selection of orientation tools for them to experiment and create their own map to entrepreneurial teaching and learning.\n\nThe playbook sets out nine principles that any entrepreneurial learning facilitator should consider when designing entrepreneurial teaching and learning. It also describes three popular entrepreneurial methods and three pedagogical methods that can be adapted to foster entrepreneurial learning. The entrepreneurial methods give explicit guidance to practitioners to create value for others. They establish a logic that structures thought and action, by prescribing steps and offering tools to be used at each stage of the entrepreneurial process. The methods are based in both research and theory as well as in the practices of real-life entrepreneurs. The pedagogical methods, alike, aim to guide teachers and trainers cultivate EntreComp competences including perseverance, resilience, self-efficacy, creativity, teamwork and sensitivity to ethical and sustainability consequences of actions. They all aim at fostering learning through experiences, offering learners something to act upon, such as a problem or a challenge, they rely on questioning and inquiry and promote a growth mind-set. The list of methods is not exhaustive or comprehensive, but offers the readers a range of alternative approaches to explore, combine and experiment. Each of the methods can be adapted with the nine principles to help structure practical value creation experiences for learners to become more entrepreneurial. \nThe final section of this playbook lists techinques, templates and tools to help learning facilitators design “situated” learning activities to help learners to become more entrepreneurial. \n\nThe playbook is intended as learning exercise itself for those that have little or no experience in designing practical entrepreneurial experience. The playbook is built on the experiments, resilience, perseverance and lessons learned by users of EntreComp.

The Questionnaire: Peak Performance and Peak Experience is based on both research and theoretical content found through a comparative analysis of literature germane to peak performance, peak experience, and flow. The Dale-Chall Readability Formula indicated that readability of the questionnaire is at the upper limits of the 9th and 10th grades. A Pearson product-moment correlation, based on 33 paired trials, was used to estimate over-all reliability (.70) and reliability of 42 individual test items. Scores were from 21 women and 12 men, aged 20 to 49 yr.

This paper reports on a study of women entrepreneurs running MSMEs in South Wales, a region characterised as having a weak entrepreneurial culture compared to other parts of the UK (Fotopoulos and Storey 2017). One reason for this weakness is perceived to be a lack of entrepreneurship education and in this paper we investigate the hypothesis behind this -that more entrepreneurship education has a positive effect on business success. The investigation consisted of three parts; a set of 59 questions (n=150), followed by a series of face-to-face interviews (n=37), and finally some detailed discussions (n=5). The main finding is that the hypothesis that entrepreneurship education makes a positive contribution to the success of women entrepreneurs needs to be modified to reflect the fact that it is entrepreneurial learning through technologically enabled networks that has such an effect, as it no longer makes sense in the age of social media to separate education from asynchronous networked learning, or to separate the technology from the networking within that learning. The practical implication of this research is that enterprise education courses and programmes designed to support female entrepreneurs need to take better account of the way such women learn. The limitation of the research is that the sample is from a relatively technologically enabled population.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of social learning in entrepreneurship education conducted by the universities on the development of entrepreneurial behaviors of the course participants. Primary data are collected from 185 students of extension courses on entrepreneurship offered by three Sri Lankan universities namely, University of Colombo, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and University of Moratuwa. According to the factor analysis result, social learning process comprised four factors, namely attention, retention, motoric reproduction and motivation. The results show that social learning exists in entrepreneurship education and it positively impacts the development of entrepreneurial behaviors namely planning activities, establishing legitimacy and market behavior. Specially, motoric reproduction was found to be significant predictor of all three entrepreneurial behaviors. Further, entrepreneurs shall engage in social learning in entrepreneurship education to develop their entrepreneurial learning. The research provides important insights to the higher education sector in framing the delivery of its entrepreneurship courses to ensure effectiveness in entrepreneurship education. Nevertheless, this study affirms the existing arguments on the association between social learning and entrepreneurship development through a quantitative analysis.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards understanding how entrepreneurial learning might be understood as being socially situated, embedded in everyday practice in the context of family business. The study is framed by three main principles drawn from situated learning theory. First, the family and the business are examined as overlapping communities of practice, as sites of practice‐based knowledge. Second, the concept of legitimate peripheral participation is explored in relation to members of the family business. Finally, how practice is both reproduced and transformed over time is examined in the context of two generations' participation in a family business. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on an empirical study of two generations from five families, the founders of a business and their successors. The interview approach adopted phenomenological techniques. A thematic analysis identified conceptual frameworks to make sense of the data in a “quasi grounded” approach. Finally, the three main principles introduced from situated learning theory – communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation, and cycles of reproduction and transformation provided a conceptual framework to analyse the empirical material. Research limitations/implications – This is an interpretive, qualitative study based on a small sample of families based in the North West of England. The findings are not intended to be generalised to a population, but to offer empirical insights that extend theoretical frameworks in order to better understand the entrepreneurial phenomenon. Practical implications – The experience of the second generation both in the family business and in overlapping contexts of learning‐in‐practice brings innovation and change as well as continuity. The study also suggests that the complex process of succession might be informed by the understanding of the importance of the nature and extent of participation in the family business over time. Originality/value – This paper introduces conceptual frameworks that capture the social complexity of intergenerational entrepreneurial learning and contributes an empirical illustration of situated learning theory within the context of family business. The situated learning perspective contrasts with much of the existing entrepreneurial learning literature, which has tended to focus on “the entrepreneur” and individual learning processes. This study demonstrates that applying a learning lens brings theoretical insights to the study of family business.

In this paper, we investigate how social entrepreneurial competencies develop among young children in self-organized early childhood and primary education settings in Greece that operate outside traditional state–market logics and embrace a commons-based ethos. While existing approaches to Entrepreneurship Education (EE) frequently privilege individual skills and economic productivity, this study reframes entrepreneurial learning through the lens of social entrepreneurship. Using a qualitative comparative case study, we analyze educational material from self-organized schools and include focus groups with educators. The findings show that social entrepreneurial competencies emerge as present-tense relational practices embedded in everyday collective life, rather than as future-oriented economic skills. By situating these findings within contemporary debates on Social Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) and Childhood Studies, the paper advances a model of entrepreneurship grounded in empathy and collective action in response to social antagonism. In these schools, social entrepreneurship in childhood is understood as a mode of being and becoming in common, enacted through pedagogical worlds in which children learn to live, decide, care, and act together in the present. Overall, the findings highlight the potential of commons-based pedagogies to reconfigure entrepreneurial learning as a relational and collective practice in preschool and primary school education.

PurposeEntrepreneurial learning is an important area of enquiry which is not well understood in either the academic study of entrepreneurship or the practical development of new entrepreneurs. The article aims to explore two questions: first, how do people learn to work in entrepreneurial ways – are there significant processes and experiences in their learning, which can be related to existing learning theories? Second, can a useful framework to understand entrepreneurial learning be developed and applied both in entrepreneurial practice and conceptually by educators?Design/methodology/approachThe article includes a brief critical review of the theoretical literature in the areas of entrepreneurship and learning. Thematic discourse analysis is used to interpret the life story narratives of three entrepreneurs in the creative industries. Material from their learning experiences is used to support the development of a conceptual model. This demonstrates connections between the emergence of entrepreneurial identity, learning as a social process, opportunity recognition, and venture formation as a negotiated activity.FindingsThe principal finding is to propose a conceptual framework of entrepreneurial learning as a triadic model, including major themes of personal and social emergence, contextual learning, the negotiated enterprise, and a group of 11 related sub‐themes.Practical implicationsApplications of the model in entrepreneurship education, work‐based learning and practice, are proposed, within and beyond the context of the creative media industry.Originality/valueThe paper develops an original and distinctive conceptual understanding of entrepreneurial learning through analysis of entrepreneurs' experiences, based on a social learning and constructionist perspective.

This research collection addresses the urgent need for a new approach to education and entrepreneurship. Traditional learning models often fail to account for individual and societal variability, like diverse cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic factors, which has marginalized many learners. This work aims to bridge this gap by exploring the relationship between emerging technologies, innovative learning environments, and entrepreneurial learning. The emphasis is on fostering an entrepreneurial mindsetincluding creativity and resilienceas a vital life skill for all. Contributors examine how education can be tailored to individual needs, how technology can be used equitably, and how entrepreneurial thinking can be nurtured across different societal contexts. This research also highlights the importance of incorporating sustainability and social impact into entrepreneurial education, moving beyond a focus solely on profit. Papers in this volume offer key insights across several areas. They explore foundational skills for entrepreneurial readiness, investigate organizational factors that shape innovative behavior, and address the intersection of technology, sustainability, and inclusion. This comprehensive collection provides a multifaceted view of how to create resilient and equitable entrepreneurial practices for everyone.

Ensuring that individuals receive opportunities to develop to their full potential in academic health centers is anything but common; rather, available opportunities focus exclusively on developing cognitive "thinking" or "doing" aspects of the individual or on meeting the needs of particular groups in health care or society. A sampling of the academic medicine agenda includes the following: educating learners on disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention, and health maintenance; practicing cost-conscious, quality-focused, team-based, patient-centered care; developing faculty niches; encouraging career choices aligned with societal needs; and managing student debt and conflicts of interest in continuing medical education. Indeed, academic medicine rarely, if ever, addresses the "being" aspect of the individual—including core values, sense of purpose, beliefs, self-awareness and trust, relational awareness, emotion and habits, character strengths, orientation to failure, learning preferences, motivation, lived experience, and goals—all of which are essential components in crafting a pathway to individual peak performance. Providing members of the academic medicine community with opportunities to develop to their full potential is not only an uncommon goal but also an uncommon subject of research. Specifically, researchers have not determined whether there is value congruency between the culture of academic medicine and the goal of developing each individual to his or her full potential. Taylor,1 reflecting from the perspective of medical anthropology, suggested that medicine is a "culture of no culture," defined by static and uncontested beliefs and timeless "truths," which have subordinated clinicians' desires to understand the lived experiences of their patients. Anecdotal accounts from students and residents are familiar: long hours, one-size-fits-all training, disjointed basic science education and clinical teaching, depression and burnout, subjective evaluations, and advising practices grounded in the belief that intelligence is a fixed entity. Recently, researchers have described the culture from the perspective of medical faculty by examining the quality of their relationships to one another, to learners, and to patients.2 While some faculty reported positive aspects of their relationships with regard to teaching and patient care, negative relational perceptions prevailed. Faculty reported disconnection, competitive individualism, the undervaluing of humanism, and a lack of trust in relationships with colleagues. Given these findings, it is reasonable to expect that a cultural shift will be necessary to support the goal of peak performance. Of concern are cultural norms that may not fully account for the importance of noncognitive knowledge and skill domains, the unique stories of individuals, and positive relational perceptions—all of which are necessary components if peak performance is to occur in AHCs. Integration of professional coaches and the subsequent development of coachlike behaviors in faculty is one effective, if unrecognized, strategy for cultural change in academic medicine. Although the corporate world has widely recognized the value of executive leadership coaching, physician coaching is a more recent development.3 A brief summary about professional coaching as it applies to this essay is in order. Professional coaching—distinct from therapy, consulting, mentoring, training, and athletic development—requires unique academic and practicum training, credentialing, continuing education, and adherence to a professional code of ethics. Professional coaching does the following: draws on the philosophy of positive psychology and cognitive behavioral sciences to increase self-awareness, choice, and self-trust; supports personal and professional development; focuses on the future and the creation of the highest potential self; highlights a nonhierarchical partnership; relies on the creativity and resourcefulness of individuals to generate their own intention and solutions, with the coach supplying nonjudgmental, inquiry-based approaches and principles; precludes a reliance on a linear learning path or established curriculum; focuses on identifying opportunities for strengths-based development; and results in quantifiable outcomes. Within our residency training program, a professional coach (P.M.T.) helped to develop coachlike behaviors (e.g., asking powerful questions, challenging beliefs, establishing trust, and being authentic) among faculty during the last academic year. Faculty have now partnered with one another to create a medical knowledge coaching program focused on clinical and board-tested concepts, an interdisciplinary ward team program that addresses communication between care team members and patients, and a well-being and career transitions curriculum for residents centered around balancing their personal and professional lives and preparing for life after residency. The anecdotally reported outcomes of the medical knowledge coaching program are particularly noteworthy; they include a significant enhancement in board pass rates, an increase in both faculty and resident perceptions of residents' lifelong learning ability, and a discernable confidence in resident mindsets. As is often the case when uncommon goals are pursued, some unexpected discoveries have been made. Faculty report both enhanced trust in collegial relationships and that they have been surprised by the positive change in their attitudes about resident intelligence, compassion, reflection, and curiosity. Integrating the principles and practices of professional coaching across the continuum and within the entire academic medicine community could gradually, but inexorably, shift the culture to be dynamic and relational: one in which talented individuals can and do apply their peak performance to all aspects of their work.

Entrepreneurship education (EE) is one of the fastest growing fields of education globally, yet the areas of “what” should be taught in these programmes and “how” to teach them have been mentioned by many researchers as ones that lack both consensus and devoted attention. The present paper aims to provide a detailed map of common and best practices in terms of curriculum content and methods of teaching entrepreneurship on the tertiary level, and to explore how they correlate with practices recommended by the entrepreneurial learning field of research, in order to contribute to extracting best practice. This paper uses a systematic literature review (SLR) to help review the literature in a transparent and unbiased way. The review is undertaken through six stages using NVivo computer software. In each stage, the literature on EE is screened and filtered to reduce the size and try to reach the more relevant and useful papers. This process end up with 129 articles divided between EE and entrepreneurship learning. The result of the reviewing process reveals that the curricula content and teaching methods vary depending on the programme’s objectives—from theoretical courses aiming to increase entrepreneurial awareness to practical-oriented ones that aim to produce graduates ready to start a business. Practical-oriented courses correlate with entrepreneurial learning suggestions for practices to engage students in acquiring entrepreneurial competencies. However, to better extract best practice, it would be useful if future research could explore what, exactly, it is that we mean when we use the term “entrepreneurial course” and link it to the entrepreneurship process. Also, it would be useful to explore what are the results of EE programmes in terms of the actual graduates who start or grow a business, and link the findings to the teaching process.

PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to explore entrepreneurial learning at the centre of communities of practice.Design/methodology/approachLearning perspectives from the community of practice concept are applied to interpret and discuss results from an in-depth empirical investigation using a novel qualitative method, the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET), to study the entrepreneurial learning behaviour of ten coaches in a student venture incubator. The coaches are students with a certain level of entrepreneurial experience. Given their coaching roles and practices, the coaches are considered “community insiders”.FindingsThe findings show how the socially situated entrepreneurial learning of community insiders could be considered an adaptive process following multiple learning trajectories depending on with whom and about what the entrepreneur involves in social relationships.Practical implicationsPolicy makers seeking to facilitate communities of practice should enable learning activities for community insiders and organic development in addition to networking events and support for the entire ecosystem in order to enable bridging of communities of practice.Originality/valueThe present paper focuses on the entrepreneurial learning of community insiders using a novel qualitative method, ZMET. The paper empirically demonstrates that community insiders learn through an adaptive process and participation in multiple communities of practice. This is both in interaction with the nascent entrepreneurs whom they coach as well as when interacting with other community insiders.