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Stimulating Entrepreneurship via Applied Games:
Considering the Needs of Distinct User Groups
Eleni Papadopoulou
Information Studies
Game Studies Master Program
University of Amsterdam
Eleni.papadopoulou@student.uva.nl
ABSTRACT
Improving the quality of entrepreneurship education is an important challenge for the contemporary knowledge societies. This paper addresses the issues of the current state of entrepreneurship education and investigates the deployment of applied games for more effective educational initiatives. Through an extensive literature review the teaching objectives, tools, theories and practices are examined with regards to stimulating individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions and attitudes. Moreover, through an online survey, this study discusses the possible focal points of a serious game for the entrepreneurial education of young people irrespectively of their background and nationality. Specific attention is paid to gender and type of entrepreneur considerations.The results of the survey indicate that the most important factor that needs to be improved for potential entrepreneurs is perceived behavioral control and thus, an applied game for this matter should focus on how to navigate through risk and uncertainty. For the nascent entrepreneurs and start-up education, perceived feasibility should be enhanced by strengthening specific technical skills and networking. Contrary to previous research findings, there was no gender difference regarding self-efficiency, but perceived desirability of becoming an entrepreneur needs a bigger boost for women than for men.
1. INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is the personal capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage the creation of new products and services, along with any of its risks, by successfully matching the market demand and creating business value. Entrepreneurship is considered very important in contemporary societies because it entails innovation, leads to increased economic efficiencies, sustains employment levels and creates new job opportunities (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Accordingly, there is considerable agreement about the importance of promoting entrepreneurial activities and stimulating entrepreneurial competencies (Liñán et al, 2011) Moreover, successful entrepreneurs can be born with innate personality traits and skills required but to a large extent they can also be made through education. Entrepreneurship education is one of the most important tools used to increase the entrepreneurial attitudes of people (Potter 2008, Gorman et al., 1997; Kourilsky and Walstad, 1998). Increasing the entrepreneurial attitudes not only can improve the skills of existing entrepreneurs but it can also encourage more people to consider entrepreneurship as a career option or even try to start a new venture. However, entrepreneurship education is still relatively immature and rarely adequately addressed by universities or national policies (Bellotti et al. 2012). There are various issues that still need to be addressed. First of all, there is not yet a general consensus on the factors that can influence the decision to become an entrepreneur, a fact that impedes the design of more effective educational initiatives. Moreover, findings from previous research point to the importance of recognizing that a “one size fits all” approach to entrepreneurship curricula may not be appropriate. Gender-sensitive programming may be needed (Wilson, Marlino & Kickul, 2004) as well as consideration of the differences in the focus depending on the type of entrepreneur. For the latter, there is a distinction between educating potential entrepreneurs, which refers to encouraging people to consider a self-employment option, and nascent entrepreneurs, referring to people that already have the intention to become entrepreneurs and want to develop specific skills required in starting a company (Liñán et al.,
2011). Furthermore, literature on entrepreneurship education identifies the need of improvement on the tools and paradigms available to develop the entrepreneurial competencies (Gibb, 2002). In the light of these observations, the need for specific considerations with regards to the needs of distinct user groups results essential.
Various approaches to entrepreneurship education are discussed in the literature. Several authors emphasize the deployment of new and less traditional tools like applied games (e.g. Neck & Greene, 2011; Bellotti et al., 2012). Prensky (2005, p.19) states that “students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”, calling the attention to the inclusion of game-based learning in educational initiatives. Game-based learning can be considered as the future of education, as the proliferation of console, mobile and online gaming is already an established fact. An applied or serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than entertainment. Good applied games motivate players through challenging and compelling in-game activities and provide application of skills and topics that can be difficult to explain in words, like entrepreneurship. Moreover, applied games can be used as a lifelong learning tool, without the time and space barriers of traditional approaches, where new knowledge and practices can be freely developed (Klopfer, Osterweil & Salen, 2009; Bellotti et al., 2012). Thus, stimulating entrepreneurship via applied games is considered a promising alternative to traditional entrepreneurial education.
For the above reasons, the primary focus of this study is to provide an extensive literature review on the challenges entrepreneurship education is facing with regards to the needs of distinct user groups and the various educational approaches. Furthermore, this study aims at getting the right focus when it comes to creating an applied game that stimulates entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions for young people. IJsfontein1, a Dutch serious games company, is interested in developing this game, as it has been approached by multiple clients interested in the topic of entrepreneurship. The game will be developed for young people from 18 to 26 irrespectively of their background or nationality, in order to provide entrepreneurship educational opportunities outside the formal educational context. It aims at helping potential entrepreneurs discover their potential whilst promoting entrepreneurial intentions and developing the necessary skills needed to nascent entrepreneurs for starting-up their own company. The vision of this project is to provide a novel and effective educational environment, like a serious game or a mobile application that is easily accessible to anyone and from anywhere. For this matter, I present the results of an online survey that was administered in order to investigate the needs and attitudes of the target group with regards to entrepreneurship intentions.
Thus, the present study attempts to provide useful insights on the following questions:
1. How can applied games contribute to entrepreneurship education? More specifically: What does literature on entrepreneurship education offer with regards to:
-teaching approaches, teaching objectives, models and theory?
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2 -the most influential factors in the decision to become an entrepreneur?
-the specific requirements posed by gender and type of entrepreneur? -the effectiveness of applied games?
- the foci for stimulating entrepreneurship that can be adopted in an applied game?
2. What should be the focus of a serious game that aims at stimulating entrepreneurial intentions?
More specifically, what does the survey indicate with regards to: - the intentions and the attitudes of the target group towards entrepreneurship?
- the specific considerations of gender and type of entrepreneur?
The following part of this paper is divided into two sections, each of which answers the two afore mentioned research questions. The first part provides an extensive literature review on how serious games can contribute to entrepreneurship education examining the teaching approaches and recommendations proposed by the literature as well as the models and theory they are based on. The second part presents the results of the survey as well as the relevant design suggestions per focus group. Last, conclusions and directions for future research are discussed.
PART A: ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
METHODS AND APPLIED GAMES
2. BACKGROUND
In the section that follows we will examine the basic issues identified in the literature regarding entrepreneurship education. Moreover, we will discuss the different elements that entrepreneurship education consists of, with a focus on the teaching objectives and methods. Thereafter, the various entrepreneurship theories that guide entrepreneurship behaviors are reviewed and the intentions-based models in particular that have received the most attention are presented in more detail. Specific considerations with regards to type and gender are discussed. Last but not least, the advantages and the state of the art of applied games are examined.
2.1 Teaching Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is no longer considered as a capacity that you can only be born with. Various studies have demonstrated that education can play a decisive role in shaping the entrepreneur’s figure and providing students with the necessary skills and competencies (e.g. Kuratko, 2005). Entrepreneurship has become a popular teaching and academic field as numerous programs and curricula in universities and other institutions worldwide offer entrepreneurship courses (Fayolle & Gailly, 2008). However, despite the widespread development of Entrepreneurial Education Programs (EEPs) and the growing interest in entrepreneurship as a science, the theoretical bases of entrepreneurship are not yet solidly established while there is not even a widely accepted definition of what entrepreneurship is. Literature on entrepreneurship suggests a number of dissimilar definitions of entrepreneurship while important problems arise from the absence of an accepted definition, such as the debate about the different objectives and varieties of entrepreneurship education considered in the various studies (Liñán, 2004).
Moreover, previous research identifies a series of issues with regards to entrepreneurship education. As acknowledged by researchers worldwide, the field is very young, emergent and in adolescence phase (Brazeal and Herbert, 1999; Low, 2001.) Entrepreneurship can be studied from a variety of different perspectives and as it constitutes such an extensive area, it is difficult to reach a general agreement with regards to what entrepreneurship stands for as a teaching subject. Furthermore, there are a number of models and entrepreneurship theories the majority of which has had very limited validation. Various researchers have stressed this lack of accepted paradigms and theories in entrepreneurship education (Hills, 1988; McMullan and Long, 1990; Kuratko, 2005). There is also considerable disagreement about the factors that influence the decision to become an entrepreneur. The cognitive models that attempt to analyze the decision to become an entrepreneur are the most popular in the field and among them, much attention has been paid to the entrepreneurial intention
(Autio et al. 2001). Although these models have shed light to the process and the underlying factors of deciding to become an entrepreneur, the specification of which elements play the most influential role in shaping this decision still remains, especially for the design of more effective education initiatives. Therefore, taking the aforementioned considerations into account, the need for new tools and approaches for entrepreneurship education emerges and a different learning environment is required to support the study of entrepreneurship (Gibb, 2002).
In the context of this study we will adopt the following suggestion of definition for EEP: the whole set of education and training activities -within the educational system or not- that try to develop in the participants the intention to perform entrepreneurial behaviors, or some of the elements that affect that intention, such as entrepreneurial knowledge, desirability of the entrepreneurial activity, or its feasibility (Liñán, 2004, p. 163). Due to the fact that any entrepreneurship education initiative could fit within the above broad definition it is important to also set some sort of classification (Liñán, 2007). McMullan & Gillin (1998) specify six differentiating elements of an entrepreneurship education program: a) objectives that are pursued; b) faculty or teaching team who will be imparting it; c) participant students; d) content of the course; e) teaching methods; and f) specific support activities for the participants to start their ventures.
The goal of this study is to determine the objectives of a serious game about entrepreneurship for young people independently of any institutional program, thus we will mostly focus on two of the above elements; the objectives to be pursued and the teaching methods.
2.1.1 Teaching Objectives
Objectives constitute the fundamental question under which all other elements should be placed. Even in the lack of a general typology of EEP, there are several suggested approaches. For instance, there is a distinction in the literature between entrepreneurship training and entrepreneurship education (Hynes, 1996; Fayolle & Gailly, 2008). The goal of the entrepreneurship training is to develop knowledge or skills that enable an individual to manage an effective performance. On the other hand entrepreneurship education intends to provide the individual with the necessary knowledge, skills and values that allows a broader range of problems to be addressed. On the same line of reasoning, Fayole and Gailly (2008) make a clear distinction between the learning process of becoming an enterprising individual and becoming an entrepreneur. The former aims at developing individual’s entrepreneurial spirit in terms of creating an entrepreneurial mindset and also affecting their decision-making process. Education that focuses on this basically tries to turn an individual who is indifferent to entrepreneurship into an enterprising individual. The second process aims at developing the entrepreneurial competencies of individuals who already have the intention to engage in an entrepreneurial project.
Aligned with the two afore-mentioned classifications, Curran and Stanworth (1989) and later on Liñán (2007) identify four types of entrepreneurship education: entrepreneurial awareness education, education for start-up, education for entrepreneurial dynamism and continuing education for entrepreneurs. As Figure 1 suggests, awareness education aims at the creation of potential entrepreneurs, thus converting individuals with no entrepreneurial intentions into enterprising individuals through entrepreneurship education. The second category, start-up education, aims at providing potential entrepreneurs with the necessary entrepreneurship training in order to become nascent entrepreneurs. The rest of the categories go into more depth and at strengthening very specific entrepreneurial aspects.
3 Figure 1: Objectives of Entrepreneurship Education
Source: Liñán, 2007, p.238
2.1.2 Teaching Approaches and Methods
Entrepreneurship courses are usually part of a university program, thus the majority of techniques used aim at university level education and they make use of traditional tools like lectures, case studies and business plans. Carrier (2007) discusses some more unusual teaching techniques used for entrepreneurship education that entail several traditional tools like reading classical literature or watching films and videos with managerial topics that mostly serve as starting points for analysis of a certain situation and for instilling the entrepreneurial mindset. Moreover, they include other tools like using life stories or new venture expert scripts as a means for boosting the entrepreneurial expertise.
On the other hand, other less traditional methods are becoming more and more popular like simulations and games. According to Carrier (2007), there are two kinds of simulations; computer-based simulations and behavioral simulations. Simulation is a representation of a real-world environment, system or process. Simulations are usually used for scientific or educational purposes, enabling the direct observation of the real system managing also special conditions’ obstacles such as inaccessibility, cost or danger. Behavioral simulations in entrepreneurship are basically experiential activities in which a business situation is created and designed so that students can experience certain behaviors and develop certain entrepreneurial skills and competencies (Carrier, 2007). According to Stumpf et al. (1991, p. 33): “While computer simulations focus on calculating the results of the efforts of those using the simulation, behavioral simulations focus on the inputs themselves, including behaviors and other decision-making processes, which participants use to manage the simulated company. While computer simulations teach about a fixed set of effort consequences captured by a preprogrammed model, behavioral simulations teach about the sense-making and opportunity seeking processes that are the participant’s inputs into the activity. “ Both the traditional and the less traditional approaches can be effective and their effectiveness can only be evaluated according to the didactic goals that were set for a specific program. However, Carrier (2007) indicates that a course consisting only of the making of a business plan may have a negative effect on the attractiveness of the entrepreneurial profession perceived by the student. For this reason it is advised that a game or a simulation that aims at stimulating the intention to become an entrepreneur avoids the mere production of a business plan, or provides a mixture of traditional and less traditional tools.
2.2 Entrepreneurship Theories
There is a considerable amount of disagreement with regards to the determining factors that guide the decision to become entrepreneur and methodologies used have been changing over the years (Liñán et al., 2011). Over the last fifteen years, cognitive approaches have attracted great attention (Baron 2004, Krueger 2003). Initially, researchers investigated the existence of certain personality traits that could be associated with the entrepreneurial activity, such as need for achievement (McClelland 1961). Later works looked into the importance of different characteristics such as age, gender, origin, culture, level of education, labor experience, etc., known as “demographic” variables (Liñán et al., 2011; Reynolds et al., 1994). Although these analyses have led to the identification of interesting relationships between several traits and
entrepreneurial behaviors, their predictive power has been found very limited (Reynolds, 1997; Krueger et al., 2000) and many authors have criticized those approaches for their methodological limitations and for their low explanatory capacity (Liñán et al., 2011; Ajzen 1991; Gartner 1989; Santos and Liñán 2007; Shapero and Sokol 1982). As Gartner (1985) argues, entrepreneurs constitute a greatly heterogeneous group of people that withstands a common definition and, therefore, there are no common indicators. This observation points to the fact that an “average entrepreneur” does not exist and thus, an average personality profile of entrepreneurs cannot be determined.
The afore-mentioned theories contribute mostly to the prediction and the likelihood that an individual will decide to become an entrepreneur and not so much to the identification of the factors that can be influenced through education. The most popular and reliable models among the cognitive approaches that try to answer this refer to the entrepreneurial intention, thus the decision to become an entrepreneur (Autio et al. 2001). Since the decision to become an entrepreneur may be plausibly considered as voluntary and conscious (Krueger et al. 2000), it would be a previous and determinant element towards performing entrepreneurial behaviors (Fayolle & DeGeorge, 2006). In turn, the intention of carrying out a given behavior will depend on the person’s attitudes towards that behavior (Ajzen 1991) and thus, attitudes would measure the extent to which an individual values positively or negatively some behavior (Liñán, 2004). Since the intention-based approaches are considered more explanatory than the traits and demographic approaches (Krueger et al. 2000) we will examine them in more detail.
2.2.1 Intention-based models
The two most important predictors of entrepreneurial intentions according to the literature are considered the following: the theory of the “entrepreneurial event” (Shapero and Sokol, 1982) and, secondly, the theory of “planned behavior” (Ajzen, 1991). Both models are characterized by a high level of mutual compatibility (Krueger et al. 2000). Liñán (2004) suggests an integration of both.
According to Entrepreneurial Event Theory (EET), firm creation is regarded as a consequence of the interaction among contextual factors. These factors are active through their influence on the individual’s perception. The procedure of considering entrepreneurship as an option would take place as a result of some external change, a precipitating event (Peterman and Kennedy, 2003; Liñán et al., 2011). Thus, the perceptions of individuals about the available alternatives shape the way they respond to that external event. EET identifies two basic kinds of perceptions: 1. Perceived desirability is defined as the degree to which the individual feels attraction for a given behavior (to become an entrepreneur). 2. Perceived feasibility refers to the degree to which people consider themselves personally able to carry out certain behavior.
In turn, both types of perceptions are determined by cultural and social factors, through their influence on the individual’s values system (Liñán et al., 2005; 2011; Shapero & Sokol, 1982). Consequently, outer circumstances would not influence firm-creation behaviors directly, but instead they would be the consequence of a conscious or unconscious examination carried out by the individual regarding the desirability and feasibility of the different possible alternatives in that situation.
Similarly, Ajzen (1991) develops a psychological model of “planned behavior” (TPB: Theory of Planned Behavior). Almost all voluntary behaviors can be explained by this model and there are various fields where the results are proven satisfactory, including the choice of professional career (Ajzen 2001). According to TPB, intention is the fundamental element towards explaining behavior, resulting from the narrow relationshipbetween the intention to be an entrepreneur and its effective performance.It indicates the effort that people will exert to carry out an entrepreneurial behavior (Liñán et al., 2011). And in turn, it captures the following three motivational factors that influence behavior (Ajzen 1991):
1. Perceived behavioral control: the perception of the easiness or difficulty in the fulfillment of the behavior of interest (becoming an entrepreneur).The concept of perceived behavioral control is quite similar
4 to other two similar concepts: perceived self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994)
and perceived feasibility of the afore-mentioned model of EET. In all three instances, what appears essential is the sense of capacity regarding the fulfillment of firm creation behaviors.
2. Attitude towards the behavior indicates the degree to which the individual holds a positive or negative personal valuation about being an entrepreneur.
3. Perceived social norms are mostly expressed in the perceived social pressure to carry out (or not) a certain entrepreneurial behavior.
These two models can be integrated in the following model of Entrepreneurial Intention as suggested by Liñán (2004):
Figure 2: Entrepreneurial intention model
Source: Liñán (2004, p. 15), Figure 2
Entrepreneurial self- efficacy, the self-perception of one’s own capabilities, is a motivational construct that has been found to affect an individual’s choice of activities, goals, persistence and performance in a range of tasks and contexts (Bandura, 1994). Self-efficacy affects a person's beliefs regarding whether or not certain goals may be attained. If a certain behavior is perceived to be beyond the ability of a person, the individual will not act, even if there is a perceived social demand for that behavior (Boyd & Vozikis, 1994). Moreover, a robust body of research has expressly investigated the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial career preferences: A clear pattern has been found indicating that individuals with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy have higher entrepreneurial intentions (Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998; Wang, Wong, & Lu, 2002). For the above reasons the present study incorporates the perceived self-efficacy as one of the determinants of perceived feasibility.
As literature review on the intentions-based models suggests, the basic factors that can influence the intention to become an entrepreneur are perceived feasibility and perceived desirability (Autio et al. 2001; Krueger et al. 2000). Results from the empirical study of Liñán et al. (2011) further indicate that the main factors explaining entrepreneurial intention are personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control. Thus, stimulating entrepreneurship through education should consider these elements. As social norms were found to contribute very weakly to the intention of carrying out several behaviors they will not be part of the important factors examined in this study, as it is also a factor that is harder to influence through a SG or a simulation.
2.3 Specific considerations with regards to gender
and type of entrepreneur
2.3.1 Gender considerations
The importance of specific gender considerations when designing a course for entrepreneurship education has been pointed out in previous research. Bandura et al. (2001) suggest that women can be more strongly influenced by any perceived skill deficiencies in their decision to be an entrepreneur in comparison to men. While there is little specific research examining the interactions between entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intentions and gender, there are some initial indications that suggest that women have both lower entrepreneurial self-efficacy and lower
entrepreneurial intentions (Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998; Kourilsky &Walstad, 1998; Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007). Furthermore, women in particular avoid entrepreneurial career choices because they think they lack the required skills (Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998). Thus, entrepreneurship education should take gender differences into consideration and pay specific attention to self-efficacy for female students (Wilson et al., 2007). However, there are also indications for the contrary: in the research of Zhao, Siebert, & Hills (2005), gender was not mediated by self-efficacy but had a direct effect such that women reported lower entrepreneurial career intentions.
2.3.2 Potential entrepreneurs and awareness education
With the distinction made earlier with regards to the type of entrepreneur that education focuses on, there are various considerations to be taken into account. For encouraging potential entrepreneurship or learning how to become an enterprising individual entrepreneurial awareness education is the advised path. This could be achieved by the development of intentions and its antecedents, thus stimulating perceived desirability and feasibility. Although there are no specific methods for achieving this in the existing literature, there are some proposed guidelines. In particular, attractiveness of entrepreneurship as a career choice can be enhanced by transmitting the roles and aspects of entrepreneurship together with the problems usually faced. More specifically, identifying the abilities that are useful and important for entrepreneurship, stressing the fact that they can be developed and making explicit the successive steps involved in doing so (Fillion, 1995). The above points are mostly useful for developing the desirability of becoming an entrepreneur. In establishing the individual’s entrepreneurial feasibility level, the presence of role models, mentors and creating familiarity with the everyday life of an entrepreneur can be a useful approach (Liñán, 2004). Moreover, as an important aspect of feasibility, self-efficacy can influence intentions, thus it is useful to boost the confidence of the students in specific tasks. Liñán (2007) indicates that intentions can be indirectly affected by developing creativity and opportunity recognition skills, specific local knowledge and networking contacts.Additionally, especially for entrepreneurship awareness education, Fretschner & Weber (2013) propose the use of feelings, attitudes and values outside of information; this, in general, will place greater emphasis on experience-based learning. Moreover, helping participants develop emotional responses when dealing with conflict situations will encourage them to make choices and commitments to actions in conditions of stress and uncertainty.
Souitaris et al. (2007) highlight the importance of inspiration in raising attitudes and intentions as well as increasing the chances that students will eventually make efforts to start a new venture. This implies that if the goal is to increase the number of entrepreneurs from the student population, then the inspirational aspect of the program has to be designed purposefully and points to the use of role models.
2.3.3 Nascent entrepreneurs and start-up education
For the education of nascent entrepreneurs the focus should be on start-up education. To this end, it is advised to promote learning by doing and trial-and-error techniques, provide insights for dealing with failure and promote entrepreneurial cognition like heuristics and risk perception (Fayolle & Gailly, 2008; Linan et al. 2011). Moreover, in start-up education, students should be able to know how to make a business plan, thus it is important to be included. However, as mentioned in the previous section, some recent studies indicate that a course consisting only of the production of a business plan may have a negative effect on desirability (Carrier, 2005), thus it should be complemented by other features and approaches. As entrepreneurship basically consists of identifying and exploiting an opportunity (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000), creativity and opportunity recognition skills are also part of the start-up education. For this matter, DeTienne & Chandler (2004) have developed a training model named SEEC (securing, expanding, exposing and challenging). However effective, it is mostly a model useful for in-class practice activities. Furthermore, especially for start-up education, several authors (e.g. Sarasvathy, 2001; Neck & Greene, 2011) have stressed the importance of dealing with entrepreneurship as a method as opposed to entrepreneurship5 as a process. Their basic arguments are that entrepreneurship as a method
is fit for education as it prepares the student for unpredictable environments, it is inclusive and it requires continuous practice. A useful theory for teaching entrepreneurship as a method is effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001). Effectuation is an alternative way of thinking which involves starting by considering the particular means available, and relies on construction of the entrepreneurial mindset according to the means available rather than first choosing a particular effect (e.g. opening a business) and then choosing from an infinite set of resources (means), which is referred to as causation. Effectuation might be useful for stimulating creativity and helping potential and nascent entrepreneurs navigate through an unstable and risky environment. The basic principles that could be useful to the serious game are the following (“Effectuation 101”, 2012):
-Bird in Hand Principle: Start with your means rather than wait for the perfect opportunity. Start taking action, based on what you have readily available
-Affordable Loss Principle: Set affordable losses and evaluate opportunities based on whether the downside is acceptable, rather than on the attractiveness of the predicted upside.
-Lemonade Principle: Leverage contingencies and embrace surprises that arise from uncertain situations, remaining flexible rather than tethered to existing goals.
The effectuation process starts with an important self-awareness of who I am, what I know and whom I know. In other words, the starting point are the following three categories of means: their identity, their knowledge base and their social network (Sarasvathy, 2008). Then expert entrepreneurs try to gain primary customers and dedicated partners, who in turn create new means and new goals as resources and viewpoints are added to the mix. Thus, effectuation promotes the use of new means and new goals to drive the creation of the venture in new, unexpected ways.
2.4 Serious Games for Business and
Entrepreneurship
Since the need for a new learning environment has been identified, in this sub-section we will discuss the effectiveness of the deployment of serious games for entrepreneurship education. Moreover, the state of the art in serious games and simulations is examined as well as some specific game design issues.
2.4.1 Advantages of Serious Games
The use of serious games is becoming very popular as far as novel entrepreneurial educational methods are concerned. Internet-based and computer-based technologies could be valuable teaching methods especially for entrepreneurship education (Mitchell, & Savall-Smith, 2004). Serious Games (SGs) and simulations, although not interchangeable, are very closely related: however, both differ from the general category of games. Simulations portray aspects of reality while games do not; conversely, SGs affinity to reality appears to be a key factor (Arnab et al, 2014).
The most important advantage of the deployment of serious games is that they allow students to practice entrepreneurship in a playful approach while also guaranteeing serious results (Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004). Serious games help students see and understand complex relationships and reduce the cost of errors for the users. Moreover, Educational SGs use pedagogy to introduce instruction into the game-play (Bellotti et al, 2012). Games are effective because the learning is practiced within the context of interest, thus they offer situated cognition (Van Eck, 2006). Furthermore, today’s games require 50–100 hours to master, which is almost as much as the time a student spends on a semester-long course (Pink, 2006). In fact, one could argue that games might be even more effective than lectures; students can only remember 10% of what they read, but almost 90% of what they experience when they engage in the practice of a task, even a simulation (Dale, 1969; Bellotti et al, 2012).
The effectiveness of simulation technology in education has been largely established for teaching numerous topics as well as at different levels of education. Merchant et al. (2014) in their meta-analysis study, stress the effectiveness of simulations when placed as a robust addition to the
available traditional methods. Furthermore, in the study of Blunt (2007) it was reported that in the classes where management simulation videogames were used students scored significantly higher means than students in classes that did not. Learning though “trial-and-error” in simulations has been found to enhance the performance of students and additionally, the high results of users in simulations is the outcome of players’ skills rather than of random luck (Gamlath, 2009).
2.4.2 State of the art
The list of SGs and simulations for entrepreneurship is boundless and the vast majority of these games are used in university-level courses, but as one would expect, it is nearly impossible for one single game to address all the possible angles, aspects and objectives of entrepreneurship education. In their extensive computer-based business games literature review, Wolfe and Bruton (1994) report that they require creativity on the part of the players to a large extent, while there is only a limited range of entrepreneurial skills that are offered and the authors state that most games tend to solely scratch the surface of the features they cover. However, it is useful to go through the various themes and objectives of the most well known games that are already in use for entrepreneurship education. Simulations typically offer a small business environment where the players should operate and achieve maximum results. In the Entrepreneurial Simulation Program for example, the teams receive the same starting capital to run a retail shoe store and at the end of a 12-month period when the store is sold, the participants’ performance is calculated based on its value. Furthermore, there are some simulations that aim also at raising players’ awareness of the more emotional aspects of entrepreneurship involved, such as entrepreneurial failure and how to deal with it (Honig, 2004). Multimedia simulations, including the Harvard simulation entitled Launching a High-risk Business (Sahlman and Roberts, 1999) make use of active participation by students in order to promote the afore-mentioned emotional factors.
As far as SGs are concerned there is also a considerable amount of literature investigating the various tools and objectives promoted. For instance, PNP Village, as described by Gentile et al. (2014), is a web-based game for acquiring, improving and testing the skills of students in the management of a tourist resort. The game aims at 1) allowing students to understand the aspects of complex decision-making through a simulated environment as closely to the real world as possible, 2) promoting self-monitoring via indexes that summarize market trends and facilitate interpretation 3) encouraging competition as well as cooperation among the students and 4) promoting a business mindset and entrepreneurial competencies
Another interesting type of SGs for motivating young people to become entrepreneurs uses social networks like Facebook in order to target better a wide community of young people to develop their ideas while getting also feedback from friends, competitors and experts. An example of this type of entrepreneurship games is BIZZY and it resulted from previous work developed under the PLAYER project (Fonseca et al., 2012; 2014). Moreover, Babson school investigated and experimented with the use of serious games in the entrepreneurship curriculum (Neck & Greene, 2011). They developed and tested a social media alternative reality game for teaching social media to faculty members in order to experience how it can be of use in teaching entrepreneurship. The video game they developed supports learning about how entrepreneurs think under conditions of uncertainty and risk is based on the theory of effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001) and was designed to replace a case study for an in-class discussion on entrepreneurial thinking. Neck and Greene (2011) suggest that effectuation theory can be a very suitable basis for the creation of simulations and games on entrepreneurship.
2.4.3 Useful game design considerations
The design of SGs is not yet an officially documented process and proper guidelines based on a validated methodological approach do not exist. Moreover, the design is often determined by the simulation goal, thus switching the emphasis from the educational aspect to the realism of the simulated system. It is, of course, important to choose the right simulation exercises in order to maintain students’ interest and motivation. As Honig (2004, p. 265) points out, for an individual to maintain motivation during the simulation, the activity must be both believable and continuously adaptable. It is the latter aspect of simulation design that may impact the
6 long-term ability of students to obtain maximum learning. The simulation
should adapt to the external environment’s changes in order to reflect the individual’s cognitive expectations, otherwise, the activities become senseless and boring (Honig, 2004). The choice of a simulation exercise must also take into account the learning objectives. Hindle (2002) proposed a certain number of criteria to guide the development or choice of a simulation exercise. The basic guidelines include: the ability of the scenario to appear relevant and credible, the unambiguous communication relating to different aspect and a cost–benefit analysis based on the above criteria and the goal of the exercise.Hindle also adds, more generally, that the simulation exercise must appear to be adjusted to the business context prevailing at the time it is submitted to the group of students, in order to achieve maximum participation.
2.5 Summary of key findings in Part A
The most influential and accepted models are the intention-based models and more specifically the Entrepreneurial Event Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Due to their similarities, the two models can be combined into one integrated model. The most important factors that can shape entrepreneurial intentions according to the integrated model are: perceived feasibility which is mostly guided by perceived behavioral control and also perceived desirability that is measured by personal attitudes and self-efficacy.
For the first steps towards entrepreneurship education we can focus on two types of entrepreneur types and teaching objectives: 1. Entrepreneurship education/ learning to become an enterprising individual/ entrepreneurial awareness education; all three focus on the development of potential entrepreneurs.2. Entrepreneurship training/learning to become an entrepreneur/ start-up education; for the development of nascent entrepreneurs.
With regards to the teaching approaches and methods there is a distinction between traditional and non-traditional approaches. The non-traditional approaches include games and simulations. There are two types of simulations; computer-based simulations and behavioral simulations. Both the traditional and the less traditional approaches can be effective and their effectiveness can only be evaluated according to the didactic goals that were set for a specific program. However, a course consisting only of the making of a business plan may have a negative effect on perceived desirability thus it is advised that a game or a simulation that aims at stimulating intentions avoids the mere production of a business plan, or provides a mixture of traditional and less traditional tools.
Furthermore, the specific considerations with regards to gender and type of entrepreneur were discussed. Entrepreneurship education should take gender differences into consideration and pay specific attention to raising self-efficacy for female students.
When aiming at entrepreneurship awareness education for potential entrepreneurs it is advised primarily to develop intentions and its antecedents, thus stimulate perceived desirability and feasibility. Perceived desirability can be enhanced by transmitting the roles and aspects of entrepreneurship together with the challenges usually faced. In establishing the individual’s entrepreneurial feasibility level, the presence of role models, mentors and creating familiarity with the everyday life of an entrepreneur as well as boosting self-efficacy in specific tasks. Last, intentions can be indirectly affected by developing creativity and opportunity recognition skills, specific local knowledge and networking contacts.
For the training of nascent entrepreneurs it is advised to promote learning by doing and trial-and-error techniques, provide insights for dealing with failure and promote entrepreneurial cognition like heuristics and risk perception. Furthermore, creativity and opportunity recognition skills are also part of the start-up education. Also, several authors stress the importance of teaching entrepreneurship as a method and not as a process for the creation of a more flexible entrepreneurial mindset with useful tools such as effectuation theory.
PART B: FOCUS OF THE GAME
3. USER NEEDS
Based on the literature review, developing entrepreneurial intentions and its antecedents should be the goal of the first stages of entrepreneurship education. Thus, there should be a preliminary investigation of the target-group’s intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship in order to assess which elements require extra attention. According to the classification suggested by Liñán, we can assume that the target group is divided into the categories of potential and nascent entrepreneurs. Literature suggests that there is also the need to take into account specific gender considerations for more effective educational contents. Moreover, since a number of suggested foci were identified in Part A of this paper, for the purpose of the development of the serious game, it would be useful to narrow the number down to two or three most important goals. Therefore, the need to further examine the lacks of the target group and its sub-groups emerges with regards to entrepreneurial competencies.
3.1 Goals of the survey
In order to assess the target group’s attitudes, beliefs and preferences I designed and administered an appropriately designed online questionnaire. The goal of the questionnaire was threefold;
1) Assess the target group intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Apart from the firm intention to start-up a firm, following the literature suggestions about the antecedents of intentions, the aim of the survey was to assess the perceived feasibility and perceived desirability of the option to become an entrepreneur.
2) Find patterns within the different types of entrepreneurs; potential and nascent. The categorization of the participants into potential and nascent entrepreneurs was based on whether they already have intentions or not to start a firm. Demographic variables such as gender and age are useful for discovering patterns and trends among the target group.
3) Acquire information about the target group’s expectations and preferences about the development of a serious game about entrepreneurship.
3.2 The questionnaires used /Measures
The questionnaire was based on the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) as included and explained in the research of Liñán and Chen (2009). Several items were adapted to fit the purpose of this study and some extra questions were added with regards to preferences of the target group about serious games. The EIQ has been carefully cross-checked following Krueger et al. (2000) and Veciana et al. (2005). The full survey that was used is included in the Appendix.
The questionnaire was divided into the following sections: 1.Education and Experience; questions about the level of education and prior work experience. 2. Perceived Desirability, 3. Perceived Feasibility, 4.Entrepreneurial intentions; the participants were asked a Yes Or No question about whether they have seriously considered to become entrepreneurs and some additional likert-scale questions about the intensity of their intentions, 5. Prior entrepreneurship education, 6. Serious Games and preferences and 7. Personal Data/Demographics. It should be noted that following the EIQ format, the Perceived Desirability is divided into Personal Attitudes and Professional Attraction and Perceived Feasibility is captured through Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) and self-efficacy. In the Serious Games and preferences section the participants were asked to indicate their preference with regards to some entrepreneurship education items, by ranking them. These items were based on the literature review and they were the following: raise self-efficacy, improve networking and leadership skills, learn how to deal with risk, uncertainty and decision making, acquire knowledge of theory and business models, increase creativity and opportunity recognition, improve specific technical skills, get more familiarity with the daily life of an entrepreneur.
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3.3 Results of the survey
3.3.1 Participants
The questionnaire was proposed to online communities of young people irrespectively of their level of education and nationality. The questionnaire had 105 respondents of whom the majority was people currently following or who have completed Bachelor’s (21%) and Master’s (65%) Education, 5% indicated high-school as their highest level of education completed, while there was an 8% of doctorate candidates. The division of males versus females was 48 % to 52% respectively, thus 55 women and 50 men, and almost half of the sample belongs to the age group of 22-25, while the rest belongs almost equally to the groups of 18-21, 26-28 and last, over 29.
68% of the sample resides in the Netherlands, 17% in Greece, 6.7% in Germany, and other 10 countries share the remaining percentage. The participants in their majority were Greek (48%) and Dutch (24%), while the remaining participants came from 18 other countries, most of which are European. Moreover, 60% of the sample is expatriates.
When asked about their work experience, 70% of the respondents had work experience of whom 36% indicated to have been in a position responsible for other people. Moreover, 20% percent of the sample responded that they are or have been self-employed, thus they are independent workers or entrepreneurs. As far as prior entrepreneurship education is concerned only 30% of the sample stated to have followed some course that could be considered as entrepreneurship education and they indicated that it mostly helped them enhance their entrepreneurial abilities and knowledge about the entrepreneurial environment, while it did not help them develop preference or intentions to become entrepreneurs.
3.3.2 Main Results about intentions and attitudes
As far as intentions are concerned, the sample was divided exactly in the middle; in the question “Have you ever seriously considered becoming an entrepreneur?” 50.5% answered negatively and 49.5% positively. The average intensity of the intentions for the participants with positive intentions (nascent entrepreneurs) was 5.1 out of 7(sd= 1.5), while for those without intentions (potential entrepreneurs) was very low (2.7 with sd=1.3), and thus, it is consistent with their reported higher-level intentions. Although the male and female samples are almost equally divided in the categories of having and not having intentions, the average intensity of intentions for the male participants was higher in comparison to the female; 5.5 versus 4.8 for the nascent entrepreneurs and 3.1 versus 2.3 for the potential entrepreneurs. The above are depicted in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Average Intensity of Intentions
Note: Intensity of intentions consisted of 4 items which were evaluated on a 7- point likert scale. For the full report see Appendix.
Perceived desirability of becoming an entrepreneur can be divided into two sub-categories: Attitudes towards entrepreneurship and professional attraction. The majority of the target group valued the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs in the long-term more positively than in the
immediate future, while they showed maximum preference for a salaried job. Overall, they stated to gain satisfaction from the option of opening their own firm especially if they had the opportunity and resources. The overall attitudes towards entrepreneurship were on average close to 5 out of 7. The attitudes towards entrepreneurship were more positive for men than for women for all items of this factor.
With regards to perceived feasibility we can look into two factors; perceived behavioral control (PBC)and self-assessed self-efficacy. PBC was low in all evaluated aspects (3.9), for the potential entrepreneurs it was 2.7 and for the nascent group it was 4 and there was no gender difference. On the other hand self-efficacy in most tasks was reported much higher (average value of all aspects was 5). The difference in self-efficacy between the genders was insignificant. The highest self-reported capacity was at problem solving skills while the lowest was at networking skills and this trend applied also across gender and type of entrepreneur division (intentions). The nascent entrepreneurs evaluated their entrepreneurial capacities in total higher than the potential entrepreneurs although the difference was relatively small.
Means and standard deviations of the perceived feasibility and desirability are presented in the table below.
Table 1: Perceived Feasibility and Desirability
Perceived Feasibility Perceived Desirability
PBC Self-efficacy Pers. Attitudes Attractio n(Short-term) Attractio n(Long-term) Nasce nt 4 sd=1.6 5.4 sd=1.3 5.3 sd=1.3 5 sd=1.8 5.4 sd=1.7 Poten tial 2.7 sd=1.3 4.7 sd= 1.4 3.9 sd=1.4 2.9 sd=1.6 4 sd=1.6 MALE S 3.4 sd=1.4 5.1 sd=1.3 4.9 sd=1.6 4.4 sd=1.9 5 sd=1.7 FEMA LES 3.4 sd=1.7 4.9 sd= 1.5 4.4 sd=1.7 3.6 sd=2 4.3 sd=1.8
3.3.3 Game focus and preferences
Regarding the preferences about the goal of a potential serious game for entrepreneurship education the ranking of the objectives is shown on Figure 4.
Figure 4: Ranking of goals
1 Learn how to deal with risk, uncertainty and decision making 2 Improve specific technical skills
3 Improve networking and leadership skills 4 Increase self-efficacy
5 Acquire knowledge of theory and business models 6 Increase creativity and opportunity recognition
7 Get more familiarity with the daily life of an entrepreneur
There were some gender differences in the ranking of the game objectives; the two highest factors for men were: 1) Improve certain technical skills and 2) Increase self-efficacy. Whereas for women: 1) Learn how to deal with risk and uncertainty, 2) Improve specific technical skills
There was also an important difference across type of entrepreneur. Nascent entrepreneurs indicated that the factors they would like to improve were the technical skills and improving networking skills, thus
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1
2
3
4
5
6
Intensity of Intentions
Average score
in 7-Likert
Scale
8 the more specific and technical items of the list. On the other hand, the
potential entrepreneurs indicated that what they would like to improve the most is knowledge on how to deal with risk and uncertainty and also raise self-efficacy.
As far as the creation of such a serious game is concerned, the vast majority of target group valued very positively this prospect; 79% thought that it is a good idea, 10% were indifferent, while 11% did not like it. When asked to justify their preference in an open question there were a lot of responses highlighted the fun as an important positive aspect that can lead to deep learning, and they would like try it if it’s in fact a game and not a ‘decorated educational process’ to quote participant No34. However, part of the responses also indicated that they are skeptical about the effectiveness and if it can reflect the real challenges of an entrepreneur. Also some responses indicated that although it is a good idea it depends greatly on the implementation and the game mechanics employed. Last, when asked to indicate their preference about the medium 79% indicates the PC, with the mobile phone coming in second (42%). With regards to the social setting of the game the majority (69%) would like to play the game alone, while 45% would like to play it together with friends or other people physically present and a 38% would like to play it online.
4. THE GAME
In this section, we will discuss the main findings of the survey and their implications for the focus of the design of a serious game about entrepreneurship.
4.1 Grouping and implications of results
Intentions: Half of the sample reported to possess intentions to become entrepreneurs and they had relatively strong intentions. Although there was no gender difference in reported high-level intentions, males possessed stronger intentions than females.
Perceived Desirability: Their attitudes towards entrepreneurship were overall positive. Long-term professional attraction was relatively high but the majority was concerned with the uncertainty of such a professional choice. Males scored higher than females on every sub-factor of perceived desirability (personal attitudes and professional attraction). Moreover, both types of entrepreneurs and both genders valued the prospect of becoming entrepreneurs in the long-term more positively than in the immediate future.
Perceived feasibility presents the most interesting results; First, there was no difference in self-reported self-efficacy across genders, in contrast to what was hypothesized based on the findings of previous research. Secondly, it seems that perceived feasibility would need a bigger boost than desirability; although participants rated their entrepreneurial capacities relatively high, their perceived behavioral control was low, dragging the overall factor of perceived feasibility down. This finding points towards the need for strengthening their abilities to learn how to navigate through risk and uncertainty. Moreover, potential entrepreneurs, although rated their self-efficacy almost as high as the nascent entrepreneurs, their perceived behavioral control (PBC) was a lot lower indicating that for the potential entrepreneurs category the perceived feasibility can be increased by boosting the PBC.
The results from the preferred goals of a potential SG about entrepreneurship join the above conclusion. Learn how to deal with risk and uncertainty was ranked as the most important factor overall and it was more important for females than for males. The findings with regards to special preferences according to type of entrepreneur and gender are presented in the table below and are the intersection of the two highest preferences across the type of entrepreneur and across gender.
Table 2: Focus per gender across type Potential Nascent M F M F Self-efficacy
Networking
Technical Skills
Uncertainty and risk
4.2 Target group profiles and suggested focus of
the game
Potential entrepreneurs: Their levels of both feasibility and desirability were average. The results of the survey indicate that the most important factor that needs to be improved is PBC. Accordingly, the most important lack they indicated was dealing with uncertainty and risk. Thus, if the game aims at awareness education for potential entrepreneurs, then it should focus mostly on PBC and how to navigate through uncertainty and risk. For this matter, as it was pointed out in the literature a behavioral simulation could be a suitable solution. Additionally, the game could include different levels or missions in order to incorporate the gender considerations discussed below.
Nascent entrepreneurs: The results of the survey showed that nascent entrepreneurs have relatively high scores on intentions and perceived desirability, while perceived feasibility was slightly lower. Additionally, there were no important gender differences found and both men and women indicated that they would like to work on specific technical skills as well as on networking and leadership skills. Consequently, if the game aims at start-up education, then it should pay specific attention to perceived feasibility and on improving the afore-mentioned skill categories. In combination with the suggested practices for nascent entrepreneurs from the literature review and the above proposition, it would be advised to include: the making of a business plan by making use of effectuation theory, trial and error techniques as well as behavioral aspects such as dealing with failure. Moreover, the game could make use of social networks in order to provide a suitable environment for the desired interpersonal and networking goals.
Gender differences: Although the differences in means were not big between men and women, women scored consistently lower on all items of perceived desirability and intensity of intentions. However, self-efficacy was on the same levels for both genders. Consequently, especially for the awareness education, it is advised that the game aims at boosting perceived desirability. Literature review suggests the use of role models and inspirational elements.
5. CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Summary of research
This study attempted to portray the needs and lacks of young people with regards to entrepreneurship awareness and start-up education via applied games. The first part of this paper, according to an extensive literature review, presented and analyzed the factors that are considered important. The most reliable models, the intention-based models, point towards perceived desirability and perceived feasibility and more specifically towards perceived behavioral control and personal attitudes and self-efficacy. Moreover it provided specific considerations according to the gender and type of entrepreneur. Based on the findings of the literature review, an online survey was designed and administered, the results of which were presented at the second part of this paper. The survey aimed at assessing the intentions and attitudes of the target group towards entrepreneurship and getting the right focus for designing a serious game for entrepreneurship education. The results indicate that the most important factor that needs to be improved for potential entrepreneurs is perceived behavioral control and an applied game for this matter should focus on how to navigate through risk and uncertainty. For the nascent entrepreneurs and start-up education, perceived feasibility should be enhanced by strengthening specific technical skills and networking. Last,
