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The purpose of this paper is to determine whether political skill is equally effective in its prediction of job performance for different job demands.

This paper uses self‐report sources of employee performance and self‐report of political skill after several weeks along with three ratings of target individuals' job demands.

Results support the hypothesis that Holland's enterprising category (i.e. because of its job demands and requisite job competencies to be effective) will moderate the relationship between political skill and job performance, demonstrating stronger predictability under high enterprising job demands.

The present results suggest that political skill is a better predictor of job performance under situations of high enterprising job demands than under conditions of low enterprising job demands. Furthermore, social and conventional job demands do not significantly moderate the political skill‐job performance relationships, implying that these job demands act as an important boundary condition.

Politically skilled individuals are more likely to succeed in environments (e.g. enterprising jobs) where they have the opportunity to exercise interpersonal influence, and where that interpersonal influence is directly related to their performance.

This paper makes several contributions to theory and practice in vocational achievement and political skill. Perhaps, most significant is the identification of job demands as a boundary condition in the political skill‐job performance relationship.

The purpose of this study is to generate insight into the effects of entrepreneurship education in China by conducting a preliminary scoping study of the enterprising tendency of university students studying business.

This study used a self-administered questionnaire based on the General Measure of Enterprising Tendency v2 (GET2) test to measure the enterprising tendency of a group of Chinese university students. Decision trees, using the Chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) approach, and multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the enterprising tendency of respondents.

The findings from this study indicate that the students have an overall medium level of enterprising tendency and strengths in some enterprising characteristics. The findings reveal that gender, family business, hometown and entrepreneurship education are significantly related to enterprising tendency but that age, household income, parents’ education and occupation are not.

Although the study is based on a relatively small sample taken from just one university in Beijing, the findings suggest that the enterprising tendency of students can be encouraged by entrepreneurship education. Combined with evidence that entrepreneurship education is at a relatively early stage of development in China, this finding suggests considerable scope to increase student’s enterprising tendency by extending, creating a more favourable environment for and improving the methods used to deliver entrepreneurship education. Enterprising tendency can be argued to naturally result in entrepreneurial intention; however, this extension is beyond the scope of this study, which is restricted to the analysis of enterprising tendency.

This study makes an original contribution to knowledge as it is one of the first studies to explore enterprising tendency among university students in China. It has value for government, policymakers and university program designers in that it provides direction for entrepreneurship education in China.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an enterprise education (social innovation and enterprise) learning programme on the enterprising characteristics among interdisciplinary undergraduate enterprise education students from a general (without considering gender) and gender-specific perspective at a higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates.

Based on a convenience sampling approach, pre- and post-surveys were distributed among 180 undergraduate students from January to April 2019. An independent-samples t-test was utilised to evaluate the impact of enterprise education on students' learning for three sample classifications, which were (1) general or gender-neutral (no gender consideration), (2) male and (3) female.

This study found significant improvements in the enterprising characteristics of students as a result of undertaking the learning programme in enterprise education. There was a greater improvement among female students in comparison to male students. However, contrasts in enterprising enhancement trends between female and male students were recognised. While the greatest improvement for male students were identified in their risk-taking characteristics, for female students, the risk-taking characteristic evidenced the least influence. The differences between the enterprising levels in risk-taking, and locus of control, between male and female students, were prominent post completion of the learning programme.

Considering that a quantitative method of inquiry was adopted to address the dearth of research evaluating the effectiveness of our learning programmes in enterprise education (i.e. social innovation) on students' psychological traits through a gendered lens, qualitative insights could enrich the depth of the research findings. As this study was conducted on a limited number of students at a single university, the results do not claim generalisation to other contexts.

The outcomes of this research deliver valuable insights about the divergent influences of enterprise learning programmes on male and female students. The implications of the study suggest that policymakers and stakeholders should consider gender diversities when designing an effective and equitable entrepreneurship and enterprise learning programme that fosters and stimulates students' enterprising mindset and confidence for both male and female students. The implications are for academics, educational instructors and policymakers.

This study presents a literature review on the impact of entrepreneurship education by focusing on the key enterprising psychological characteristics and educational systems over the last two decades, and illustrates that most studies in the field of entrepreneurship are based on either general (gender-neutral) or gender-specified investigations. This work provides a comparison between these two perspectives in a relatively underexplored region of the UAE and demonstrates that relying solely on gender-neutral analyses hinders the opportunity to enhance and effectively harness females' entrepreneurial potential.

The purpose of this paper is to arrive at a conceptual understanding of perseverance processes in the context of enterprising behavior and to outline readily employable perseverance strategies for situations characterized by obstacles, challenges and setbacks.

This paper presents a process model of perseverance, drawing on elements of control theory and appraisal theory.

From this model, a variety of perseverance strategies within four broad categories is derived: strategies that affect adversity itself; strategies that change the way adversity is perceived; strategies that reframe the aim that adversity has made difficult to attain; and strategies that help to increase self‐regulatory strength. James Dyson's biography provides examples for the strategies.

The paper discusses a broad variety of strategies to help individuals persevere in reaching their enterprising goals.

Although it is a widely held perception that perseverance is needed to successfully start and run a venture, the perseverance process and perseverance strategies have received little research attention.

Socio‐economic decline in rural areas is a pervasive and debilitating phenomenon in terms of regional development, particularly when former models of economic growth which once stimulated business generation and regeneration can no longer be counted on to do so. In these austere times, models of social and community enterprise are becoming more important. This corresponds to the emergence of theories of community‐based entrepreneurship and social enterprise as explanatory variables. Such theories are used to label enterprising behaviour enacted within our communities, even when the theoretical arguments underpinning these re‐conceptualisations require to be stretched to permit this. Often the resultant explanations are not entirely convincing. The purpose of this paper is to challenge existing conceptualisations of community‐based entrepreneurship and social enterprise.

Using a case study methodology, the paper reports on the activities of the Buchan Development Partnership (BDP) – a community‐based project situated in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland – demonstrating how individual and community enterprise can be utilized to develop enterprising individuals and communities by growing enterprises organically. The case articulates this process, as it occurred in a rural development partnership using a narrative‐based case study methodology to examine activities and growth strategies.

The case bridges issues of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial process, community and regional development and tells a story of community regeneration through the process of “Community Animateurship”.

Research, practical and social implications are discussed but in particular the need to adopt a more holistic “bottom up” approach.

This case challenges existing conceptualisations of community‐based entrepreneurship and social enterprise.

The primary purpose of this literature review paper is to address the question why it is difficult to define entrepreneurship despite the amount of research that has taken place in the field. In addition, the paper also aims to demonstrate how the struggle to define entrepreneurship has impacted on entrepreneurial careers in Kenya.

The paper reviewed literature on different approaches used by researchers in the struggle to define entrepreneurship. It focused mainly on the trait, behavioral and opportunity identification approaches. It critically examined the extent to which each approach has attempted to explain what entrepreneurship is, and suggests research questions, methodologies and techniques that will do justice to the complexity of defining entrepreneurship.

The findings of the literature review showed that none of the approaches used to define entrepreneurship gives a comprehensive picture of entrepreneurship. There is a lack of a common definition of entrepreneurship. Following the absence of this common definition, professionals in Kenya do not see themselves as entrepreneurs. The researchers and educators must define what they mean when attempting to define entrepreneurship. Rather than concentrate on one part – the entrepreneur; behavior or opportunity identification – they must focus on the whole entrepreneurial process. In addition, researchers and educators need to study the entrepreneur before, during and after the entrepreneurial process.

Further research should be conducted to relate entrepreneurship to other occupations. Each approach needs to expand in this direction.

Research on the impact of the meaning of entrepreneurship on careers in Kenya and other contexts so far has not been conducted.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizations operate in the absence of a clear regulatory authority in a self-regulating environment. Significant moves towards self-regulation by various political administrations, together with successive waves of deregulation raise questions about the ability and effectiveness of industries and markets to regulate their own behaviour. This is a topical political and social concern with governments often appearing to favour self-regulation as opposed to the constitution of an official regulator. The absence of a regulator and the possibility of voluntary compliance raise a number of issues for the way in which organizations operate and the consequences, both intended and otherwise for organizations and society at large.

Empirically the authors explore the case of an industry leader within the Passive Fire Protection industry, as it adjusts to an increasingly self-regulated market environment. The authors document how organizational members make sense of the regulatory environment and the behaviour of actors within it.

The authors find that discourses of enterprise that underpin self-regulation permit actors a choice between compliance and non-compliance. Whilst also noting the prevalence of notions of morality in terms of how actors make sense of both compliant and non-compliant behaviour. Despite common sense notions that morality is seldom clear cut or unambiguous, the case study reveals that frameworks for understanding behaviour allow participants within the industry to make very clear demarcations between moral (compliant) and amoral (non-compliant) behaviour.

The authors learn how those that are compliant within the industry come to question the effectiveness of the regime to which they comply, thus ultimately undermining the integrity of the regime. In the absence of a strong regulatory regime, some agents draw upon notions of enterprise to justify an individualist, economic and pragmatic approach that makes non-compliance permissible. Thus the discourse of enterprise is present in the justification of both “moral” and “amoral” behaviour, this leads the authors to question the wisdom of policy that promotes the idea of enterprise as effectively ensuring compliance.

This paper focuses on the theme of entrepreneurship education, learning and development and specifically, on the challenge for higher education institutions (HEIs) of supporting entrepreneurial and enterprising individuals and organisations. This is examined from the perspective of the definition of appropriate development needs of entrepreneurs in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). HEIs are undergoing a phenomenal amount of change driven by the various stakeholders (e.g. government, students and local committees). The government continues to emphasise the importance to the economy of the set up and development of SMEs. If this is to happen then SMEs will need support in developing entrepreneurial and enterprising individuals. This convergence of needs presents the opportunity for HEIs to contribute to this support. A prerequisite for this support is the definition of the development needs of entrepreneurs in SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate PhD student perceptions of the importance of enterprise skills and the extent to which they are currently being developed within a case university.

The study employed an electronic survey of 500 PhD students across six faculties, and 128 useable responses were returned. Students were asked to rate the importance of a range of enterprise skills and attributes derived from the literature, plus the extent to which these skills and attributes had been developed through their programme of study.

The majority of PhD students recognise the importance of enterprise skills and attributes, particularly those associated with communication, confidence, achieving outcomes, determination and problem solving. Whilst some enterprise skills and attributes are developed well through PhD study, others – such as managing finance and people – are not. A number of these are skills that might be particularly relevant to early‐career PhD graduates.

The research is limited to one case institution, and further research is required to investigate how the training and development gaps identified might be best addressed.

The study examines enterprise education within the novel context of postgraduate research studies. It identifies a need to re‐examine our approach to the training and development of PhD students in order to address their evolving career needs.