Teaching entrepreneurship in China: culture matters

Abstract

PurposeThe primary purpose of this research is to explore how the cultural context, in this case, China, influences the teaching of entrepreneurship that seeks to cultivate student entrepreneurs during their university experience.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study approach is adopted to explore how the cultural environment affects the delivery and application of entrepreneurship education to university students in a Chinese context. Seventeen student entrepreneurs and three lecturing staff members in three Chinese universities were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach.FindingsThe findings suggest that while Chinese universities have been importing teaching models and methods of entrepreneurship education from the United States and other countries, both students and educators are starting to recognise the need for teaching methods to be contextualised and designed based on national conditions and cultural characteristics. Findings from this study highlight cultural fusion and collision in the process of importing and implementing entrepreneurial teaching methods. For example, teaching students how to write a business plan appears to offer limited value for students' start-up activities and their venture development. The didactic teaching method centred on teachers without entrepreneurial experience works for the teaching “about” entrepreneurship but is paradoxical to the goal of teaching “for” entrepreneurship.Originality/valueLittle theoretical or empirical attention has been paid to the complexity of the cultural environment of teaching approaches to entrepreneurship education. This paper provides novel empirical insight into why the cultural environment plays a critical role in teaching approaches to entrepreneurship education and how these teaching approaches can be culturally nuanced to better meet the needs of nascent student entrepreneurs in various cultural contexts.

Entrepreneurial Learning, Self-Efficacy, and Firm Performance: Exploring Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation

“…As stated in the Hengda Institute (2020), Zhejiang Province ranks second in the country in terms of the number of newly established market entities per 10,000 people. What's more, Zhejiang Province attaches importance to innovation and entrepreneurship education (Wu and Chen, 2015) and the construction of entrepreneurial service platforms (Chen and Pan, 2019), so that college students' start-up rates of Zhejiang rank among the top in China (Lyu et al, 2021). Therefore, we selected nascent entrepreneurs of Zhejiang Province in China as the research sample.…”

Core Entrepreneurial Competences of Chinese College Students: Expert Conceptualisation Versus Real-Life Cases

“…Izquierdo and Deschoolmeester ( 2010 ) noted that because undergraduates are assumed to be naïve in entrepreneurship and early-stage entrepreneurial development, there must be a basic set of competences that can facilitate the design of an educational intervention for these students. Research into student CECs has become relevant, especially in less developed nations, due to the inefficiency of academic institutions in helping students improve their entrepreneurship skills as a result of constraints pertaining to support and expertise (Lyu et al, 2021 ; Othman et al, 2012 ). Developments in students’ CECs are important because they can be the basis of their entrepreneurial intention and are inducive to their subsequent business success (Zdolšek Draksler & Širec, 2018 ).…”

“…individualist vs. collectivist cultures) play a vital role in the conduct of entrepreneurial activities (Pinillos & Reyes, 2011 ). Thus, our study investigates the CECs of college students in China, where some unique characteristics of entrepreneurial education have been observed compared to the Western world (Liu et al, 2020 ; Lyu et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Meanwhile, much of China’s economic growth in recent years can be attributed to entrepreneurship (Liu et al, 2020 ). Thus, the current study investigates the CECs of Chinese college students whose characteristics of entrepreneurial education have been observed to differ from their counterparts in Western countries (Liu et al, 2020 ; Lyu et al, 2021 ).…”

Mediating Role of Proactive Personality in Linking Entrepreneurial Education and Intentions

“…The entrepreneurship thus helps individuals through the significant knowledge about idea generation and commencement from diverse perspectives to maintain and sustain their liabilities toward available opportunities (Mazzarol & Reboud, 2020). The entrepreneurship education is therefore inspiring for entrepreneurship development that routs at diverse leading outcomes from the diverse dimensions that nurtures entrepreneur abilities toward desired environment (Lyu, Shepherd & Lee, 2021). The entrepreneurship is important for making individuals toward personal business opportunities.…”