Does Entrepreneurship Education Have a Role in developing Entrepreneurial Skills And Ventures' Effectiveness?,

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of entrepreneurship education and training on the development and enhancement of entrepreneurial skills that may be essential to improve ventures' effectiveness. One hundred and seventy entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs were surveyed in the United States to determine their motivations for business ownership and assess their perceived factors that may have contributed to the success or failure of their ventures. The findings clearly indicate that there is causal linkages between entrepreneurial education (managerial skills), social competence (interpersonal skills), and to a greater degree, basic entrepreneurial training skills and ventures' effectiveness. They were statistically significant confirming prior expectation of the significant value of entrepreneurship education. The data demonstrates that the entrepreneurial education and training programs appear to create openness, confidence, and trust among the participants in this study. However, the type of entrepreneurship education must be coupled with content that is rich in learning principles, innovation, and reflection in order to enhance ventures' effectiveness.