Entrepreneurship discontinuity, under the conditions of: task

Entrepreneurshipand the Entrepreneur An attempt todefine Entrepreneurship is not new in the literature. For example, Kent, Sexton and Vesper, 1982, defined it as “ the creation ofnew business enterprises by individuals or small groups, with the entrepreneur assumingthe role of society’s major agent of change, initiating the industrial progressthat leads to wider cultural shifts”. Kuratko, 2005, defined it as “ dynamicprocess of vision, change and creation”, pp. 578. Though Kuratko, simply definethe term without implicating the person who carries that process, Kent et al., mentioned that person as an entrepreneur.

Schumpeter, 1936, defined theentrepreneur as a “ person who carries out new combinations causingdiscontinuity”, (p. 74). He argues that the function of an entrepreneur is toreform or revolutionize the pattern of production by exploiting an innovationor, more generally, an untried technological possibility for producing a newcommodity or producing an old one in a new way, by opening up a new source ofsupply of materials or a new outlet for products, by reorganization an industryand son on”, (p. 132). Though the attempt to define entrepreneurship precededand continued even after Schumpeter, Bull and Willard (1993) asserted that theSchumpeter’s definition remains the most consistent. They farther theorizedEntrepreneurship stating that: “ A person will carry out a new combinationcausing discontinuity, under the conditions of: task related motivation, expertise, expectation of personal gain and a supportive environment”. We arguethat this theory is stable to understand Entrepreneurship education andentrepreneurial attitudes that will be discussed in the following section. Entrepreneurshipeducation, Entrepreneurial attitudes and Intention.

Entrepreneurshipeducation refers to “ any pedagogical program or process of education forentrepreneurial attitudes and skills”, (Fayole, Gailly, and Lassas-Clerc, 2006, p. 702).  Entrepreneurship educationprograms have been increasing in different parts of the world with an aim toequip students with knowledge and competences necessary to create economicvalue and jobs, Duval-Couetil, (2013). Some programs Entrepreneurship educationare designed for creating awareness about entrepreneurship as a career option, others designed to prepare for aspiring entrepreneurs or for managementtraining for existing entrepreneurs, (Jamieson, 1984). Linan, 2004 addedanother aspect of entrepreneurial dynamism and asserted that Entrepreneurshipeducation designed to increase awareness is the one that fits for students whohad no experience for starting a business and who are in the process ofchoosing a career. Attitude refersto the degree to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation orappraisal over something (can be on another person, a certain behavior or anobject), Ajzen, 1991.

Allport, 1935 (as cited in Regan & Fazio, 1977)defined attitude as a mental and neutral state of readiness, organized throughexperience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence up the individual’sresponse to all objects and situations with which it is related”. Despite avast literature on the relationship between attitudes and behavior, very fewrevealed any consistence in the relationship, Regan & Fazio, 1977. Entrepreneurialintentions, are defined as the desire to own a business (Crant, 1996) or to start a business (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000). Accordingto the TPB (Ajzen, 1991), if the subject has a positive attitude towards abehavior (to create own-employment), the subjects’ intention to start anown-employment will increase. In the Theory of Entrepreneurship (Bull andWillard, 1993), the attitude is seen astask-related motivation and expectation of gain for self.  Entrepreneurial education’s function ofraising awareness among students, will in that process change the students’attitudes (allowing students to see the benefits of entrepreneurship) towardsentrepreneurship and therefor trigger entrepreneurial intentions (willingnessto start entrepreneurial ventures), (Bae et al.

, 2014).   EntrepreneurshipEducation and EntrepreneurshipThere is a vast literature on EntrepreneurshipEducation and its influence on entrepreneurial intentions and how the latter istranslated into Entrepreneurial ventures, (Bull & Willard, 1993; Kuratko, 2003, 2005; Sawyer, 2006; Bae et. al, 2014; Sanchez, 2013).

For example, Bae etal. conducted a metanalysis of 73 studies with a total sample of 37, 285individuals and found a significant but small correlation betweenentrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions (p= . 143).

Fayollle& Gaily, (2013); Lena & Wong, (2004); Bae et. al, (2014) researched onthe relationship between entrepreneurial competences and intention on one handand the growth of entrepreneurial ventures on the other hand and found apositive relationship. However, Lena & Wong were cautious to confirm acausal relationship between the two variables. Methodsof teaching entrepreneurshipThe field of teaching methods ofentrepreneurship curriculum has been studied by many scholars (Esmi, 2015; Sawyer, 2006).

Sawyer, 2006 seemed to be worried by a low attention thateducator paid to the changing mechanisms of economy in the world from traditionaleconomy to knowledge based economy. He argued that, entrepreneurship educatorshould not that shift at adopt new methods of teaching that could develop themodern knowledge, skills and competences relevant to the current economictrends. For that he proposed the used of collaborative knowledge-buildingactivities in entrepreneurship classes. In a more descriptive way, Esmi, (2015) proposed three teaching-learningmethods which also reflect the idea of collaborative activities in classrooms:(1) Direct teaching-learning methods: this approach includes methods such as inviting guest entrepreneurs – Mentoring – Officialspeech-seminars – Video watching and recording – Training in extracurricularactivities -Training in specialized lessons – Small businesses mentoring–Entrepreneurship tutoring.

(2)Interactive teaching-learning methods include process-oriented learning – Learning from mistakes -Interviewing entrepreneurs – Bilateral learning – Group discussion – Networking– Discussion – Problem-oriented learning – Active learning. (3) Practical-operational teaching learning methodsinclude Role-playing – Training workshops -Site visiting – Class practice -Research projects – Internship -Businessplanning- Starting business – Studying nature – Investment projects – Practicalexperience.