A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

The Influence of a ‘Learning-by-Doing’ Program on
Entrepreneurial Perceptions of Economics Students
Luc De Grez and Dirk Van Lindt
Hogeschool Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Luc.degrez@hubrussel.be
Dirk.vanlindt@hubrussel.be
Abstract: Entrepreneurship, in this paper, is considered from both a narrow and a broad perspective. Hence it is
simultaneously seen from the viewpoint of starting a new company and from that of working in an existing
organization. The key problem that educators face is the stimulation of entrepreneurship through instruction. This
instruction may consist of traditional courses or may take the form of learning by doing programs. In this paper
the effect of such learning by doing programs on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions is
investigated and the social-cognitive theory is used as a theoretical framework.The general research question is:
Can ‘learning by doing’ programs stimulate (1) entrepreneurial self-efficacy and (2) entrepreneurial intentions and
what is the relationship between this entrepreneurial self-efficacy and these intentions and (3)personal variables,
(4) socio-economic variables and (5) educational background? The personal variables were the Big Five
personality dimensions, future time perspective and self-management. Socio-economic variables were gender
and family background. The participants were 158 economics students of a Belgian urban university college, who
were working on a project in a company or who had completed an internship in an organization.A single group
pretest-posttest design was used. A questionnaire was presented at the start of the program and a second
questionnaire was administered at the end of the program. Results indicated that the two programs were
successful in raising the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of the participants. There was a significant increase in
entrepreneurial self-efficacy between the beginning and the end of the ‘learning by doing’ program. The influence
of the socio-economic and educational variables on entrepreneurial efficacy impact was very limited. The
entrepreneurial intentions of the participants were increased by the program, but not significantly. Students from
an entrepreneurial family had higher entrepreneurial intentions, but no higher entrepreneurial efficacy. It was
already clear from the literature that the relationship of self-efficacy to entrepreneurial intentions and to other
personal and environmental variables is very complicated and needs further investigation.
Keywords: entrepreneurship, higher education, learning by doing
1. Introduction
Because entrepreneurship is so important for the economy, it is worthwhile to study the impact of
entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship can be defined in different ways, but for this study we
used the broad definition given by the Commission of the European communities (2003:
6):“Entrepreneurship is the mindset and process to create and develop economic activity by blending
risk-taking, creativity and/or innovation with sound management, within a new or an existing
organization.”
The key problem that educators are facing is how to stimulate entrepreneurship through education.
This key problem is very prominent in the educational environment of this paper: the teaching and
learning of economics students. Higher education institutions offer these students a lot of courses on,
for instance, accountancy and marketing, but also organize learning by doing programs. These
programs include short-term assignments as well as long-term internships, but are dealing, in general,
with real-life situations. To encourage entrepreneurship, practically-oriented educational programs,
providing students with real-world experiences, proved to be particularly useful.However, the specific
impact and interaction of environmental and individual variables in such ‘learning by doing’
educational programs remains very complex and not sufficiently investigated.As a result, many crucial
questions remain unsolved: for instance, to what extent do personality characteristics, gender, prior
school results, or the fact that students’ family members are self-employed affect attitude changes
through educational programs?
The social-cognitive theoretical framework (Bandura, 1986, 1997) is used in this paper to analyze the
impact of entrepreneurship education. Bandura makes an important distinction between knowing and
showing what you know, because learners do not always demonstrate what they have learned.
Learners have to be motivated to show what they have learned. Self-efficacy is the most important
motivational construct and is defined (Bandura, 1997: 3) as “belief in one’s capabilities to organize
and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments”. Several studies (e.g. Chen,
Greene, and Crick, 1998) have pointed at the importance of the entrepreneurial self-efficacy
construct, defined by Chen and colleagues (1998: 295) as “… belief that he or she is capable of
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