Nationwide entrepreneurship content in secondary schools: Impact on entrepreneurial careers

Abstract

Research Summary: In an agenda setting seminar in 1997, when entrepreneurship was just emerging as a serious field of scholarship, Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow offered a challenging null hypothesis, namely, that entrepreneurship being a stochastic phenomenon, educational content is unlikely to make a difference in startup rates or success thereafter. With a view to begin tackling this null, we utilize a nationwide educational reform as a quasi-experiment to investigate the effect of business and entrepreneurship-oriented education on (i) early age startup (i.e., direct effects) and (ii) postgraduation choices that may lead to startup activity later (i.e., indirect effects). We find evidence for positive direct and indirect effects and discuss implications for future research into the design of entrepreneurship education policies as well as content and teacher training. Managerial Summary: A variety of entrepreneurship programs exist at prestigious universities to stimulate startup for students who enroll in these based on entrepreneurial preferences and intentions. The resulting new ventures created are important drivers of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Our study indicates that exposure to business and entrepreneurship content at an earlier age is equally important. Both in terms of obtaining a realistic insight into entrepreneurship as a career, leading to more realized startups of high quality but also in terms of developing a preference for entrepreneurship affecting subsequent choices regarding tertiary education and employment in favor of future entrepreneurship. We suggest investments in broadening entrepreneurship education for all in contrast to for specific targeted groups such as university or technology entrepreneurs.