Handbook of Research in Entrepreneurship Education – Volume 2: Contextual Perspective

Citation

Matlay, H. (2008), "Handbook of Research in Entrepreneurship Education – Volume 2: Contextual Perspective", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 421-423. https://doi.org/10.1108/14626000810889908

The second volume of the Handbook of Research in Entrepreneurship Education focuses on the contextual perspectives of this fast growing topic of academic endeavour. It opens with a brief foreword by Harold P. Welsch, who holds the Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship at the DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. In the first chapter, Alain Fayolle and Jill Kickul outline new and emerging perspectives for future research in entrepreneurship education. I found their introduction of the cultural, institutional, national and political contexts of entrepreneurship education very useful in contextualising the basis of future research in this rapidly expanding topic. The following 16 chapters are divided equally between four parts: Part I: Cultural Context; Part II: Institutional Context; Part III: National Context; and Part IV: Political Context.

The first chapter in Part I was authored by Louis Jacques Filion and Fernando Dolabela. It evaluates the introduction of entrepreneurial pedagogy in the early stages of education in Brazil. In the second chapter, Sylvia Maxfield presents the entrepreneurship gender gap in a global perspective and presents its implications for entrepreneurship education and programming. The next chapter, by Maryse Brand, Ingrid Wakkee and Marijke van der Veen focuses upon the challenges of teaching entrepreneurship to non‐business students. The authors draw relevant insights from the experiences of two Dutch universities. The topic of corporate entrepreneurship teaching is the focus of the final chapter in the first part of the volume. In it, Veronique Bouchard critically evaluates an open course in corporate entrepreneurship, a topic that she has been involved in for a number of years. It is interesting to note that, on occasion, personal and institutional goals can proactively converge in the design and delivery of innovative entrepreneurship education courses.

In the opening chapter of the second part, Thierry Verstraete and Martine Hlady‐Rispal outline the journey from theoretical production to the design of entrepreneurship education programmes. Their findings are based on a business model implemented in a French university. Michael Schaper and Gian Casimir critique the impact that tertiary education courses can have on entrepreneurial goals and intentions. In this context they empirically test a number of hypotheses relating to designing appropriate education. In the next chapter, Cecile Clergeau and Nathalie Schieb‐Bienfait focus on addressing the right issues in the course of operating an entrepreneurship centre within the context of a large, multidisciplinary French university. The authors succeed not only in sharing their experiences, but also in analysing the tensions involved in the emergence of an entrepreneurship centre in French academic settings. The interdisciplinary basis of various approaches to entrepreneurship education is the topic of the last chapter in part II, authored by Frank Janssen, Valerie Eeckhout and Benoit Gailly. It presents an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education program that was developed by the Universite Catholique de Louvain, in Belgium.

The first Chapter in Part III focuses upon entrepreneurship education in Belgium. Dirk De Clercq and Hans Crijns present findings and draw implications from the relevant Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for the 2000 to 2004 period. They also provide a number of pertinent recommendations on how the Belgium educational system could further encourage entrepreneurship at various levels of study. In the next chapter, Robert Anderson, Scott MacAulay, Warren Weir and Wanda Wuttunee describe the process of building Aboriginal economic development. The chapter is based upon the key role played by the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers. The third chapter, authored by Leo‐Paul Dana, focuses upon graduate entrepreneurship in New Zealand. It is based on seven focus groups of former students of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. It appears that there is a trend away from the traditional “independent risk‐taker” stance toward an “interdependent networking” strategy amongst graduate entrepreneurs in New Zealand. In the final chapter in Part III, Lars Kolvereid and Bjorn Willy Amo review the entrepreneurial tendencies of graduates from Norwegian business schools. It emerges that entrepreneurship is a popular topic with students from Bodo Graduate School of Business in Norway. Typically, they are more likely to identify and convert business opportunities then their colleagues who have not benefited from entrepreneurship education.

In the opening chapter of Part IV, Norbert Kailer concentrates upon the evaluation of entrepreneurship education at various levels of the educational system. He found a broad range of entrepreneurship education programmes, but also a notable shortage of ex‐post evaluation. In this context, the author recommends that entrepreneurship education programme designers should make an effort to develop and implement relevant evaluation tools to be used for further improvements. In the next chapter, Ulla Hytti and Paula Kuopusjarvi also focus upon the evaluation of entrepreneurship education, but from the perspective of “power play” amongst evaluators, programme promoters and policy makers. The authors suggest that it is unlikely that evaluation of entrepreneurship education can be totally free of the power struggle amongst various stakeholders. They suggest that it is still possible to develop evaluation that acknowledges and unite various stakeholder needs and perspectives. Bernard Surlemont's chapter discusses a number of strategies aimed at securing the cooperation of schools in the promotion of entrepreneurship. The author calls for increased focus on promoting and supporting entrepreneurship education at secondary school level, in particular those courses that would provide pupils with relevant enterprising competences. In the final chapter of Part IV Jean‐Oierre Boissin, Barthelemy Chollet and Sandrine Emin take a closer look at professional attitudes and beliefs amongst French students who intend to start a new business. It emerges that attitudinal aspects amongst enterprising students are significantly more important than the impact of perceived self‐efficacy.

This second edited collection of chapters complements and supports the achievements of the first volume. I would recommend it as an indispensable and complementary study, to be read in conjunction with Volume 1. Policy makers, researchers, educators and their students as well as others who might be interested in promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education will find both volumes well written and informative. It is rare to find so much empirically rigorous and specialist knowledge logically presented in two well structured books. I sincerely hope that there are more volumes planned and in preparation for 2008 and beyond …