Perceived learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to address the impact of a person's motivation to study entrepreneurship on their subsequent levels of performance in terms of the generation of business ideas, while taking into account the effect of student team behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe paper hypothesises that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as team behaviour influence the learning outcome and that team behaviour moderates the relationship between motivation and learning outcomes. A survey was used to generate data. A total of 117 students, who participated in pre‐programme, and post‐programme surveys, provided the sample data. First, explorative factor analyses were employed to examine the latent variables. Second, hierarchical lineal regression analyses were carried out to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsIt was found that intrinsic motivation has a negative effect on the learning outcome while extrinsic motivation had a positive one. However, the team (and in particular the resources that become available) positively moderates the relationship between the intrinsic motivation and the outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper contributes to the evaluation and research practices of different entrepreneurship education initiatives. The data are derived solely from business students, a factor that may cause bias in the results. In addition, the paper relied on self‐assessed perceptions of learning outcomes, since the stakeholder evaluations were team‐level measurements.Practical implicationsStudents on entrepreneurship education programmes have different forms of motivation for studying entrepreneurship, and those tend to affect their satisfaction with the outcome of their studies. Using teams on an entrepreneurship course seems to generate more positive outcomes for students with both low and high intrinsic motivation, but particularly among the latter group. Ultimately, the results suggest the need for greater flexibility in course design.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of how entrepreneurial learning outcomes are affected by student motivation and team behaviour. It makes an original contribution in distinguishing between an extrinsic and an intrinsic motivation to study entrepreneurship, and highlights the effect on learning outcomes of resources acquired through team behaviour. It also illustrates an opportunity to study the impact of entrepreneurship education, particularly when the creation of a new venture is not an immediate objective of the course.