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Previous studies on the effect of entrepreneur education are not comprehensive. Thus, estimating the effect of entrepreneur education is imperative. According to the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MoE), only 1.7 percent (as of 2013) of university graduates are self-employed, that is managing one’s own business or known as graduate entrepreneurs. Consequently, a huge gap exists between what is targeted by the government (5.5 percent by 2015) and the reality (a small number of graduate entrepreneurs). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors influencing a graduate’s choice to be entrepreneur, particularly the effects of different entrepreneur education, either formal or informal.

A total of 2,300 graduates from Universiti Utara Malaysia participated in this study.

The findings showed that the majority of the respondents are consistent in terms of their intent to become entrepreneurs.

Due to time and resource constraints, the data are limited to only one university in Malaysia. It is suggested that future studies include more universities, especially entrepreneurial universities. Although it is believe that public universities’ undergraduates population are highly homogeneous, it is good that the findings of the present study to be further validated by future studies using larger sample that consists of varies of public universities.

This paper supports government policies in terms of cultivating educated entrepreneur such as promoting the entrepreneurship education among higher institutions of education (MoE, 2007). However, there are negative relationships among higher academic achievement of graduates toward their intention to be entrepreneurs. It is indicated that high academic achievements are negatively related to becoming entrepreneurs. Thus, it is suggested that entrepreneurship education in terms of both formal and informal education be implemented into the curriculum in order to cultivate entrepreneurial intentions.

There is still much more to be learned to fully understand the processes that leading to the decision to become an entrepreneur. Nevertheless, the results presented in this paper provide some understanding of the factors influencing the decision to become an entrepreneur among university students and graduates using a convenience sample. Thus, the results are exploratory and subjected to validation by future studies using more representative samples. Nevertheless, the study makes a contribution to the effort to predict and develop entrepreneurs in the country.

Innovation differs among individuals and societies and changes over time. The question is whether female entrepreneurs in China are becoming more prominent in innovation? Are women entrepreneurs' participation, education, competence, opportunity-motivation and innovativeness increasing in China, perhaps faster than elsewhere around the world? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

These questions are addressed by analyzing the data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor on nascent entrepreneurs in the countries surveyed in at least two years since 2001 with at least five years between first and most recent survey. The sample is 129,465 nascent entrepreneurs in 58 countries, including 4,433 entrepreneurs starting an enterprise in China. These entrepreneurs reported on their innovativeness, comprising newness of technology used in production, absence of competitors producing the same products, and three newness of the product to customers. The data are analyzed by multivariate statistics, especially regressions and hierarchical models.

First, among the entrepreneurs starting enterprises in China, the proportion of women has increased dramatically over the years, approaching equality with the men. Second, women entrepreneurs compared to male entrepreneurs in China have increased in education, competences, opportunity motive and innovativeness. The increasing prominence of women in innovation in China is unsurpassed by any other country in the sample and thus seems unique in the world.

This study is valuable by exploring the changing participation of women in entrepreneurship and especially in the entrepreneurship that is innovative.

This chapter relies on comparative case analysis to examine how and why particular social entrepreneurs in a higher Asian middle income economy broke new grounds in private higher education. The study provides arguments as to why these private higher education entrepreneurs, when viewed inclusively, are social entrepreneurs. Findings from the study suggest that social entrepreneurs distinctively used prior insights from their working experiences to harness the financial power of local capital to fund the scaling up of their social ventures while simultaneously engaging with the country’s economic and social challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that evaluations of enterprise education need to develop beyond the economist viewpoint of business start‐up and business growth and promote the notion that evaluations of enterprise education should encompass prime pedagogical objectives of enterprise education, enabling students to grow and develop and to shape their own identities in the light of their learning experiences.

The paper reports on one of the key findings (self identity and the entrepreneur) from a PhD study of 18 case studies/life stories of graduate entrepreneurs and their experiences of enterprise education from one university.

It is found that graduates who start their own businesses are reluctant to call themselves “entrepreneurs”; they question the meaning of the word and its relevance to them and findings suggest that “Entrepreneur” is a label given to them by educators and peers.

The present study provides a starting point for further research of evaluating enterprise education, through the lens of students and graduates that have taken/are taking part in accredited and non‐accredited enterprise education whilst at university.

The study has proven to be useful in improving the format, content and delivery of enterprise education on campus and also the development of appropriate evaluation tools.

The aim of this study is to test the assumption that ability to handle communication and liability of newness (LoN) is enhanced by academic entrepreneurship education and/or previous start‐up experience.

The data collection includes a questionnaire with a total sample of 392 responding entrepreneurs in Sweden. Statistical analyses are made between entrepreneurs with academic entrepreneurship education respectively previous start‐up experience.

The findings show that entrepreneurs with experience from entrepreneurship education report more developed communicative skills in the dimensions of openness as well as adaptation, whereas the dimension of other‐orientation is found to be learned by previous start‐up experience. When it comes to perceived problems related to LoN the differences between the groups were not as strong as assumed. However, the differences observed imply that also for handling LoN the authors identify a combined effect of possessing start‐up experience as well as experience from entrepreneurship education. Consequently, entrepreneurs with experience from both, show in total the most elaborated skills.

One way to improve future entrepreneurship educations is to make students more aware of the mutual profit in a business agreement and how to communicate this in a marketing situation. Another suggestion is to include starting business as a course work.

This study not only meets the call for actual outcome from entrepreneurship educations in terms of changed behaviour but also for interdisciplinary research in the entrepreneurship field in integrating leadership research with focus on communication.

This chapter offers a conceptual perspective of what students need to understand to understand entrepreneurship, and educators’ views on how best to educate students in it, in response to calls for a greater understanding of the learning environment. The research uses the lens of the threshold concept framework to inform a conceptual approach to entrepreneurship education. The threshold concept framework posits that in any academic discipline there are concepts that have a particularly transformative effect on student learning representing a transformed way of understanding something, without which the learner cannot progress.

Research was undertaken in three stages to identify what is distinctive about thinking like an entrepreneur, how to educate students to think like entrepreneurs and how students understand thinking like entrepreneurs. The first and second stages of the study are the focus of this chapter. Candidate threshold concepts in entrepreneurship and educators’ perspectives of effective ways to educate students in entrepreneurship are presented.

Data from 11 individual and group semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 entrepreneurship educators in 10 higher education institutions across the UK was integrated with findings from a Delphi survey with 10 expert entrepreneurs.

By offering the perspectives of entrepreneurship educators and entrepreneurs, this chapter makes a valuable contribution to a conceptually grounded and innovative approach to entrepreneurship education.

Analyzing the association between the entrepreneur’s background and product innovation, this paper aims to propose that some entrepreneur’s features are associated with the product innovation in incubated companies.

The study involved 95 technology-based firms incubated in Brazil. Questionnaires were sent to 461 technology-based incubated firms of the state, of which 112 have responded; however, only 95 met the established criteria, which was analyzed by logistic regression.

It was found that companies whose entrepreneurs have technical academic education closer to the Exact Sciences promote more innovation in products, regardless the size of their companies. In addition, in smaller firms, besides the technical background closer to the Exact Sciences, the entrepreneur's experience in the company also showed positive association regarding the intensity with which such firms innovate in products.

Results indicate that entrepreneurs who were selected taking into account their technical background closer to the Exact Sciences are more likely to contribute to the product innovation in their companies. Therefore, investing in their businesses will also increase the likelihood of success in the efficient allocation of the incubator resources.

The originality of this paper is reflected by the presentation of relations between entrepreneur’s background and product innovation in technology-based incubated firms in an emerging economy, highlighting the value of some characteristics of entrepreneur’s background to promote product innovation.

Analisando a associação entre o background do empreendedor e a inovação em produtos, este artigo propõe que algumas características do empreendedor estão associadas com a inovação de produtos em empresas incubadas.

O estudo envolveu 95 empresas de base tecnológica no Brasil. Questionários foram enviados para 461 empresas incubadas de base tecnológica no estado de São Paulo, das quais 112 responderam. Contudo, apenas 95 satisfizeram os critérios estabelecidos na pesquisa, as quais foram analisadas por meio da regressão logística.

Foi identificado que empresas cujos empreendedores possuem formações acadêmicas mais próximas das ciências exatas promovem mais inovações em produtos, independentemente do tamanho da organização. Além disso, em empresas menores, além da formação acadêmica próxima das ciências exatas, a experiência do empreendedor na empresa também mostrou associação positiva com relação à intensidade com a qual tais empresas inovam em produtos.

Os resultados indicam que os empreendedores selecionados, com formação técnica mais próxima das ciências exatas, têm maior probabilidade de contribuir para a inovação de produtos em suas empresas. Portanto, investir nesses negócios aumentará a chance de sucesso na alocação eficiente dos recursos da incubadora.

A originalidade do artigo consiste na apresentação de relações entre o background do empreendedor e a inovação de produtos, em empresas de base tecnológica incubadas, em um país emergente. Isto realça o valor de algumas características do empreendedor para promover a inovação de produtos.

Analizando la asociación entre el fondo del emprendedor y la innovación en productos, este artículo propone que algunas características del emprendedor están asociadas con la innovación de productos en empresas incubadas.

El estudio involucró a 95 empresas de base tecnológica en Brasil. Los cuestionarios se enviaron a 461 empresas incubadas de base tecnológica en el estado de São Paulo, de las cuales 112 respondieron. Sin embargo, sólo 95 cumplieron los criterios establecidos en la investigación, que se analizaron a través de la regresión logística.

Se ha identificado que las empresas cuyos emprendedores poseen formaciones académicas más cercanas a las ciencias exactas promueven más innovaciones en productos, independientemente del tamaño de la organización. Además, en empresas menores, además de la formación académica cercana a las ciencias exactas, la experiencia del emprendedor en la empresa también mostró asociación positiva con relación a la intensidad con la que dichas empresas innovan en productos.

Los resultados indican que los emprendedores seleccionados, tomando en consideración su formación técnica más cercana a las ciencias exactas, son más probables de contribuir con la innovación de productos en sus empresas. Por lo tanto, invertir en estos negocios aumentará la probabilidad de éxito en la asignación eficiente de los recursos de la incubadora.

La originalidad del documento es reflejada por la presentación de relaciones entre el fondo del emprendedor y la innovación de productos en empresas incubadas de base tecnológica en una economía emergente, resaltando el valor de algunas características del fondo del emprendedor para promover la innovación de productos.

This research aims to identify the intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur and the perception of entrepreneurial failure among different groups of students. There has been significant research discussing the motivations behind becoming an entrepreneur. However, such a research study is often focused on individuals who are already in the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, this research focuses on the understanding of the entrepreneurial process specified on the intentions of becoming an entrepreneur and the associated risk, in the context of a learning process.

The perspectives of students towards becoming an entrepreneur and their perception of associated risk are identified. A comparative exploratory case study method is used. Three cases developed in the light of empirical evidence consist of Business, Law and Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.

Major results show that the law and STEM students were on the same line in terms of motivational factors, such as being career driven. In contrary, the business students were more driven by personal factors such as leaving something behind and building something meaningful.

Whilst studies have attempted to understand entrepreneurial intentions, little work has considered students and their views on becoming entrepreneurs. Even with studies that looked at this subject matter, the focus was mainly business students. The authors build on previous work and construct the authors' views based on multi-disciplinary student base to know more about their intentions to become an entrepreneur. The science and law students were more influenced by external factors, whereas business students were focused more on their personal goals. Such classification of the diverse intentions based on student discipline opens a new and promising research avenue to better develop entrepreneurial education not only for business students but across all disciplines in higher education.

Decision-making competence (DMC) of entrepreneurs and managers is a longstanding topic in this increasingly globalized world. These figures operate in conditions not within their own control, and good levels of DMC are often considered to be desirable for the flourishing of business and society. This paper reports an empirical investigation on the DMC of entrepreneurs and managers, in an attempt to inform about their tendencies to incur in risky and costly choices.

Three cognitive biases associated with operational strategies and individual characteristics of entrepreneurs and managers, namely under/overconfidence (UOC, i.e. self-confidence in taking decisions), resistance to sunk costs (RSC, i.e. propensity to take cost investments) and consistency in risk perception (CRP, i.e. how well individuals understand probability rules) were considered . Cognitive biases measures were used in a cross-sectional study on a sample of n = 639 entrepreneurs and n = 512 managers. Data collected via online survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to determine differences among entrepreneurs and managers DMC.

Analyses reveal that entrepreneurs exhibit higher levels of UOC compared to managers with a marked presence of UOC among entrepreneurs at younger ages. Conversely, performance regarding RSC improves with higher education levels while age and RSC are positively correlated only for managers, regardless of education. Lastly, entrepreneurs and managers resulted as not being affected by CRP. This study discusses these results to provide initial insights for further avenues of research and practice.

The study offers an innovative, evidence-based viewpoint on how entrepreneurs and managers deal with risky and costly decisions. It offers an initial understanding of the role of UOC, RSC and CRP, that is specific cognitive biases associated with operational strategies and individual characteristics, in the DMC of these working figures. The study forwards avenues of scrutiny of quick-witted entrepreneurs and systematic managers.

Intelligence or general mental ability (GMA) is a strong predictor of job performance across most occupations, and educational attainment has been shown to be a predictor of entrepreneurial outcomes. However, there has been little research examining the simultaneous effects of entrepreneurs’ GMA and educational attainment on their venture outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of these human capital resources on venture performance and survival.

Using a sample of 234 self-employed entrepreneurs from a longitudinal database, regression analysis was employed to examine the predictors of venture performance. A hazard model was utilized to assess venture survival.

Entrepreneurs’ intelligence influenced venture performance directly and indirectly via educational attainment. Entrepreneurs with higher GMA were subsequently able to obtain more education, and GMA had an indirect, positive influence on venture performance through this additional educational attainment. Findings also demonstrated an inverted-U, curvilinear effect on venture survival for GMA and educational attainment. This indicates that both intelligence and educational attainment should be considered when examining how likely entrepreneurs are to persist or survive in their ventures.

Entrepreneurs with higher GMA had ventures that performed better and obtained more education, which influenced venture survival. These findings suggest that entrepreneurs’ intelligence is likely to be an important predictor of venture outcomes, as well as a source of entrepreneurs’ human capital acquisition. Therefore, GMA should have a more central role in the human capital discussion within the entrepreneurship literature.