Innovation or entrepreneurship: Which comes first? Exploring the implications for higher education

Abstract

Kahn's (2022) Catalyst article has posed some thought‐provoking ideas regarding the distinction between innovation and entrepreneurship. While the article posits that there is a lack of clarity over what innovation and entrepreneurship represent and critiques the teaching of these ideals across universities, the author goes further to contend that these concepts do not overlap, despite research and teachings to the contrary. Moreover, he states that the skills needed for innovation are different from those needed to be an entrepreneur. This essay response challenges the notions put forward by Kahn. I proffer that while there is now a substantial body of research in innovation and entrepreneurship, they remain comprised of multi‐definitional perspectives. This lack of cohesion and significant overlap in the scholarly community largely reflects the interrelatedness of these concepts in practice. As such, it impacts on the role of universities in how they define, position, and teach innovation and entrepreneurship. Indeed, it also has a substantial influence on the range of skills they help their students to develop. Are they to develop entrepreneurs or innovators? Or rather, do the courses offered to enable students to build the employability skills required to adapt to either area? This essay discusses some of these issues and extends a series of questions for further research.

Probing The Theoretical Foundations Of Entrepreneurial Innovation: Exploring Diverse Constructs

“…The importance of research has emphasized the decision-making capability of entrepreneurs in the development process, especially within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, in addition, few studies have focused on the link between entrepreneurial competencies and subsequent ventures by adopting appropriate strategies (Mosey et al, 2017). Entrepreneurship is all about experimentation required to be successful from the set of principles that stays consistent and emphasizes uncertainty and the associated experiments toward firm survival (Paladino, 2022). The exemplars are developed in close collaboration with customers and create designing an experiment.…”

“…Entrepreneurs need to design and redesign their marketing strategies to sustain competition in the market (Rajapathirana & Hui, 2018); (Cincera & Santos, 2015). Marketing innovation is looked at as developing or managing new products or defining the position, cost rates, delivery processes, and promotional actions to innovate further (Paladino, 2022). Marketing innovation endeavours to engage customers and consumers on novel and distinct levels, often encompassing new types of promotional initiatives.…”

The Dilemma and Breakthrough of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Higher Vocational College Graduates Based on Big Data Analysis

“…Nikishina, O. et al explored students' entrepreneurial motivation as well as its key influencing factors, compared the current state of entrepreneurship education in three higher education institutions and assessed the level of entrepreneurship education in the three schools by using comparative, descriptive, qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis [12]. Paladino, A. et al explored the impact of innovation and entrepreneurship on higher education and noted that what is taught in entrepreneurship education is not the same as the skills needed to become an entrepreneur, and that entrepreneurship theories do not apply to actual entrepreneurial activities [13]. Abbas, I. et al analyzed the impact of entrepreneurship education theories on students' entrepreneurial intentions using quantitative techniques and descriptive cross-sectional research methods, emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship education in higher education [14].…”

“…Yun Gao, Jiumin Ding and Shuhan Liu. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9(1) (2024)[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] …”

Different 21st Century Skills Among Z Generation in The Higher Education Based On The Level of Students, and Gender Difference

“…Entrepreneurial skills can be defined as a process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to the resources they control. Therefore, an entrepreneur is an innovator responsible for the value creation process (Marzi, 2022;Paladino, 2022). Therefore, it can be explained that skills that follow the demands of the world of work, through entrepreneurship, students gain not only business skills and experience but also a forum where they can pour creative and innovative ideas into productive projects (Tshishonga, 2022).…”