The definitions of entrepreneurship presented in educational settings mainly originate in research on small businesses and growth potential, thereby emphasising the creation of new ventures (Gartner, 1985, 2014), as well as
opportunity recognition (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Current examples
include:
The core of entrepreneurship is related to the process of opportunities, new venture creation, growth, risk and acquisition and allocation of resources in order to make things happen. (Kyrö, 2015, p. 610).
At its core, entrepreneurship is the process of creating venture and value for multiple constituencies. (Matthews, 2018, p. xviii). We define EE as developing the mindset, skill set, and practice necessary for starting new ventures. (Neck & Corbett, 2018, p. 10).
Typically, in addition to theoretical knowledge about entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education also implies that students using models and theories from various sub-disciplines in business administration in order to learn how to manage start-ups and be self-employed (Antal et al., 2014; Galloway et al., 2005), i.e. learning for entrepreneurship (Hannon, 2005; Kirby, 2007).
However, as entrepreneurship courses have also become increasingly common outside business schools (Fayolle, 2018; Katz, 2007; Kyrö, 2006; Morris & Liguori, 2016), entrepreneurship education has come to include more general entrepreneurial skills. Thus, entrepreneurship education often intends to increase the students’ ability to handle uncertainty and complexity (Audretsch, 2014) in various contexts, i.e. learning through entrepreneurship by developing entrepreneurship skills, as well as entrepreneurial attitudes and identities (Blenker
et al., 2014; Donnellon et al., 2014; European Commission, 2006; European Communities, 2007; Fayolle et al., 2006; Henry et al., 2005; Matlay, 2006; Politis, 2005; Solomon, 2007). In addition, the entrepreneurial process has gained increased interest in entrepreneurship research (Davidsson, 2005; Sarasvathy, 2001) and thereby in entrepreneurship education (Hjorth & Johannisson, 2009).
Fayolle and Gailly (2008, p. 572) confirm the content diversity when discussing entrepreneurship in education as being “polysemous”. The authors state that entrepreneurship education “may designate attitudes such as autonomy, creativity, innovation, risk-taking, or the act of venture creation”. Likewise, Mwasalwiba (2010, pp. 25-26) shows in his review of 108 studies in the field that entrepreneurship in educational settings can be understood in an broad sense, since it can be related to
some kind of educational (or training) process that is aimed at influencing individuals’ attitudes, behaviour, values or intentions towards entrepreneurship either as a possible career or to enhance among them an appreciation of its role in the community (i.e. creating an entrepreneurial society).
Mwasalwiba (2010, p. 40) concludes that this means that entrepreneurship
education “will stillbe in a variety of forms with respect to one’s definition of
entrepreneurship”. In this thesis, I approach the concept of entrepreneurship in line with Mwasalwiba’s broad definition, which assumes that entrepreneurship concerns both organisation creation in different contexts as well as attitudes and skills. This approach is also in line with the context of Swedish education in which the sub-studies underlying this thesis have been conducted. Like Denmark, Germany and the UK (Blenker et al., 2008), for example, in Sweden, entrepreneurship is a key part of the government’s education strategy for the entire education system (Berglund, 2013). The Swedish strategy identifies entrepreneurship as knowledge and skills related to new venture creations, as well as entrepreneurial behaviours in their own right, to enable students to play an active role in societal development (Government Offices of Sweden, 2009). The discussion on entrepreneurship in relation to the extended scope of education has also contributed to a critical research stream, which has intensified in recent decades.
1.1.1.1 Critical perspectives
In terms of learning content, entrepreneurship has traditionally been described as ‘lonely heroes’ operating in business contexts (Bruni et al., 2004; Byrne et al., 2014; Clarke & Holt, 2017; Gartner, 1990; Liñán, 2007; Ogbor, 2000; Sköld & Tillmar, 2015). Thus, parallel to the development of a more differentiated audience and extended field of research, a desire to expand the concept of entrepreneurship beyond heroic actions has emerged (Lindgren & Packendorff,
2003). Gibb (2002, p. 259) is one of the critical authors who argues that entrepreneurship in education should be less normative and more pluralistic. He states: “the challenge here is to distance the ‘subject’ from its heroic ideology and association with business and market liberalization philosophy”. In a similar vein, Berglund and Verduyn (2018, p. 3) have noted how “entrepreneurship provides us with a Western world discourse that is classed, gendered, ethnocentric and thus excluding”.
Critical entrepreneurship education research discusses entrepreneurship as a neo-liberal agenda in the education system, and questions the strong emphasis on individualisation and the pursuit of continued economic growth (Berglund, 2013; Berglund & Verduyn, 2018; Dahlstedt & Hertzberg, 2012). Thus, this research stream seeks to counteract entrepreneurship education as a politically driven top- down project, in which students are seen as consumers. A call for more reflective educational approaches can be found in recent critical literature, based on “a need to also challenge ourselves and our students to engage in a dialogue of what entrepreneurship (education) might become” (Berglund & Verduyn, 2018, p. 4). Fletcher (2018, p. xix) envisions entrepreneurship education that is “encouraging student participation and dialogue in courses” and, similarly, Hytti (2018, p. 232) states: “we should continue to invite our students to explore if they identify with various entrepreneurial identities and how they make sense of entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial abilities and futures from their different social positions”. In the present work, this is accomplished by using a novel visual-based exercise that provides a way of accessing the students’ sense making of entrepreneurship. The exercise is outlined in section 3.3.1 below, as well as in the sub-studies, which have been conducted in student groups from various educational backgrounds.