Entrepreneurial Training: A Comparative Study across Fifteen European Countries

Abstract

<jats:p> This paper arises from the contents of the Lisbon Strategy, a set of cooperation policies stressing the role of education and training. The findings from a comparative study of the influence that entrepreneurial training – classified as formal or informal – can have on start-up expectations are analysed. The study covers fifteen European countries and uses data derived from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) website. The results of a logistic regression model show significant differences across Europe: in some countries, start-up expectations are influenced only by participation in formal entrepreneurial training programmes; in others, they are affected only by participation in informal entrepreneurial training activities; in yet others, such expectations are induced by both formal and informal entrepreneurial training. Regarding the current status of entrepreneurial training, it appears that although the fifteen European countries are following the correct path there is still much to do to achieve the overall objectives established by the Lisbon Strategy. Some recommendations for policy makers and the implications for future research are suggested in the concluding section of the paper. </jats:p>

Grey vs. Young Entrepreneurs: Are They Really That Different in Terms of Entrepreneurial Intentions? Empirical Evidence from Italy

“…Very often, in fact, high schools, universities and other institutions offer dedicated courses for young would-be entrepreneurs to nurture, improve or modify their entrepreneurial intentions (Gibb, 1993(Gibb, , 1994Wee, 2004;Matlay, 2005Matlay, , 2006Matlay, , 2007Cope, 2007a, 2007b;Rae, 2007;Fisher, Graham, & Compeau, 2008;Matricano, 2014Matricano, , 2017. entrepreneurial intentions are gleaned from entrepreneurship literature.…”

Entrepreneurship education for film and media arts

“…It should be noted that entrepreneurship has a strong behavioural component in addition to the requisite skills. Investment in self-knowledge is also critical, so that students are able to assess their own potential for entrepreneurship, especially in terms of developing personality traits that can lead to an increase in self-efficacy (Matricano, 2014). Past linear approaches to entrepreneurship teaching have been contested in a context in which flexibility and adaptability have become the norm (Hills et al, 2008) – this is especially relevant for the film and media industries, where change is continuous (Doyle, 2016).…”

“…This research was also evaluated by comparison with the EntreComp initiative and the developed typology of the three competence areas of entrepreneurship teaching – ‘Ideas and opportunities’, ‘Resources’ and ‘Into action’ (Bacigalupo et al, 2016) and the stage of development of entrepreneurship education in the field benchmarked with other cross-European studies (Matricano, 2014; Sari, 2016). A key finding of our research, as can be seen below, is that film students do not always understand those three areas of competence as demonstrating relevant entrepreneurship traits or as interrelated; rather, they rate the categories independently and accord them very different levels of importance, seeing them as playing very distinct roles in their activities.…”

Evaluating South Africa’s tech-entrepreneurship programme for venture creation through the eyes of the participants

“…This variety renders the evaluation of the impact of such programmes complex and often not comparable or generalizable. Matricano (2014: 312), for example, points out that content and context matter in the evaluation of EET programmes, and heterogeneity in both complicates comparative studies. The literature, however, is not lacking in attempts to evaluate EET programmes.…”

“…Researchers assess EET programmes with the latter objective question whether generating positive perceptions of entrepreneurship actually leads to the conversion of intention into action in the form of opportunity recognition and/or venture creation (Elmuti et al, 2012; Matlay, 2008; Menzies and Paradi, 2002; Rauch and Hulsink, 2015). With respect to venture creation as an outcome, Matricano (2014: 315 and 2017: 53) interestingly identifies the expectation of creating a start-up (our emphasis) as a signal of a commitment to entrepreneurship and a harbinger of a future start-up. Menzies and Paradi (2002) further argue that the expected outcomes may derive from the definition of entrepreneurship in use, where a narrow definition would consider opportunity recognition and creating a new business venture as desired outcomes and a broader definition would also recognize outcomes such as appropriate skills acquisition for entrepreneurial action.…”