Entrepreneurial Competencies in Student Companies at School: Development of a Research Instrument

Abstract

Entrepreneurial competencies are increasingly relevant and thus fostered in schools and universities, for instance, in the form of student companies. However, there are hardly any theoretically and empirically founded research instruments to assess students’ competence development. Accordingly, this paper aims to develop and validate a newly designed questionnaire that captures entrepreneurial competencies in three different domains: on the economic, team, and individual levels. The instrument was tested in a pilot test with 163 students and in a main study with 226 students in secondary education. Overall, reliability and the assumed factor structure could be confirmed. The questionnaire can be used in schools and universities for the purpose of quality development and competence assessment in entrepreneurship education.