Analysis of the entrepreneurial profile of students attending higher education in Portugal: the Carland Entrepreneurship Index application

Background The societal changes have created new necessities in terms of health care and of professionals with diverse skills. The institutions of higher education should promote the development of an entrepreneurial profile in students which may boost the exploration of new opportunities. Objectives: To identify the entrepreneurial profile in the students in higher education and its relationship to some personal characteristics and training. Methods Correlational quantitative study, accomplished with 1,604 students from 18 institutions of polytechnic Institutes of Portugal. The collection of data occurred between July and November/2015. The Carland Entrepreneurship Index (CEI) entrepreneurial skills questionnaire was applied, along with the acquisition of socio-demographic variables of the students. Data was analysed with the SPSS 23.0. The study followed the ethical requirements. Results The (CEI) application, allowed us to note that 75.7 % of the students presented an entrepreneurial profile, 20.8 % a Micro entrepreneurial profile and 3.4 % a Macro entrepreneurial. Additionally, we verified that older students (r = 0.193, p < = 0.000), of the male gender (Female = 0.55; Male, M= 0.580 p < 0.000), that had already worked or would like to work for others, showed the greatest entrepreneurial potential (Yes M= 0.60; No 0.54; p < 0.000), along with those who participated in entrepreneurial contents during their training (Did not participate M= 0.53; Participated 0.58; p < 0.000). Conclusions The entrepreneurial profile is related with some social demographic characteristics of the students; however, the educational institutions may have a preponderant role in the development of that profile, which may contribute to a greater contribution in the wellbeing of the populations.

A longitudinal interpretive phenomenological investigation into latent entrepreneurial learning processes: Key implications for entrepreneurial education.

The effectiveness and value of entrepreneurship education is much debated within academic literature. The individual’s experience is advocated as being key to shaping entrepreneurial education and design through a multiplicity of theoretical concepts. Latent, pre-nascent and nascent entrepreneurship (doing) studies within the accepted literature provide an exceptional richness in diversity of thought however, there is a paucity of research into latent entrepreneurship education. In addition, Tolman’s early work shows the existence of cases whereby a novel problem is solved without trial and error, and sees such previous learning situations and circumstances as “examples of latent learning and reasoning”, (Deutsch, 1956, pg115). Latent learning has historically been the cause of much academic debate however, Coon’s (2004, pg260) work refers to “latent (hidden) learning … (as being) … without obvious reinforcement and remains hidden until reinforcement is provided” and thus, forms the working definition for the purpose of this study.

Business model evolution and firm performance of entrepreneurial companies

This research explores the business model (BM) evolution process of entrepreneurial companies and investigates the relationship between BM evolution and firm performance. Recently, it has been increasingly recognised that the innovative design (and re-design) of BMs is crucial to the performance of entrepreneurial firms, as BM can be associated with superior value creation and competitive advantage. However, there has been limited theoretical and empirical evidence in relation to the micro-mechanisms behind the BM evolution process and the entrepreneurial outcomes of BM evolution. This research seeks to fill this gap by opening up the ‘black box’ of the BM evolution process, exploring the micro-patterns that facilitate the continuous shaping, changing, and renewing of BMs and examining how BM evolutions create and capture value in a dynamic manner. Drawing together the BM and strategic entrepreneurship literature, this research seeks to understand: (1) how and why companies introduce BM innovations and imitations; (2) how BM innovations and imitations interplay as patterns in the BM evolution process; and (3) how BM evolution patterns affect firm performances. This research adopts a longitudinal multiple case study design that focuses on the emerging phenomenon of BM evolution. Twelve entrepreneurial firms in the Chinese Online Group Buying (OGB) industry were selected for their continuous and intensive developments of BMs and their varying success rates in this highly competitive market. Two rounds of data collection were carried out between 2013 and 2014, which generates 31 interviews with founders/co-founders and in total 5,034 pages of data. Following a three-stage research framework, the data analysis begins by mapping the BM evolution process of the twelve companies and classifying the changes in the BMs into innovations and imitations. The second stage focuses down to the BM level, which addresses the BM evolution as a dynamic process by exploring how BM innovations and imitations unfold and interplay over time. The final stage focuses on the firm level, providing theoretical explanations as to the effects of BM evolution patterns on firm performance. This research provides new insights into the nature of BM evolution by elaborating on the missing link between BM dynamics and firm performance. The findings identify four patterns of BM evolution that have different effects on a firm’s short- and long-term performance. This research contributes to the BM literature by presenting what the BM evolution process actually looks like. Moreover, it takes a step towards the process theory of the interplay between BM innovations and imitations, which addresses the role of companies’ actions, and more importantly, reactions to the competitors. Insights are also given into how entrepreneurial companies achieve and sustain value creation and capture by successfully combining the BM evolution patterns. Finally, the findings on BM evolution contributes to the strategic entrepreneurship literature by increasing the understanding of how companies compete in a more dynamic and complex environment. It reveals that, the achievement of superior firm performance is more than a simple question of whether to innovate or imitate, but rather an integration of innovation and imitation strategies over time. This study concludes with a discussion of the findings and their implications for theory and practice.

Driven entrepreneurial education in vocational schools

Vocational Education and Training (VET) is offered throughout the world to students of various educational backgrounds and career aspirations in an effort to create a skilled workforce. The structure of VET varies greatly across different fields and countries with high-growth, low-growth, and transitional economies. However, a common critique of many vocational institutions is that they focus on skills training without addressing related business systems. Thus, students may not understand the business strategies related to their field, which stifles job readiness and entrepreneurial potential. To counter this, a more context-driven and integrated entrepreneurial approach is proposed for VET. Benefits, disadvantages, and exemplars of various types of vocational and entrepreneurial programs are evaluated to determine how their strengths might be leveraged. Such integrated entrepreneurial and vocational training would more suitably address context-specific market needs via both practical and transferrable skills, thus helping to reduce unemployment, particularly among youth in sub-Saharan Africa. (DIPF/Orig.)

Entrepreneurial Orientation: do we actually know as much as we think we do?

International audience

The contribution of the entrepreneurial orientation to SMEs profitability: a contingent analysis that considers the environment role

This paper aims first to show the effect of the Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on SMEs financial performance, and second, to propose a contingency model which explores the moderating effects of environmental hostility of the relationship EO –financial performance -- To examine the research hypotheses, a sample of 121 manufacturing SMEs located in Catalonia, Spain has been used -- The results confirm a positive EO-financial performance relation, and suggest that a more positive relation exists when there is an adjustment between the EO and the environment -- Finally, the academic and entrepreneurial implications related to the EO and the SMEs environment are presented and discussed

Measurement of Entrepreneurial Dynamism Capabilities and Performance in Collaborative Networks

Part 16: Performance Measurement Systems

Constraints to the efficacy of risk management process in entrepreneurial companies

This paper highlights potential factors that affect the degree of efficacy of a formal risk management framework in entrepreneurial organisations. The understanding of entrepreneur’s self-schemas, entrepreneurial organisational culture and working environment is crucial to evaluate the efficacy of a risk management process. This research pointed out two main issues: i) the entrepreneurial decision making process with presence of biases and heuristics in judgement under uncertainty; and ii) the entrepreneurial organisational context that might create constraints to the implementation of a risk management framework.

CERVIXCHECK: A SPIRITUALLY-BASED SMS TEXT MESSAGING PILOT INTERVENTION TO INCREASE CERVICAL CANCER AWARENESS AND PAP TEST SCREENING INTENTION AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

African American women account for a disproportionate burden of cervical cancer incidence and mortality rate when compared to non-Hispanic White women. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer, and women can be screened for it with a routine Pap test. Given that religion occupies an essential place in African American lives, framing health messages with important spiritual themes and delivering them through a popular communication delivery channel may allow for a more culturally-relevant and accessible technology-based approach to promoting cervical cancer educational content to African American women. Using community-engaged research as a framework, the purpose of this multiple methods study was to develop, pilot test, and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a spiritually-based SMS text messaging intervention to increase cervical cancer awareness and Pap test screening intention among African American women. The study recruited church-attending African American women ages 21-65 and was conducted in three phases. Phases 1 and 2 consisted of a series of focus group discussions (n=15), cognitive response interviews (n=8), and initial usability testing that were conducted to inform the intervention development and modifications. Phase 3 utilized a non-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design to pilot test the 16-day text messaging intervention (n=52). Of the individuals enrolled, forty-six completed the posttest (retention rate=88%). Findings provided evidence for the early feasibility, high acceptability, and some initial efficacy of the CervixCheck intervention. There were significant pre-post increases observed for knowledge about cervical cancer and the Pap test (p = .001) and subjective norms (p = .006). Additionally, results post-intervention revealed that 83% of participants reported being either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the program and 85% found the text messages either “useful” or “very useful”. 85% of the participants also indicated that they would “likely” or “very likely” share the information they learned from the intervention with the women around them, with 39% indicating that they had already shared some of the information they received with others they knew. A spiritually-based SMS text messaging intervention could be a culturally appropriate and cost-effective method of promoting cervical cancer early detection information to African American women.

Family’s Financial Support as Poisoned Gift: A Family Embeddedness View on Entrepreneurial Intentions

How is expected financial support by the family related to individuals' entrepreneurial intentions? By drawing on family embeddedness literature we take a novel perspective and argue that the stronger the financial support that individuals will receive from their family to start a new venture is, the lower is the likelihood that they actually form entrepreneurial intentions. We confirm this prediction on a sample of 23,866 individuals from 19 countries and find in addition that the negative relationship between the expected financial support by the family and entrepreneurial intentions is contingent on the level of family cohesion and individuals' entrepreneurial self-efficacy. These results add valuable knowledge to the entrepreneurship and family embeddedness literature.

Analysing intention and action in mobile banking services

Technological advances at the level of mobile devices are transforming the world. Banking users are able to conduct banking services at any place, and at any time, with m-banking. The purpose of this research is to analyse intention and action in m-banking services. A research model was developed and PLS was used to test the causalities in the proposed model. Our proposal extends the existing models with an assessment of the actual usage of m-banking and of how behavioural intention translates into action. This study found that the main determinants of behavioural intention for m-banking are social influence and relative advantage. Furthermore, perceived risk, lack of information and usage barriers have a negative effect on m- banking behavioural intention. Perceived risks, e-banking use, and behaviour intention are found to be significant antecedents of m-banking use. Gender has a positive and significant influence on m-banking usage, but not on the construction of behavioural intention.

Venture Capital for University Spin-Outs Companies in the context of University-based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: an International Comparison

The objectives are, firstly, to identify the role of the university-focused intermediaries, specifically University-focused Venture Capital Firms (UVCs), in order to explain how they interact at the early stage of University Spin-out Companies (USOs) creation, particularly regarding knowledge sharing. Secondly, to analyse whether they change their position once the USO is developed, in the context of the dynamics of a university-based entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Prospect theory and the effects of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurial aspirations

We apply prospect theory to explain how personal and corporate bankruptcy laws affect risk perceptions of entrepreneurs at time of entry and therefore their growth ambitions. Previous theories have reached ambiguous conclusions as to whether countries with more debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws (i.e. laws that are more forgiving towards debtors in bankruptcy proceedings) are likely to have more entrepreneurs, or whether, creditorfriendly regimes have positive effects on new ventures via enhanced incentives for the supply of credit to entrepreneurs. Responding to this ambiguity, we apply prospect theory to propose that entrepreneurs do not attach the same significance to different elements of bankruptcy codes—and to explain which aspects of debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws matter more to entrepreneurs. Based on this, we derive and confirm hypotheses about the impact of aspects of bankruptcy codes on entrepreneurial activity using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor combined with data on both personal and corporate bankruptcyregulations for 15 developed OECD countries. We use multilevel random coefficient logistic regressions to take account of the hierarchical nature of the data (country and individual levels). Because entrepreneurs and creditors are sensitive to different elements of the codes, there is scope for optimisation of the legal design of bankruptcy law to achieve both an adequate supply of credit and to encourage high-ambition entrepreneurship.