Search results

The purpose of the paper is to define a range of entrepreneurial concepts and provide a critical review of their content in order to map the forms of the entrepreneurial actions within their teleological context.

Based on the authors' definition of teleology as the process of heading towards an end, entrepreneurship was categorized into a three‐item typology, namely subject, process and object. The latter served as a platform for the analysis, which reveals some key qualities about research in entrepreneurship.

The paper provides a categorization of entrepreneurship both at the distinction (subject, process, object) and the contextual level and the commonalities and differences among entrepreneurship's different teleological approaches are analyzed and the potential is offered for further avenues of research to emerge. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the teleological approaches represent distinct approaches to interpret diverse aspects of the entrepreneurial phenomenon and provide insights into the way in which the entrepreneurial process itself unfolds.

The paper provides an innovative categorization of entrepreneurship as subject, process and object while discussing a variety of various entrepreneurial forms through their teleological nature within each of the three categories. The paper is valuable to scholars seeking to further advance their understanding in the various fields of entrepreneurship, understand the function of the particular set of activities to be undertaken, the role of particular individuals/agents involved in the entrepreneurial process, the opportunity identification/exploitation process as well as the particular objective that each entrepreneurial form aims at fulfilling.

The present paper aims at discussing the transformative potential of an e‐mentoring support with regard to mentors' and mentees' learning and behavioral aspects, through an empirical study based on rural women entrepreneurs in Greece.

Mentors' and mentees' perceptions with regard to the benefits they acquired in terms of knowledge, skills and behavioral aspects were assessed through questionnaires that were collected in three time periods – before, right after and six months upon the completion of the intervention.

E‐mentoring can serve as a dynamic, two‐fold relationship that can create a significant learning database benefiting both sides. Mentees' knowledge and skills were positively influenced, while their attitudes facing uncertainty, flexibility and innovation were found to be strongly influenced in the short and long run. Mentors did not seem to acquire extraordinary benefits from e‐mentoring in terms of knowledge and skills, while their attitudes towards flexibility and interest in people demonstrate a marginally negative tendency. Both mentors' and mentees' self‐confidence demonstrated an increased tendency and was influenced throughout the intervention and six months upon its completion.

Besides benefiting the direct e‐mentoring participants and enhancing the development of women entrepreneurship, findings can also significantly benefit management and policy‐makers alike, creating avenues to further advance future efforts and practices in raising tomorrow's women entrepreneurs.

Theoretical and empirical evidence in the field of e‐mentoring as well as on encouraging future women entrepreneurs remains scarce. The present paper constitutes a first step towards suggesting an approach to e‐mentoring practices, raising awareness and faith with regard to the beneficial role that e‐mentoring support can have in the development of women entrepreneurship.

The question of how to integrate strategic and entrepreneurial management to achieve a better balance between advantage‐ and opportunity‐seeking behaviours has received increased academic and practitioner interest in recent years. However, little consensus exists over the meaning of this concept of “strategic entrepreneurship” (SE), its constituents and its operation. This paper aims to address these issues.

In response, the paper reports a thorough review of SE's origins and current conceptualizations to map its core components and charts critical research directions for this exciting emerging field. Analysis of the terrain of SE reveals eight core components drawn from entrepreneurship and strategic management that captures conditions necessary for its application.

From this analysis, the paper offers an alternative model of SE, and charts four key research areas with accompanying research questions to inspire future research. These outcomes offer avenues to further sharpen the understanding of how SE might operate both in theory and practice.

A relative lack of analysis and integration of external factors influencing and shaping the process of SE represents a limitation. Also, whilst the authors have attempted to review, assess and understand its position in the entrepreneurship and strategic management literature, the full range of its strengths and weaknesses cannot be grasped.

The paper illustrates how these four question areas pose significant promise to better understand the development and application of SE in research and in practice.

In this conceptual chapter we examine the impact of the institutional role of public social policy as opposed to the individual role of private social entrepreneurship on the process of social change and value creation.

We review the above fields in order to identify their common and distinctive characteristics. We also examine how each contributes to social value creation and in which way these two sources of social value creation can interact in order to maximize their positive impact.

The value of our work relies on the development analysis reveals that the intersection between social policy and social entrepreneurship constitutes one of the possible responses to the growing uncertainty in the global economy and society. In a conceptual level, the findings of our theoretical inquiry allow us to provide a framework for better understanding the nature and the possible implications of social entrepreneurial/policy activities that allows the appropriate selection of the proper actions to be made for theorists, practitioners, and policy-makers alike.

Our work contributes to existing literature by providing views on understanding how the different forms of organizational actions (public policy vs. social entrepreneurship) act toward social value creation; and by contributing to the understanding of their similarities and differences and the distinctive frameworks within which they unfold.

The purpose of this paper is to address entrepreneurial programs offered by Greek higher education institutions (HEIs) to 1639 students in different scientific disciplines at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) and Technical Educational Institution of Thessaloniki (TEITh). The programs were analyzed and it was revealed that there were differences in participation rates, attitudes towards entrepreneurship education and perceptions about required skills between the two genders.

During the developmental phase of the particular entrepreneurship program, an evaluation stage had been predicted, whereby student participants (344 females and 370 males AUTh students and 410 females and 515 males TEITh students) would anonymously fill out questionnaires upon completion of the program, regarding male as opposed to female attitudes and perceptions.

There are higher enrollment rates of males than females. Regarding attitudes towards participation in entrepreneurial educational programs, females demonstrate a stronger interest in acquiring knowledge, developing skills, facing career competition and networking with local business, to a significantly higher degree than their male counterparts. In addition, females rank all skills as of higher significance in successful entrepreneurial activity, assigning lower value only to communication skills, compared to men. The opposite holds for males, who ranked communication skills as of greatest importance among all other skills.

This paper provides insight into gender differences regarding male and female involvement in entrepreneurial education and as to their “pre‐entrepreneurial” profile and characteristics. It therefore sharpens understanding as to the way in which entrepreneurship education can encourage female participation within the entrepreneurial arena in future.

Factors that male and female students consider to be most important in issues of entrepreneurship education are identified, providing a framework for the effective design, quality and delivery of such programs.

The present paper constitutes one of the first to examine factors accounting for male and female student participation in entrepreneurship education programs offered by HEIs in the Greek context. The value derived aids the development of curricula tailored to gender distinctive needs and demands.

The current study addresses an entrepreneurial program offered by a Greek Higher Education Institution – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – to Information and Communication Technology undergraduate students and examines its effect on participants’ attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship, within the wider context of entrepreneurship and education.

The program is part of a wider pilot project called “InnoEntre.” The particular pilot program is provided in cooperation with Aarhus University of Denmark. The objective was for Danish and Greek students attending the particular course to interact, come up with a novel idea, and transform it through a business plan, into a value-creating outcome, while presenting the steps, actions, experiences, and insight through the pilot program.

The study offers important implications sharpening knowledge around the area of entrepreneurship, focusing on the intersection between entrepreneurship and education. It highlights key dimensions critical for the successful combination of these two fields, pointing to the importance of young individuals’ perceptions and attitudes towards Innovation-Entrepreneurship Education (I&E), their expectations and particular needs from related educational programs, antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, etc.

Findings contribute to the combination of components to approach the wider fields of I&E, besides the University context, highlighting their multidisciplinary nature. Furthermore, the study adds to innovative pedagogy, highlighting the importance of the use of certain appropriate methods, models, and practices, and the use of ICT in supporting the development of business ideas into actual ventures. The study equally outlines critical managerial implications for entrepreneurs, managers, and policy-makers alike that can foster entrepreneurial activity undertaking among the youth.

The purpose of this study is to examine factors leading to venture success, emphasizing the role of entrepreneurs as critical in the whole process, based on a sample of women entrepreneurs. Drawing upon the competence-based view of the firm, it examines the effect of entrepreneurial competencies, managerial competencies and reliance on networks toward increased female venture success rates.

A structured questionnaire was allocated to women entrepreneurs to seek respondents’ perceptions. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was undertaken to confirm the constructs’ validity. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses.

Networking stands out as having the most significant positive effect on venture success while entrepreneurial and managerial core competencies are both important, with entrepreneurial competencies demonstrating a slightly higher score. Also, years of entrepreneurial experience, entrepreneurial family background and family status prove significant.

The study confirms prior research, highlighting the role of entrepreneurs as central, sharpening understanding of the required determinants of venture success. It further provides new insight into venture success from the perspective of the competence-based theory, highlighting clear-cut competencies.

The study paves the way for the design of entrepreneurial learning programs targeting entrepreneurs and particularly females, highlighting the need for on-going education and educational programs to support entrepreneurs and distinctly women.

The study contributes to the effective management of venture progress and success and provides insight into entrepreneurs and policymakers.