Assessing the Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs: Challenges and Approaches

Entrepreneurship education programs are increasingly being established and expanded in an effort to equip students with the knowledge and competency necessary to create economic value and jobs. An underlying assumption of these programs is that they create positive outcomes for students; however, the extent and nature of these outcomes have not been well explored in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of contemporary trends in educational evaluation and the challenges specifically associated with the assessment of entrepreneurship education programs. It proposes practical considerations for faculty and administrators involved in developing assessment initiatives for entrepreneurship education programs, including, the importance of reaching consensus on learning outcomes, the use of a stakeholder‐driven approach for setting assessment priorities, and the need to allocate resources to assessment initiatives so they can be sustained long term. It also highlights the value of involving faculty in the program evaluation process and the need to create incentives and opportunities for more assessment‐related research and scholarship within the field.

[1]  Mauri Laukkanen.  Exploring alternative approaches in high-level entrepreneurship education: creating micromechanisms for endogenous regional growth , 2000 .

[2]  Mark Peterson,et al.  Entrepreneurial Self–Efficacy: Refining the Measure , 2009 .

[3]  G. Gorman,et al.  Some Research Perspectives on Entrepreneurship Education, Enterprise Education and Education for Small Business Management: A Ten-Year Literature Review , 1997 .

[4]  Theodore T. Herbert,et al.  The Genesis of Entrepreneurship , 1999 .

[5]  H. Oosterbeek,et al.  The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurship Skills and Motivation , 2008 .

[6]  Harry Matlay,et al.  Researching Entrepreneurship and Education: Part 1: What is Entrepreneurship and Does it Matter? , 2005 .

[7]  A. Fayolle,et al.  Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes : A new methodology , 2006 .

[8]  D. Kuratko.  The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends, and Challenges , 2005 .

[9]  M. Baucus,et al.  Student Online Self-Assessment: Structuring Individual-Level Learning in a new Venture Creation Course , 2005 .

[10]  Lars Kolvereid,et al.  Organizational Employment versus Self-Employment: Reasons for Career Choice Intentions , 1996 .

[11]  M. Besterfield-Sacre,et al.  Assessing student learning in technology entrepreneurship , 2008, 2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference.

[12]  D. Slevin,et al.  Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments , 1989 .

[13]  Karl H. Vesper,et al.  Measuring progress in entrepreneurship education , 1997 .

[14]  Sven G. Bilen,et al.  Developing and Assessing Students' Entrepreneurial Skills and Mind‐Set * , 2005 .

[15]  Paul Hannon,et al.  Assessment Practice in Enterprise Education , 2008 .

[16]  Charles D. Pringle,et al.  Assessment Practices in AACSB-Accredited Business Schools , 2007 .

[17]  Seth Hollar,et al.  Engineering and Innovation: An Immersive Start-up Experience , 2011, Computer.

[18]  Deborah H. Streeter,et al.  University-wide Entrepreneurship Education: Alternative Models and Current Trends , 2002 .

[19]  Pat H. Dickson,et al.  Entrepreneurial selection and success: does education matter? , 2008 .

[20]  J. Fiet.  The theoretical side of teaching entrepreneurship , 2001 .

[21]  George T. Solomon,et al.  THE STATE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A NATIONWIDE SURVEY AND ANALYSIS , 2002 .

[22]  Eric Wang,et al.  Teaching Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in Engineering * , 2001 .

[23]  Nancy Knowlton.  Outcomes of higher education: Quality relevance and impact , 2008 .

[24]  Sally Caird,et al.  Testing Enterprising Tendency In Occupational Groups , 1991 .

[25]  Nathalie Duval-Couetil,et al.  Development of an assessment instrument to examine outcomes of entrepreneurship education on engineering students , 2010, 2010 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE).

[26]  F. Birkin,et al.  Organizational Legitimacy and Stakeholder Information Provision1 , 1996 .

[27]  Diane T. Rover.  New Economy, New Engineer , 2005 .

[28]  Heidi M. Neck,et al.  Entrepreneurship education: known worlds and new frontiers , 2011, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[29]  Frances M. Hill,et al.  Entrepreneurship education and training - can entrepreneurship be taught? Part I , 2005 .

[30]  W. A. Lucas,et al.  Industry placement, authentic experience and the development of venturing and technology self-efficacy , 2009 .

[31]  Mark Pruett,et al.  Entrepreneurship Education: Attitudes Across Campus , 2009 .

[32]  P. Hutchings,et al.  Watching Assessment: Questions, Stories, Prospects , 1990 .

[33]  Craig Gibson,et al.  Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing, and Improving Assessment in Higher Education , 2000 .

[34]  Thomas N. Garavan,et al.  Entrepreneurship education and training programmes: A review and evaluation - Part 2 , 1994 .

[35]  Elaine Rideout.  Bounded Rationality and the Supply Side of Entrepreneurship: Evaluating Technology Entrepreneurship Education for Economic Impact , 2012 .

[36]  Vangelis Souitaris,et al.  Do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources , 2007 .

[37]  J. Bradley Cousins,et al.  Differences in stakeholder perceptions about training evaluation: a concept mapping/pattern matching investigation , 2000 .

[38]  Thomas L. Keon,et al.  Summary of Assessment in Higher Education and the Management of Student-Learning Data , 2008 .

[39]  Fernando Alberti,et al.  The Assessment of Entrepreneurship Education , 2000 .

[40]  Harry Matlay,et al.  The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial outcomes , 2008 .

[41]  Chao-chuan Chen,et al.  Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers? , 1998 .

[42]  C. Achilles,et al.  Evaluation: A Systematic Approach , 1980 .

[43]  J.C. Wise,et al.  Institutionalizing the assessment of engineering entrepreneurship , 2004, 34th Annual Frontiers in Education, 2004. FIE 2004..

[44]  A. Gibb.  Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management: Can We Afford to Neglect Them in the Twenty-first Century Business School? , 1996 .

[45]  Sally Caird.  Problems With the Identification of Enterprise Competencies and the Implications for Assessment and Development , 1992 .

[46]  D. A. Kirby,et al.  Entrepreneurship Education: Can Business Schools Meet the Challenge? , 2004 .

[47]  Harry Matlay,et al.  Understanding the heterogeneity of entrepreneurship education: going beyond Gartner , 2011 .

[48]  Roger Sørheim,et al.  Action-based entrepreneurship education , 2006 .

[49]  Eric Sandelands,et al.  Industrial Training and Quality Initiatives , 1994 .

[50]  Linda S. Niehm,et al.  FCS Students' Attitudes and Intentions toward Entrepreneurial Careers , 2008 .