Exploring ‘Successful’ Outcomes of Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

During 2005–2006 entrepreneurship students in several UK universities completed a survey about their background and career intentions. This paper reports, eight years on, on a follow-up study with ten of these participants, with the aim of exploring the students' intentions and subsequent actions since graduating. Using a qualitative methodology, the authors examined whether those who were measured as likely to be entrepreneurial are entrepreneurs; and whether the participants consider that their entrepreneurship education experience was valuable. The study finds that career experiences and outcomes are highly idiosyncratic and do not seem to correspond closely to original intentions, regardless of original ambitions. The authors suggest that career destinations are complex in a dynamic graduate employment context, and that entrepreneurship education has a contribution to make for graduates, irrespective of whether or not they become entrepreneurs. The paper identifies a weakness in entrepreneurship education research in its over-reliance on agency-based approaches and its assumption that outcomes are measured in the binary terms of ‘entrepreneur’ or ‘not entrepreneur’. The authors recommend methodological development in the field to capture more appropriately the rich and nuanced relationship between entrepreneurship education and graduate careers. This should lead to a more robust understanding on which to base information for delivery and practice.