This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonEntrepreneurship plays a significant role in the economic development of society. Education is also the most important pillar for the development of a nation, and this is the reason why business schools and universities are paying attention to promoting entrepreneurship education programmes. There are various courses available for entrepreneurship education with a wide variety of contents, delivery methods, teaching approaches and duration. These programmes are being provided at numerous levels and there is a need to assess the effectiveness of these programmes from different aspects and to find out the strategies for designing entrepreneurship education programmes more effective in terms of creating more entrepreneurs.
In order to know the effectiveness, intention plays an important role. If participants develop their intention to start their own venture in business, then it will be a good indicator of their future entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence the current research examines the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes in terms of intention by using the well-known theory of Azjen of planning behaviour.
Currently, entrepreneurship education courses are delivered by various means hence this research makes a useful contribution by focussing on four key characteristics i.e. introduction of role model, introduction of entrepreneurial network, business planning activities and feedback given by the mentors or teachers during the class. Another important aspect is that the sample is kept consistent by only including those HE courses whose duration is ten to twelve weeks (twenty to twenty-five contact hours).
In order to collect data, the survey method was used and overall four hundred questionnaires were included in the final data analysis. To obtain more reliable results on specific entrepreneurship education characteristics and their influence on entrepreneurial intention, this study used SEM path analysis for fitness of the overall model instead of regression for separate relationships.
The results suggest that the feedback and business plan activities can directly impact on entrepreneurial intention. This knowledge can help draw up guidelines for entrepreneurship education courses and their providers. Also, the link between entrepreneurial networking and change in intention is mediated by participants’ subjective norm though entrepreneurial networking does not influence change in intention directly, it can mediate through subjective norm. Similarly, the introduction of role models does not have a direct impact, but it is also mediated by participants’ attitude towards behaviour.
This research makes further relevant contributions by increasing knowledge of the relationship of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention through investigating the mediating roles of subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and attitudes in the relationships between elements of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention, which have not been done before. This study also suggests that these three components play mediating roles in this relationship. As these three components are relevant for developing the entrepreneurial intention hence it is also important to explore their mediating roles.
Additionally, this research contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by identifying essential characteristics: a) relevance of business plan activities, b) introduction of role models, c) introduction of entrepreneurial network and d) feedback by mentors or teachers. This is the first study in the area which has taken the step to fill this gap where a variety of entrepreneurship education courses are available, but which key characteristics can make the courses more result oriented in terms of developing entrepreneurial intention are still not available. This research has been conducted by using accepted theories such as Kolb’s experiential learning theory, Azjen’s theory of planned behaviour and recent teaching models with current entrepreneurship education programmes based on these key characteristics.
Overall the results of the research can be used by educational institutions, universities, organisation such as higher education academies or education policy makers, or anyone else who is aiming for developing and creating more entrepreneurs in the future. Entrepreneurs play a significant role in promoting the economy hence this research makes a significant practical contribution
