Methods to enhance students’ entrepreneurial mindset: a Swedish example

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of intervention methods in an entrepreneurship education (EE) course that was designed to enhance the students’ entrepreneurial mindset by targeting their opportunity identification, creativity and risk management capabilities (RMC).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors formulate hypotheses on enhancement of opportunity identification, creativity and RMC, and they test them using data collected from pre- and post-tests of three courses: one treatment course group and two control course groups.

Findings

The pretests and posttests of the treatment course demonstrate that the applied intervention methods have a positive impact on how the participants perceive their opportunity identification and creative capabilities. The participants in the control groups, which used a traditional course design, reported no such effects. Combined, the authors’ findings suggest that the new intervention methods positively affected the participants’ entrepreneurial mindset.

Originality/value

This study contributes to extant EE literature by examining the question of how certain pedagogical intervention methods enhance the participants’ self-efficacy with regard to possessing opportunity identification, creativity and RMC. The findings reported in this paper have implications for EE scholars, program evaluators and managers who seek methods to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset of people in their organizations.

Citation

Lindberg, E., Bohman, H. and Hultén, P. (2017), "Methods to enhance students’ entrepreneurial mindset: a Swedish example", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 450-466. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-10-2016-0078