The purpose of our project was to explore the explicit or implicit engagement of faculty members across the curriculum in teaching the entrepreneurial mindset.  We begin by defining entrepreneurship on a spectrum, recognizing the contextual nature and psychological development associated with entrepreneurial thinking.  We developed a self-report survey containing a combination of quantitative and qualitative items to determine faculty member knowledge of entrepreneurship and their engagement in teaching elements of the entrepreneurial mindset.  We surveyed the faculty at a primarily teaching university in the western United States.  Sixty-four faculty members (~20%) with representation from across the disciplines completed our survey.  We found constrained knowledge of entrepreneurship, indications of teaching elements of the entrepreneurial mindset, and approaches to assignments that were limited in scope for fostering entrepreneurial thinking.  The implications of our research are a need for professional development to enhance faculty members’ knowledge of entrepreneurial thinking and support for instructional and content choices that could enhance student development of an entrepreneurial mindset.

The COVID-19 global crisis and the ensuing lockdown of large parts of society and economic life has been an exogenous shock to society (Kuckertz et al., 2020). It is predicted the impact on the small business sector is likely to be severe (Fairlie, 2020). The findings of this international qualitative study offer a first-hand and real-time account of the adversity encountered by small rural businesses during the first lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic and insight into how their leaders exercised resilience. Drawing upon the evidence from 38 small business entrepreneurs and four business support organizations, the data pointed out three main challenges in terms of adversity relating to business model change, information flow and sense-making, and weak strategy. The study also brings new insight into five leadership practices and behaviors that help exercise entrepreneurial resiliency: personal and business experience of crises, positive mindset, personal faith, learning and leading, and relationships.

Purpose – This paper aims to assess Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities by applying a well-substantiated framework titled the “Leading the Sustainable Organization” (LSO) model in order to systematically explore their efforts. Anecdotally the sustainability activities and accomplishments of Vail Resorts appear comprehensive and impressive. Corporate sustainability is a complex, multi-functional endeavor, yet guidance on the issue has tended to be single level, single stage and single disciplinary. Our multi-level assessment of Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities, including the stakeholder and financial impacts, develops a deeper understanding of sustainability and the effect it can have on profitability and value of a company. Design/methodology/approach – Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities were assessed by applying a well-substantiated framework titled the “Leading the Sustainable Organization” (LSO) model. Findings – The in-role and extra-role sustainability performance of employees at Vail Resorts demonstrates their engagement with the company’s sustainability efforts. Beyond employee sustainability performance, the company-level sustainability performance of Vail Resorts exhibits the payoff of the company’s sustainability efforts. Research limitations/implications – The LSO model was applied to only one organization. Future application to multiple firms would provide a broader assessment of the state of sustainability in organizations of various sizes and across industries. Practical implications – By examining their sustainability activities through the lens of the LSO model, Vail Resorts provides a rich example of best practices relating to a company’s pursuit of sustainability efforts and their expected benefits. Vail Resorts’ wide-ranging sustainability actions, combined with the LSO model, provide managers with a well-defined road map to lead their own sustainable organization. Vail Resorts’ implementation of the various components of the LSO model, and the results achieved, demonstrate that “sustainability is not just doing good, it is also good business.” Originality/value – Applying the LSO model offers both practicing managers and researchers alike a well-substantiated framework to assess organizational sustainability efforts, in order to identify areas of organizational sustainability strength as well as areas needing improvement.

Enterprise-level small businesses have been a critical contributor to the U.S. economy and employment. Small businesses accounted for 67% of the net new jobs during the recovery from the 2009 to 2011 economic recession. Recognizing the employment opportunities from enterprise-level small businesses during the high unemployment time allowed higher education institutions to emphasize enhancing entrepreneurship among their students. Multiple scholars have called for more in-depth evaluations on entrepreneurial intention because it predicts whether a student will become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial orientation (risk-taking, innovation, and proactive) is the commonly agreeable antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions. This study collected 315 valid responses from a comprehensive mid-U.S. university with more than 40% enrollment from rural communities to evaluate how the perceived internal and external barriers influence students’ entrepreneurial orientations. The results of the Multivariate Regression Analysis indicated that overall, how students perceived internal and external barriers influenced their entrepreneurial orientations in both innovativeness and risk-taking aspects. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is particularly important in the rural community. The results revealed significant differences between students who were raised in rural areas and those who were not raised in rural areas regarding how perceived internal and external barriers impact their entrepreneurship orientations.