Prior exposure to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial beliefs

Purpose To contribute to the knowledge of factors that shape entrepreneurial beliefs, the purpose of this paper is to theorize and empirically test how individuals’ general attitudes toward entrepreneurship based on exposure to others’ prior entrepreneurial activities are related to beliefs surrounding current entrepreneurial opportunities. Positive attitudes based on prior exposure can lead to bias in the beliefs about current opportunities being evaluated, suggesting that positive affect can be a negative influence in the entrepreneurial process. Design/methodology/approach The sample is the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics I, a nationally representative, longitudinal data set of US adults in the process of starting businesses. Regression analyses demonstrate how general attitudes are associated with beliefs about level of future sales, probability of venture survival, and levels of financial, competitive, and operational uncertainty. Findings Nascent entrepreneurs with more positive general attitudes toward entrepreneurship form more optimistic estimates of the financial performance and survival likelihood of their future ventures. They also estimate lower levels of environmental uncertainty. Originality/value This research extends understanding of the impact of prior exposure to entrepreneurship in the entrepreneurial process. It also contributes to increasing understanding of the determinants of entrepreneurial beliefs and extends prior work that has considered cognitive determinants (knowledge and motivation) to consider emotional determinants (affect-infused attitudes), consistent with the heightened recent interest in the role of emotion in entrepreneurship. This research provides a different perspective on the role of affect in the entrepreneurial process. While prior work addressing affect in entrepreneurship has explored the positive aspects of affect, the present study suggests that affect may not have a uniformly positive influence.

RURAL WOMEN AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A CASE STUDY IN HERAKLION CRETE PREFECTURE, GREECE

This article investigates the entrepreneurial beliefs/attitudes, ambitions, expectations, goals and visions of rural women who choose to cooperate and found Women's Rural cooperatives in the Prefecture of Heraklion on the island of Crete. The results of a qualitative study involving a sample of eight chairwomen of rural women's established Traditional Food Production cooperatives indicated that the traditional domestic roles (housewife, mother), the low level of education, the lack of professional skills, enterprise experience and mostly the unwillingness of rural women to undertake enterprise risk, have turned them toward an enterprise model that lacks modern business methods in the use of quality control production systems, in the production of Protected Geographical Identification Goods and/or Certified Local Traditional Food and/or Organic Products, in the use of new organizing and managing technologies, in advertising and promoting products and in administrative renewal.

Education for Entrepreneurship in the Curriculum at University Level

This paper discusses how the higher education system may be used as a mechanism to instil entrepreneurial beliefs and develop entrepreneurial skills among a graduate population. In particular, it examines the objectives, content, teaching method and outcomes of an integrated entrepreneurship programme developed at the University of Limerick in Ireland. A process model of entrepreneurship education is presented. Educating for enterprise promotes an awareness of business ownership as a career option and motivates young people to look creatively at their future opportunities. Graduate expertise is also crucial to many sectors of the economy where increasingly enterprise skills and competencies can stimulate a change philosophy that will foster growth.