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Gaining entrepreneurial perspective: The impact of venture creation role models on high school career intention
Abstract
This research examines and evaluates the impacts of exposure to venture founder role models on the development of Entrepreneurial Perspective as an antecedent to entrepreneurial intentions in high-school students using quasi-experimental nonequivalent groups design. The focus of the study is the influence of a proper introduction to entrepreneurship from successful, practicing entrepreneurs, on the proposed construct, Entrepreneurial Perspective. Proposed here, Entrepreneurial Perspective consists of four elements: Entrepreneurial Understanding, Knowledge of Entrepreneurial Skills, Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Beliefs, and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy. The importance of this study lies in the potential to learn some simple and cost-efficient ways educators may impact students' Entrepreneurial Perspective, which is directly related to their likelihood to consider various entrepreneurial directions. Participants in the study, consisting of high-school students enrolled in career or futures-oriented courses, completed research instruments prior to and following exposure to venture founder role models via four narratives, four guest speakers, or two narratives and two guest speakers. Hypotheses surround the impacts of general role model exposure on Entrepreneurial Perspective; the differential effects of various types of role model exposure on Entrepreneurial Perspective; and the relationship between Entrepreneurial Perspective and Entrepreneurial Intentions. Scale and difference scores were generated, for purposes of hypothesis testing. Data were analyzed using various parametric and non-parametric techniques. Results demonstrate that, while there is some evidence to suggest that narratives about entrepreneur role models may be associated with the development of high school students' Entrepreneurial Perspective, the study's small sample requires that the overall findings on the association between different types of role model exposure and Entrepreneurial Perspective be reported as statistically insignificant. Results also indicate that the Entrepreneurial Perspective of high-school students is significantly positively associated with their entrepreneurial intentions, providing a new point of focus for entrepreneurship educators. Practical implications of the findings for entrepreneurship educators are discussed and future extensions of this study are proposed, including refinement of the current study based on analysis results and exploration of new territory introduced by the study's limitations.
Subject Area
Business education|School counseling
Recommended Citation
Godsey, Monica Linese, "Gaining entrepreneurial perspective: The impact of venture creation role models on high school career intention" (2006). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3237599.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3237599