• No results found

Understanding Students' Ability to Recognize Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Role of Need for Autonomy and Passion for Inventing

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "Understanding Students' Ability to Recognize Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Role of Need for Autonomy and Passion for Inventing"

Copied!
8
0
0

Bezig met laden.... (Bekijk nu de volledige tekst)

Hele tekst

(1)

Understanding Students’ Ability to Recognize Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Role of Need for Autonomy and Passion for Inventing

Sílvia Fernandes Costa, Assistant Professor, University of Groningen Kasia Zalewska-Kurek, Assistant Professor, University of Twente

Arjan Frederiks, Assistant Professor, University of Groningen

Isabella Hatak, Full Professor, University of St. Gallen and University of Twente Abstract

Questions we care about: Student entrepreneurship occurs at the nexus of the individual

and the opportunity, with heterogeneity existing on both the individual and the opportunity sides. This implies that for both progress in research on student entrepreneurship and the development of effective recommendations for educational design, research needs to venture beyond the assumption of student entrepreneurs constituting a homogeneous group, for which any entrepreneurship education is beneficial.

In this research, we aim to better understand students’ ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. By drawing on self-determination theory, we posit that students’ need for autonomy is positively associated to their opportunity recognition ability. Furthermore, integrating broaden-and-build theorizing, we hypothesize that entrepreneurial passion positively correlates to the opportunity recognition ability of students.

Approach: We use a cross-sectional research design. We collected data from 90

students from two Dutch universities using two surveys at different points in time.

Results: We find support for our two hypotheses. We find that students’ autonomy is

strongly correlated to their opportunity recognition capability, supporting hypothesis 1. Additionally, we find that students who score higher on the different elements of entrepreneurial passion, score higher on opportunity recognition capability.

Implications: The contributions of this study are two-fold. First, we focus on the

importance of understanding students’ needs and affective interests towards entrepreneurship in the classroom. We build on the argument that autonomy is important for students’ ability to recognize opportunities. Second, we focus on the affective predispositions towards entrepreneurship by focusing on the different dimensions of entrepreneurial passion, demonstrating that opportunity recognition ability is associated to experiencing intense positive feelings when engaging in entrepreneurial activities which are? central to students’ identity.

Value/Originality: These findings suggest that we may have to consider established

individual-level predictors when aiming to enhance our understanding of student entrepreneurship. Our results also show that students who experience intense positive feelings when performing entrepreneurial activities and for whom entrepreneurship is central to their identity, are better able to recognize opportunities. This is very important, because it stresses the importance of experiencing positive affect towards entrepreneurship more generally for early-stage entrepreneurial abilities to build. Moreover, it is important for students to define and develop their identity in terms of being an entrepreneur to be able to recognize opportunities. Practically, our findings suggest that entrepreneurship education should further broaden its focus from identifying the most effective methods for teaching how to write a business plan or develop a business model, to generate designs that support the development of students’ emotional and cognitive abilities relevant to entrepreneurship.

Self-determination theory; Broaden-and-build theory; Autonomy; Passion; Student entrepreneurship

(2)

Introduction

Scholarly interest in student entrepreneurship – ventures created by students or recent graduates – is rapidly increasing (see e.g., Lüthje & Franke, 2004; Liñán, Urbano, & Guerrero, 2011; Nab, Pilot, Brinkkemper, & Ten Berge, 2010; Jansen et al., 2015). This is because student entrepreneurship bears the potential to foster economic wealth, competitiveness and especially innovation (Jansen et al., 2015). Additionally, university students are often perceived as potential entrepreneurs, since higher education and education focusing on entrepreneurship promotes students’ intention to start a business (e.g., Unger et al., 2011, Zhang, Wang, & Owen, 2015).

Student entrepreneurship, just like conventional entrepreneurship, occurs at the nexus of the individual and the opportunity (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000), with heterogeneity existing on both the individual and the opportunity sides. This implies that for both progress in research on student entrepreneurship and the development of effective recommendations for educational design, research needs to venture beyond the assumption of student entrepreneurs constituting a homogeneous group, for which any entrepreneurship education is beneficial. Moreover, drawing on Bhave’s (1994) model of opportunity recognition, we suggest that research on entrepreneurship education needs to venture beyond intentions as a core variable of interest. In fact, the success of student entrepreneurship may be more strongly influenced by students’ ability to recognize opportunities rather than their intention to start a business (Bhave, 1994). Additionally, considering the affective predisposition of students towards entrepreneurship is of extreme importance, this will enable programs to better adapt to their participants’ needs and interests.

Accordingly, in this research we aim to better understand students’ ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. By drawing on self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), we posit that students’ need for autonomy is positively associated to their opportunity recognition ability. Furthermore, integrating broaden-and-build theorizing (Frederickson, 2001), we hypothesize that entrepreneurial passion positively correlates to the opportunity recognition ability of students.

The contributions of this study are two-fold. First, we focus on the importance of understanding students’ needs and affective interests towards entrepreneurship in the classroom. We build on the argument that autonomy is important for students’ ability to recognize opportunities. Second, we focus on the affective predispositions towards entrepreneurship by focusing on the different dimensions of entrepreneurial passion, demonstrating that opportunity recognition ability is associated to experiencing intense positive feelings when engaging in entrepreneurial activities which are? central to students’ identity.

Theoretical Framework

Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) is a macro-theory of human motivation, emotion, and development. It posits that the satisfaction of individuals’ basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are “essential for ongoing psychological growth, integrity, and wellbeing” (p. 229). Thus, according to SDT, when the three innate psychological needs are satisfied, individuals take in social values and extrinsic

(3)

entails high decisional freedom: one can decide what, how, and when work will be done (van Gelderen, 2010). With regard to the education context, students’ satisfaction of their need for autonomy has been found to lead to higher perceived competence, interest/enjoyment and lower anxiety (Black & Deci, 2000). Given that entrepreneurship is a highly uncertain context, with opportunity recognition depending on competence perceptions, interest, and limited anxiety (Krueger, & Dickson, 1994; Ozgen & Baron, 2007), we argue that university students’ need for autonomy is positively related to opportunity recognition ability.

Hypothesis 1: University students’ need for autonomy is positively related to their ability to recognize opportunities.

Furthermore, we build on the broaden-and-build theory (Frederickson, 2001) postulating that positive emotions broaden individuals’ cognition and behaviour. Over time, this broadened behavioural repertoire builds a set of resources such as social connections, (communication) skills and/or knowledge. In the case of entrepreneurs, passion can be seen as such an intense positive emotion broadening an entrepreneur’s knowledge about, for example, a specific technology, scientific or cultural domain. A person that is passionate about, for example, starting a business, is more susceptive to new information and to problems associated with entrepreneurial opportunities arising in their environment.

In fact, passion is increasingly seen as one of the internal drivers pushing an entrepreneur to build a new venture. Cardon and colleagues (2009) argue that entrepreneurial passion has positive effects on (potential) entrepreneurs’ action regarding problem solving, creativity, invention, founding and growing a new venture. As such, passion goes beyond invention (as for developing new products, services or technologies) to include passion for founding (launching an actual venture), and passion for development (focusing on firm’s growth) (Cardon et al., 2013). (Potential) entrepreneurs with passion are able to analyse and synthesise already acquired and new knowledge and turn it into a new opportunity (Baron, 2006). Thus, as a consequence of their passion for entrepreneurship and thereby their ability to broaden-and-build resources, university students are able to recognise opportunities better than university students without entrepreneurial passion. Thus, we argue that

Hypothesis 2: University students’ entrepreneurial passion is positively related to their ability to recognize opportunities.

Method

Sample

To test our hypotheses, we rely on a sample of 90 university students from two Dutch universities participating in entrepreneurship programs at the undergraduate level. During the program, the students worked in project groups to develop a business idea, test it and work towards its implementation. Table 1 shows the sample description.

(4)

Measures

To measure autonomy, we used a 7-item scale (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.68) based on the work of Engle and colleagues (2010). Participants were asked to rate, on a seven-point scale, how important several aspects were for them. To measure entrepreneurial passion, we used a 13-item scale developed by Cardon and colleagues (2013). Entrepreneurial passion has three dimensions focusing on inventing (5 items; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.87), founding (4 items; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92) and developing (4 items; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91). Each of these dimensions contains items referring to intense positive feelings (10 items; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.94) and identity centrality (3 items; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.80). This means that passion for inventing, founding and developing are based on individuals’ experience of intense positive feelings and on these activities being central to their identity. According to Cardon and colleagues (2013), entrepreneurial passion dimensions can be analysed in terms of the activities of inventing, developing and founding and in terms of the intense positive feelings and identify centrality. Thus, we have also included these two dimensions in our analysis, as to obtain a better understanding of how passion is related to opportunity recognition. Opportunity recognition was measured according to a 3-item scale based on the work of Ma and colleagues (2011) (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88).

Procedure

The respondents filled out two surveys as a voluntary part of their entrepreneurship program. The surveys were sent online at different moments in time. The information about autonomy, entrepreneurial passion, and demographic information were collected in the first survey,. Four weeks later the students received a second survey in which opportunity recognition ability was measured. By collecting the independent and dependent variables at different point in time, chances of common method variance is reduced.

Results

Table 1. Sample description.

N 90

Gender

Male 61.1%

Female 36.7%

Other/Prefer not to answer 2.2% Age M = 22, SD = 3.28 Entrepreneurial experience (having start up a business):

Yes 11.1%

(5)

The results show that autonomy is positively and significantly correlated with opportunity recognition ability (r = .34, p < .01), thus supporting Hypothesis 1.

To test Hypothesis 2, we first observed the correlations between passion for inventing (r = .53, p < .01), passion for founding (r = .52, p < .01), and passion for developing (r = .53,

p < .01), with opportunity recognition ability. The three dimensions positively and significantly

relate to opportunity recognition ability. On a second step, we observed how the two sub dimensions for passion intense positive feelings (r = .56, p < .01) and identity centrality (r = .57, p < .01) correlate to opportunity recognition. Both are positively and significantly correlated with opportunity recognition. Hypothesis 2 is thus supported as well.

The analysis also shows that even though both our hypotheses are supported, the correlation between all dimensions of passion and opportunity recognition are stronger than autonomy and opportunity recognition. Additionally, autonomy is also positively and significantly correlated to all dimensions of entrepreneurial passion, which indicates that both variables combined may be able to explain opportunity recognition ability.

Discussion and Implications

This study aimed to explore the relationship between need for autonomy and entrepreneurial passion and opportunity recognition ability of university students participating in an entrepreneurship program in two Dutch universities. Understanding the motivations and affective predispositions of students towards entrepreneurship is of utmost importance, as it enables for better program designs, well adapted to students’ needs and preferences.

Our results indicate that need for autonomy is positively related to opportunity recognition. This result is in line with prior research suggesting that individuals with a higher need for autonomy are more likely to search for entrepreneurial opportunities than other people (Shane, 2003). This finding suggests that we may have to consider established individual-level predictors when aiming to enhance our understanding of student entrepreneurship. For example, assessing students need for autonomy prior to an education program can provide valuable insights on whether students are able to observe their environment in such a way that they can recognize opportunities. As for the students that reveal lower levels of need for autonomy, educational programs may focus on increasing opportunity recognition techniques training, so that these students can also learn to identify opportunities around them, even if they do not wish to start their own ventures in the future.

Our results also indicate that passion for inventing, founding and developing are positively related to opportunity recognition ability for university students. This is an important finding that contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial passion. Entrepreneurial passion has

Table 2. Means, Standard Deviation, Reliability and Correlations

Variables M S.D. α 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Autonomy 5.27 0.56 0.68 2. Passion for inventing 5.30 1.06 0.87 0.29**

3. Passion for developing 5.21 1.25 0.91 0.27** 0.72**

4. Passion for founding 5.28 1.37 0.92 0.38** 0.69** 0.85**

5. Intense positive feelings 5.38 1.10 0.94 0.34** 0.88** 0.93** 0.91** 6. Identity centrality 4.88 1.30 0.80 0.32** 0.78** 0.84** 0.88** 0.84**

7. Opportunity recognition 4.42 1.35 0.88 0.34** 0.53** 0.52** 0.53** 0.56** 0.57** Note:

(6)

been pointed out as a moderator between cognitive training and opportunity recognition ability, providing evidence that students who experience high entrepreneurial passion are better able to recognize opportunities through cognitive training (Costa et al, 2018). Additionally, our results also show that students who experience intense positive feelings when performing entrepreneurial activities and for whom entrepreneurship is central to their identity, are better able to recognize opportunities. This is very important, because it stresses the importance of experiencing positive affect towards entrepreneurship more generally for early-stage entrepreneurial abilities to build. Moreover, it is important for students to define and develop their identity in terms of being an entrepreneur to be able to recognize opportunities.

Practically, our findings suggest that entrepreneurship education should further broaden its focus from identifying the most effective methods for teaching how to write a business plan or develop a business model, to generate designs that support the development of students’ emotional and cognitive abilities relevant to entrepreneurship. In fact, our findings highlight that entrepreneurship educators and institutions need to develop a portfolio of teaching approaches considering differential students’ characteristics. Such a nuanced teaching portfolio would include targeted hands-on exercises, experiments and reflections to encourage autonomous students to develop their entrepreneurial passion, as well as open-ended assignments and group works where passionate students can set their own rules and hours, pick their own goals and plans, and make their own decisions to strengthen their autonomy.

Limitations and Future Research

Due to our small sample size, we were not able to run regression models, which would allow us to test the relationship between autonomy, entrepreneurial passion and opportunity recognition in a more predictive manner. Nevertheless, our results provide preliminary evidence that both autonomy and entrepreneurial passion may be predictors of opportunity recognition. Future research should focus on further investigating this relationship, as well as potential interaction effects between need for autonomy and entrepreneurial passion on opportunity recognition.

Future research may also consider the fact that in most of entrepreneurship programs, students tend to work in groups. It would be interesting to understand how the groups’ perception of autonomy and entrepreneurial passion, as well as the different learning processes happening within the group influence the quality of the opportunities recognized during these courses.

(7)

References

Baron, R., Ensley, M. (2006). Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: evidence from comparisons of novice and experienced entrepreneurs.

Management Science, 52, 1331–1344.


Bhave, M. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of Business

Venturing, 9(3), 223–242.

Black, A. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). The effects of instructors' autonomy support and students' autonomous motivation on learning organic chemistry: A self‐determination theory perspective. Science education, 84(6), 740-756.

Cardon, M. S., Grégoire, D.A., Stevens, C.E., and Patel, P.C. (2012). Measuring

Entrepreneurial Passion: Conceptual Foundations and Scale Validation. Journal of

Business Venturing, 28(3), 373-396.

Costa, S., Santos, S., Wach, D., Caetano, A. (2018). Recognizing opportunities across campus: The effects of cognitive training and entrepreneurial passion on the business opportunity prototype. Journal of Small Business Management, 56(1), 56-75.

Engle, R. L., Dimitriadi, N., Gavidia, J. V., Schlaegel, C., Delanoe, S., Alvarado, I., et al. (2010). Entrepreneurial intent: A twelve‐country evaluation of Ajzen's model of planned behavior. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research,

16(1), 35–57.

Franke, N., & Lüthje, C. (2004) Entrepreneurial intentions of business students – A benchmarking study. International Journal of Innovation and Technology

Management, 1(3), 269.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218– 226.

Hu, P., & Zhang, J. (2017). A pathway to learner autonomy: a self-determination theory perspective. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(1), 147-157.

Jansen, S., van de Zande, T., Brinkkemper, S., Stam, E., & Varma, V. (2015). How education, stimulation, and incubation encourage student entrepreneurship: Observations from MIT, IIIT, and Utrecht University. International Journal of

Management Education, 13(2), 170–181.

Krueger, N., & Dickson, P. R. (1994). How believing in ourselves increases risk taking: Perceived self‐efficacy and opportunity recognition. Decision Sciences, 25(3), 385-400.

Liñán, F., Urbano, D. & Guerrero, M. (2011): Regional variations in entrepreneurial

cognitions: start-up intentions of university students in Spain. Entrepreneurship and

Regional Development, 23(3&4), 187- 215.

Ma, R., Huang, Y., Shenkar, O (2011). Social networks and opportunity recognition: A cultural comparison between Taiwan and the United States. Strategic Management Journal, 32, 1183-1205.

Nab, J., Pilot, A., Brinkkemper, S. & ten Berge, H. (2010). Authentic competence-based learning in university education in entrepreneurship. International Journal of

Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 9(1), 20-35.

Ozgen, E., & Baron, R. A. (2007). Social sources of information in opportunity recognition: Effects of mentors, industry networks, and professional forums. Journal of Business

Venturing, 22(2), 174-192.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.

(8)

Shane, S. A. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship: The Individual-opportunity

Nexus. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Shane, S. A., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217–226.

Unger, J. M., Rauch, A., Frese, M., & Rosenbusch, N. (2011). Human capital and entrepreneurial success: A meta-analytical review. Journal of Business Venturing,

26(3), 341–358.

Van Gelderen, M. (2010). Autonomy as the guiding aim of entrepreneurship education.

Education+ Training, 52(8/9), 710-721.

Van Gelderen, M., & Jansen, P. (2006). Autonomy as a start-up motive. Journal of Small

Business and Enterprise Development, 13(1), 23-32.

Zhang, P., Wang, D.D., & Owen, C.L. (2015) A study of entrepreneurial intention of university students. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 5(1), 61-82.

Referenties

GERELATEERDE DOCUMENTEN

(2016), we further distinguish between team entrepreneurial passion – i.e., the overall level of shared passion among team members – and passion separation – the dispersion in

After conducting multiple statistical analyses on the derived data we are able to conclude that no statistical evidence is found that entrepreneurs who are passionate about

4.4 The difference in the type and degree of presence of negative emotions between gender Table 7 shows the coding of the experienced negative emotions in the hospitality industry

Based on the Mann-Whitney U test and the linear regression analysis with the point-biserial correlation not being statistically significant, the H 0 -Hypthesis is

Based on this, the items can be grouped and the groups where the items are in can be defined by the nature of the item (Yong &amp; Pearce, 2013). In order to answer the research

As it could have been already expected based on the outcomes of the previous tests for each domain of entrepreneurial passion, there is a statistically significant

On the other hand, it was possible to identify a statistically significant influence of certain entrepreneurial passion domains on effectual orientation and that this

Model 2 presents the regression results of the relationship between Entrepreneurial Passion for inventing, founding and developing towards effectuation, with all