Sherry Robinson
Penn State University, USA/Buskerud and Vestfold University College, Norway
Hans Anton Stubberud
Buskerud and Vestfold University College, Norway
10.04.2015 teaching entrepreneurship 1
Teaching
Entrepreneurship In
Light Of The Triple
Research question
To what extent did
students
increase their skill levels
during a two-week
entrepreneurship course?
Reports of the results of
self-evaluations conducted by
students at the beginning and
International, Interdisciplinary,
Interactive
--Collaborative
•International
– Norway – USA – Dominican Republic – Denmark – Vietnam •Interdisciplinary
– Business – Engineering – Law – Visual communications--Content
¤Entrepreneurial
orientation
¤Triple Bottom Line
Entrepreneurial orientation
Described by Three Elements
(Bolton & Lane, 2012)• Creativity and innovation - coming up with new ideas and improving on current ideas and others’ ideas
• (Amabile, 1997; Govindarajan, 2010; Gurteen, 1998; Ko & Butler, 2007)
• Risk-taking – willing to take the risk of being wrong, silly, successful, willing to risk failure
• (Rentschler, 2010; Ko & Butler, 2007; Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006; Robinson, 2012; 2013)
• Proactiveness – taking action, not just thinking and planning
Triple bottom line
(J. Elkington, 1997)•
People
–
Social entrepreneurship
–
Social aspects of creativity
•
Planet
–
Environmental sustainability
–
Alternative energy
•Profit
–
Entrepreneurship
–
Intrapreneurship
Teamwork and Diversity
Diversity emphasized in the topics, guest speakers and
activities.
•
Class activities/projects - part of an overall competition
among teams
–
team voting to determine results
•
Teams were determined by a random drawing during
the first day of class
–
permitted to change teams after 48 hours
Projects
• Variety of projects provided teams a range of options from
which to choose their final project
– New ideas
– Adapting and improving on others’ ideas
• Trade fair – presented ideas to local business leaders, who
“invested” in their favorite ideas
• Retired incubator manager as consultant
Methodology
•
pre-tests - first day of class/post-test - last day of class.
•25 students (21 usable sets of matched surveys)
–
6 from the American university
–
19 from the Norwegian university
•
Survey included
–
12 skill areas and improved skills (learning)
–
students were asked to indicate their perceived
level of ability in each skill area using Likert scales
1=poor, 2=fair, 3=good, 4=very good and 5= excellent
Results overview
• Ratings for improved skills ranged from 3.8 to 4.2
– Students generally felt they had improved all skills Mean pre-test ratings ranged from 2.0 to 3.7
Mean post-test ratings ranged from 3.5 to 4.0
¤highest pre-test rating was only 0.2 higher than the lowest post-test rating
Statistically significant differences for 7 of 12 skills
PRE-TESTS, POST-TEST AND LEARNING
EVALUATIONS FOR SKILLS AND ABILITIES (1)
Skill Pre-test Post -test t P Improved skills To understand the concept of social entrepreneurship 2.3 3.8 -5.1 .001* 4.2 To understand the concept of intrapreneurship 2.0 3.7 -6.2 .001* 4.0 To think creatively 3.7 3.6 0.2 .853 4.0 To understand concepts regarding alternative energy 3.0 3.5 -1.7 .102 4.0 To recognize a good opportunity 3.4 3.6 -0.8 .451 3.9
Teaching entrepreneurship slide nr 11 (15) Skill Pre-test Post-test t P Improved skills To communicate ideas in English 3.0 4.0 -4.2 .001* 3.9 To work effectively in a team 3.6 4.0 -2.3 .029* 3.8 To understand concepts about sustainability in business or products 3.4 3.7 -2.3 .031* 3.8
To take calculated risks 3.3 3.7 -1.9 069 3.8
To market a product 3.0 3.6 -3.0 .007* 3.8
To design something novel and innovative
Types of Entrepreneurship
pre-test post-test improved
• Social entrepreneurship 2.3 3.8 4.2
• Intrapreneurship 2.0 3.7 4.0
• These two skills/abilities had the
– lowest pre-test ratings
– greatest increases between pre- and post-tests (1.5/1.7)
Creativity and marketing
• «To think creatively»
– Highest skill in the pre-tests 3.7
– Second lowest in post-tests 3.6
– Improved skills 4.0
«to design something novel and innovative» - increased 1.0 between pre-test (2.7) and
post-test (3.7) p<.016 - 3.8 for improved skill
«to market a product»
- also 3.8 for improved skill
- increased from 3.0 to 3.6, p<.007
Starting a business
• «to recognize a good opportunity»
• «to understand what it takes to start one’s own buiness» • «to take calculated risks»
• No statistically significant differences between pre-tests
(3.3/3.4) and post-tests (3.6/3.7)
English and teamwork
• «to communicate ideas in English»
• «to work effectively in a team» • Improved skills 3.9/3.8
• Post-test rating 4.0 for both
• English – pre-test 3.0 (increased 1.0) p<.001 • Teamwork – pre-test 3.6 p<.029
Alternative energy and
sustainability
• «to understand concepts regarding alternative energy»
– Pre-test 3.0
– Post-test 3.5, but not a statistically significant increase
– Improved skill rating 4.0
• «to understand concepts about sustainability in business
or products»
– Pre-test 3.4
Conclusions
• Course objective - to provide students a look at what it takes
to be an entrepreneur – including social entrepreneur – and introduce students to the Triple Bottom Line
• Even if students decideded that they did not wish to start a
business, creativity, risk-taking and proactiveness are valuable qualities in employees intrapreneurship
• The results show that the objectives of the course appear to
have been fulfilled, at least to some degree
– improved skill ratings of no lower than 3.8
– Post-test ratings no lower than 3.5
