Playful Approaches to Entrepreneurial Competencies in University Teaching: Introducing the 4Cs Model

Abstract

A playful approach used as part of a teaching method in any university subject enhances university students’ entrepreneurial mindset and working-life skills. Playfulness has become more accentuated, and playful approaches in the working-life context have been studied, for example, within management and organizations. In university teaching, playful learning contributes to students’ problem-solving skills, creativity, foresight, as well as their ability to see things that do not yet exist. These skills are linked to entrepreneurial competences, such as creativity, vision, tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity. We collected our data through participatory observation in a workshop organized for teachers and researchers at a business school. The workshop utilized playful artifacts as tools for idea generation and to support embodied and spatial co-creation and presentation. The findings indicate that playfulness is useful in teaching an entrepreneurial mindset and attitudes, offering first-hand experiences, invoking emotions, and sharing them with others.