Absorptive capacity in entrepreneurial education: Rethinking the Kolb's experiential learning theory

Abstract

This study extends Piaget's theory of absorptive capacity to determine the priorities of entrepreneurial education associated with the occurrence of students' assimilation and accommodation. It identifies criteria of absorptive capacity in entrepreneurship education and prioritizes the identified criteria. These criteria are classified into four categories in Kolb's learning theory depending on the following student traits: learning ability, propensity, field of interest, and learning type. The AHP method is applied for investigating priorities of criteria and entrepreneurship education experts at a Korean university conduct a related survey. The most salient finding is that propensity is the most important major factor among the learning approaches. In other words, in entrepreneurship education, absorptive capacity will be more prominent depending on a student's propensity for it. This research also indicates that students with greater logical tendencies have better absorptive abilities. Regarding this study's contribution to theoretical development, it expands the experiential learning literature to the area of entrepreneurship education, yielding results that suggest the identification and prioritization of an individual's trait of absorptive capacity in receiving an entrepreneurial education. Therefore, the new theoretical perspectives indicated in this study reveal that absorptive capacity could best be used in the primary and sub-criteria in the entrepreneurial learning processes. Regarding practical applications, the results of this study could help entrepreneurial educators and offer a better understanding of teaching method adoption in entrepreneurship education. Specifically, if entrepreneurship education is conducted after identifying and analyzing the major factors of students' adaptive skills, the effectiveness of the program will be significantly improved.