Abstract

Literature reviews have concluded that entrepreneurship education and training programs are particularly effective in fostering entrepreneurship when they are action-oriented (e.g., Carpenter and Wilson, 2022). Despite this, the theoretical understanding of the training design elements, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of such programs is still limited. We suggest that the concept of active learning provides a useful theoretical framework to explain the effectiveness of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. Referring to the concept of active learning, we review the literature to present an overview of the short- and long-term effects on entrepreneurial outcomes as well as within-training processes and differential effects of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training programs. Based on the review, we present an extended active learning framework of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training that adds coaching/mentoring and working in teams to the core training design elements of control, exploration/experimentation, and information provision. Furthermore, the extended active learning framework describes the within- and post-training processes as well as the short-term learning and long-term entrepreneurial outcomes of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. We conclude by presenting avenues for future research.

An Extended Active Learning Framework of Entrepreneurship Education and Training

An Extended Active Learning Framework of Entrepreneurship Education and Training reviews the meta-analytic and systematic reviews of the field to identify the conditions under which entrepreneurship education and training is effective. Building on the conclusions of previous meta-analytic and systematic reviews, this monograph presents a theoretical framework based on the concept of active learning to explain at least some of the heterogeneity in the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and training programs. Based on the active learning framework, the authors review and describe the pedagogical methods of the entrepreneurship education and training programs presented in the research of the past ten years.

The goal of this monograph is to develop and exemplify the active learning framework of entrepreneurship education and training, which can answer the following questions: What pedagogical methods and training elements work in terms of short-term learning in the training environment and long-term transfer to the post-training environment? What are the mechanisms that explain why certain methods and elements work? And for whom and under which conditions do the methods work particularly well? The authors use the findings from the review to present an extended framework of active learning that considers features that are of special importance in entrepreneurship education and training, prominently including coaching/mentoring and working in teams. The monograph concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of the findings and avenues for future research.