An Examination of the Effect of New Venture Ideation Exercises on Entrepreneurial Intentions

Abstract

Entrepreneurship programming has become a popular choice among higher education students. Entrepreneurial intent is regarded as a strong predictor of entrepreneurial behavior and success of entrepreneurial education programs, while ideation is viewed as a key skill needed for successful entrepreneurial behavior. Despite the widespread discussion of entrepreneurial intent in the literature, few studies have reported the actual impact of entrepreneurship education and more specifically, ideation exercises, on intent. The authors contend that ideation is a key skill and thus, barrier to entrepreneurial intentions when students have a lack of efficacy surrounding the ideation process. This study examined the impact of a 150-minute divergent activity training session and new venture ideation exercise on entrepreneurial intent in students enrolled in undergraduate entrepreneurship courses. These measures come together in this study to help further explain how entrepreneurship educators can drive more impactful entrepreneurial behavior in students. In this study, entrepreneurial intent significantly increased in students after the brief 150-minute intervention. This study infers that entrepreneurial self-efficacy of ideation skills are critical to increased entrepreneurial intent in college students, and exercises such as the ones conducted in this study can positively impact entrepreneurial intentions among students. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided.