Agricultural entrepreneurship orientation: is academic training a missing link?
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of academic courses on agricultural entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
Modified global entrepreneurship and development index (GEDI) was used to determine entrepreneurial dimensions among 19 graduated students of agricultural colleges resided in Iran. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process was applied to understand agricultural graduates’ preferences on effectiveness of university courses (core, free elective and restricted elective).
Findings
Results suggested the importance of professional restricted elective courses to provide students with necessary skills. These courses were successful in providing a context for entrepreneurial profile.
Research limitations/implications
Innate talent or acquired skills were always the place of debate on entrepreneurial development. The paper builds on the premise that entrepreneurs are made through education and continuing reconstruction of experience, further research is required as the field develops in experience and complexity.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategies to effectively modify practical route in higher education to enhance entrepreneurial orientation among students.
Originality/value
The paper is innovative at a conceptual level in modifying GEDI elements in individual-level variables based on GEDI configuration theory. This approach is particularly useful in addressing the bottleneck problems of entrepreneurship profile and focusses on the information interpreted at weights of the individual-level data.
Keywords
Citation
Mohammadinezhad, S. and Sharifzadeh, M. (2017), "Agricultural entrepreneurship orientation: is academic training a missing link?", Education + Training, Vol. 59 No. 7/8, pp. 856-870. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-10-2016-0156
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited