TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– Based on behavioral learning theory, this paper argues that entrepreneurial learning plays an important role in enhancing entrepreneurs' capabilities. With increasing research attention given to entrepreneurs' capabilities, the need to explore the building mechanism has continued to escalate. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of changes in entrepreneurial learning approaches that influence the improvement of entrepreneurs' capabilities.Design/methodology/approach– The authors sent out 1,200 questionnaires, and 226 were returned, of which 167 were usable. The authors used the difference in difference method and the ordinal logistic regression model to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.Findings– In this paper, the authors report findings using panel data from 167 entrepreneurs. The empirical results show that changes in entrepreneurial learning influence changes in entrepreneurs' capabilities.Practical implications– Combining theory and evidence from this study, an intertemporal learning model that suggests entrepreneurs' capabilities rest on a self‐reinforcing learning cycle of experiential learning and social network learning from stakeholders is proposed. This is a sense‐making and seizing process affected by entrepreneurs' previous knowledge and their degree of involvement in the organization, which leads them to dedicate increasing resources to the exploration and exploitation of some opportunities, following a process of improving their capabilities.Originality/value– An empirical verification of the links between learning and capabilities development in the context of China's emerging economy, which has not been studied in the current literature is conducted. This paper provides implications for entrepreneurs in finding the right way to build and enhance capabilities through deployment of learning.
VL  - 2
IS  - 2
SN  - 1756-1396
DO  - 10.1108/17561391011051162
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/17561391011051162
AU  - Jiao Hao
AU  - ogilvie dt
AU  - Cui Yu
ED  - Yuli Zhang
ED  - Yonggui Wang
PY  - 2010
Y1  - 2010/01/01
TI  - An empirical study of mechanisms to enhance entrepreneurs' capabilities through entrepreneurial learning in an emerging market
T2  - Journal of Chinese Entrepreneurship
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 196
EP  - 217
Y2  - 2024/09/21
ER  -