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The purpose of this paper is to explore the contributions of peer mentoring as a learning support for mentee students in higher entrepreneurship education.

This paper presents a single embedded case study focussing on mentee students’ perceptions of peer mentors’ support of their entrepreneurial learning during an experiential master’s course. Employing an abductive approach, the researchers conducted cross-sectional, thematic analyses of individual mentee interviews complemented by data from joint reflection sessions, reflection reports and observations during the course timeline.

The peer mentors contributed to the mentee students’ learning through various forms of support, which were categorised into mentor roles, mentor functions and intervention styles. The analysis found that peer mentors fulfil three coexisting roles: learning facilitator, supportive coach and familiar role model. These roles constitute the pillars of a typology of entrepreneurial peer mentoring.

This study contributes theoretical and empirical insights on peer mentoring in entrepreneurship education. It represents a first benchmark of best practices for future studies.

The case study suggests that adding peer mentoring represents more efficient support for entrepreneurial learning than a teacher alone is able to provide. The typology can also be used for training peer mentors.

The researchers construct a new typology for entrepreneurial learning support, which contributes to theory development within the field of entrepreneurship education.

Entrepreneurs develop new technology ventures in uncertain conditions with unproven technologies and limited resources. The majority of such ventures fail. Examining entrepreneurs' attitudes to failure may reveal much about how entrepreneurs learn and how they identify subsequent opportunities.

There is much literature on entrepreneurial failure [1-7] but relatively little that is focused on attitudes to failure [8, 9], the high-technology industry, or international comparisons. Pioneering work by the late Jason Cope applied methodologies derived from qualitative psychology to investigate attitudes to failure in entrepreneurs with recent experience of failed ventures in the aftermath of the ‘dot-com’ crash in 2001. We develop this work further, examining a wider range of geographic regions, a less intense period and focusing entirely on attitudes of the entrepreneur.

This paper examines how entrepreneurs' attitudes to failure in early stage technology companies differ in the USA (Silicon Valley), UK (Cambridge) and Germany (Munich), and what this might reveal about entrepreneurial learning and opportunity identification in these countries. Using a qualitative approach, interviews with habitual entrepreneurs explore their experiences of failure. Techniques from qualitative psychology, including Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis are employed in the gathering and analysis of interview-based case studies to reveal emergent trends, which are then used to compare attitudes to failure within and between each country.

Based on preliminary analysis of interview transcripts and a review of the literature, a conceptual model of how to analyze failure is proposed. Emergent trends are identified within each country and then evaluated to draw comparisons between different countries. Failure represents a frequent and important component of the entrepreneurial experience. Attitudes to failure reveal insights into how entrepreneurs respond and how they identify future opportunities.

It is hoped this research will add to existing knowledge and theory of entrepreneurial failure, especially through the comparative (regional) approach and the industry-specific (high-technology) focus. It may also improve the preparedness of new entrepreneurs, with positive implications for future entrepreneurial success.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of leadership learning in the entrepreneurial context, by building a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship. It draws on contemporary leadership literature to appreciate entrepreneurial leadership as a social process of becoming located in particular contexts and communities.

Through qualitative phenomenological interviews with nine entrepreneurs the lived experience of learning to lead is explored. The principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) are utilised to analyse the data and enable inductive theory‐building.

The findings illustrate situated leadership patterns and relationships unique to the entrepreneurial context. A number of significant structural and experiential factors are identified that both shape and restrict the development of leadership practice in small ventures. Specifically, the limited opportunities for leadership enactment and observation, the dominance of the business as the crucible for leadership learning, the influence of the family and the low salience of leadership are highlighted.

In appreciating the leadership learning task that nascent entrepreneurs are faced with it is vital that further research delves deeper into the varying levels of “leadership preparedness” brought to new venture creation. From a policy perspective, there is significant value in enabling entrepreneurs to engage in meaningful dialogue, critical reflection and purposive action with their peers through the creation of leadership “learning networks”.

The research demonstrates leadership learning processes and pathways that are significantly different to those experienced by managers in the employed context. In so doing, this article represents the first systematic attempt to apply a learning perspective to the subject of entrepreneurial leadership.

Building on entrepreneurial learning research, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the students participating in foreign entrepreneurial education programmes can have realistic entrepreneurial learning experiences. This research addresses two specific questions: how situated ambiguity induced by a foreign culture may contribute to contextual entrepreneurial learning in education, and whether ambiguity induced by cross-cultural situated experience can stimulate critical reflection and important learning outcomes in entrepreneurship and increase entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE).

The authors adopted a phenomenological perspective in the research, and used focus group interviews and the critical incident technique to investigate Norwegian master’s students’ experiences of entrepreneurial learning in a long-term practice in an American startup.

The empirical findings reveal that the students perceived the foreign cultural learning setting as imbued with ambiguity and uncertainty. However, as the students enhanced their understanding of the culture and entrepreneurial milieu through observations and co-participating, they managed to adapt and develop new strategies and methods to cope with the new environment. Eventually, the students became more entrepreneurial and developed their ESE.

The research demonstrates how educators can design educational programmes that approach real entrepreneurial learning contexts. Nevertheless, the research also displays several ethical dilemmas that educators need to address.

The study delineates a new concept for educational designs called situated ambiguity, which reinforces the essence of situated entrepreneurial learning with cross-cultural learning. This concept offers a promising avenue for educators to approach real entrepreneurial learning in both theory and practice.

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between learning, strategy and growth in small food producing firms using Ansoff’s strategy matrix as a framework and explores the usefulness of Greiner’s life cycle model. The complexity of this interaction is examined and it is concluded that the growth process is much more complex than that suggested by the Greiner model.

This research explores the learning process of entrepreneurs in relation to the parallel processes of personal and business development. Building on theories of individual learning and of the business life‐cycle, this paper discusses the impact of critical incidents from an individual perspective and, in particular, their role within entrepreneurial learning. A phenomenological case study approach was employed, with the sample consisting of six small business owners. The interviews concentrated on the developmental history of the business, focusing on critical incidents as they arose in the general conversation. The findings emphasise the complexity of the concept of “critical incident” and demonstrate that entrepreneurs often face prolonged and traumatic critical periodsor episodes, illustrating the emotionally‐laden nature of these events. Furthermore, the critical incidents described here resulted in fundamental, higher‐level learning, and highlight the need for mentoring support programmes designed to help entrepreneurs to interpret critical incidents as learning experiences, in order to increase the power of the learning outcomes. The authors conclude by stressing the need for further theory development that conceptualises the complex and dynamic interactivity between the individual and the business.

Failure plays a pivotal role in entrepreneurial learning. Knowledge of the learning process that enables an entrepreneur to re-emerge stronger after a failure, though considerable, is fragmented. This paper systematically collects relevant literature, assigns it to the stages of the experiential learning process (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation; Kolb, 1984), evaluates the research coverage of each stage and identifies promising avenues for future research.

This systematic literature review follows the guidelines articulated by Short (2009) and Tranfield et al. (2003), using Web of Science and EBSCO as primary data sources. Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory provides a basis for organizing the identified material into a framework of entrepreneurial learning from failure.

The literature provides insights on all stages of the process of entrepreneurial learning from failure. Particularly well elaborated are the nature of failure and its triggering effect for reflection, the factors influencing reflection, the contents of the resulting learning and their application in entrepreneurial re-emergence. Other topics remain under-researched, including alternative modes of recovery, the impact of personal attributes upon reflection, the cognitive processes underlying reflection, the transformation of failure-based observations into logically sound concepts and the application of this learning in non-entrepreneurial contexts.

This review provides the most complete overview of research into the process of entrepreneurial learning from failure. The systematic, theory-based mapping of this literature takes stock of current knowledge and proposes areas for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how using an entrepreneurial learning approach for assessment of internships could increase the reflected value of combining theory and practice articulated in students’ learning outcomes. Furthermore, the purpose was to investigate whether the applied approach led to enhanced perception of professional identity and new understandings of employability for students in the internship course.

A qualitative research design was the basis for investigation of the topics in focus. The data consisted of five focus groups, observation notes, and documentation from the exam situations. Two consecutive groups of students (2015 and 2016) participated in the study at a university of applied science in Denmark.

Results from the study provided evidence that students in internships collectively develop a comprehensive understanding of how to apply theory to practical settings. By working with an entrepreneurial learning approach in the professional practice, students reported an enhanced reflective understanding of learning outcomes and the theory-practice gap, developed an ability for opportunity identification, and established a grounded feeling of professional identity and employability.

The current pilot project serves as a full and context-rich case study that can inform educators about formative and summative assessment practices when designing internships courses. Furthermore, internship supervisors can get valuable insight into learning processes during an internship.

The suggested model for an entrepreneurial learning approach to assessment of internships provides a basis for further research within entrepreneurial learning and the application to design of assessment practices in this context.