Entrepreneurship Education and Founding Passion: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Family Background.

Younggeun Lee,Minjoo Joo,Andres Felipe Cortes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.743672

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial passion. Despite the advancement of entrepreneurship education literature and the increasing focus on entrepreneurship education in business schools, we lack empirical exploration on how entrepreneurship education can impact students’ passion for founding new organizations. We hypothesize that students who take entrepreneurship classes would develop high levels of founding passion due to a great perception of skills and abilities that increase positive emotions and decrease negative emotions about the entrepreneurship process. Moreover, we draw on the literature on role models to suggest that students’ entrepreneurial family background (students whose immediate family members are entrepreneurs) strengthens the influence of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial passion. Utilizing survey data collected from 160 university students, we found that entrepreneurship education positively influences students’ founding passion and that this relationship is strengthened when students have entrepreneurs in their immediate family.

Highlights

Countries around the world increasingly acknowledge the importance of promoting entrepreneurship in their populations (Naudé, 2010; Terjesen et al, 2016)
Utilizing survey data collected from 160 university students, we found that entrepreneurship education positively influences students’ founding passion and that this relationship is strengthened when students have entrepreneurs in their immediate family
Based on the role model literature, we suggest that entrepreneurship education will have a greater influence on entrepreneurial passion for founding for students who have entrepreneurs in their immediate family members

Summary

Introduction

Countries around the world increasingly acknowledge the importance of promoting entrepreneurship in their populations (Naudé, 2010; Terjesen et al, 2016). A key emerging challenge of worldwide relevance is promoting entrepreneurial passion, so that more individuals are motivated to establish new firms (Cardon et al, 2009). Part of this important endeavor is being carried out by universities. Many universities are expanding entrepreneurship educational programs at undergraduate and graduate levels by establishing independent Colleges of Entrepreneurship (e.g., Florida State University, United States), Departments of Entrepreneurship (e.g., Hanyang University, Korea), and entrepreneurship centers to promote university-wide entrepreneurial culture (Katz et al, 2014; Morris et al, 2014). Research on Entrepreneurship Education and Founding Passion entrepreneurship education and pedagogy has progressed steadily and explored how entrepreneurship programs can increase students’ entrepreneurial intention (Bae et al, 2014), capabilities (Lee et al, 2018), knowledge (Volery et al, 2013), and inspiration (Nabi et al, 2018)

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