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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 712 715

2nd World Conference On Business, Economics And Management -
WCBEM2013

Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education

Khaoula BEN NASRa*, Younes BOUJELBENEb
a

Faculty of economics and management of Sfax, route airport, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
b
F aculty of economics and management of Sfax, route airport, Sfax 3000, Tunisia

Abstract
During recent years, numerous studies have been developed in the field of higher entrepreneurship education around
the world. Many researchers, practitioners and policy makers admit that entrepreneurship education (EE) produces
measurable outcomes. However, there is a lack in measuring the impact of the training programs on students
considering the long-term perspective. In fact, the main objective of this research is to analyze the impact and effects
of formal teaching of entrepreneurial programs on masters degree students at Tunisian university. The study
focused on two main aspects of impact when considering:
* Entrepreneurial intention and profile of participants
* Life career of these participants by examining how they have transferred their knowledge to their professional
work. Empirically, the findings show that programs offered by entrepreneurships master have a positive impact on
entrepreneurial intention and profiles of participants. Then, entrepreneurships master alumni how have find a job
have transferred what they have learned on their works.
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship training, Masters alumni, Transfer of learning, long term impact;

1. Introduction
Given that entrepreneurship is the engine that drives the economy of must nations (Gorman et al, 1997),
educating entrepreneurship is a key economic and societal challenge to which universities have much to contribute.
The role those higher education institutions are currently playing through teaching entrepreneurship and transferring
knowledge and innovation to trainees is very essential.
However, numerous epistemological, theoretical, pedagogical and practice challenges remain. In fact, the
development of these educational activities is not without reflection on their effectiveness. Efficiency is somewhere
difficult to measure as revealed by Castagnos & Fayolle (2006) in a recent article dedicated to this subject.
By far, many researchers, practitioners and policy makers admit that entrepreneurship education (EE) produces
measurable outcomes (Charney & Libecap, 2008; EC, 2012a; Harrison & Leitch, 2008; Loten, 2006; Martinez et al.,
2010; Mller & Diensberg, 2011; OECD, 2009), which vary across countries and institutions, study programmes
* Corresponding Author: Khaoula ben Nasr. Tel.: +21694928481
E-mail address: khawlabennasr@yahoo.fr

1877-0428 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.534

Khaoula Ben Nasr and Younes Boujelbene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 712 715

and participants (Fayolle, 2007; Fayolle & Klandt, 2006; Fayolle & Kyr, 2008; Kyr & Carrier, 2005; OECD,
2009).
This research aims to clarify, in part, these questions. We will try to develop a conceptual model for evaluating
the impact of entrepreneurship education at university. The study focused on two main aspects of impact when
considering:
* Entrepreneurial profile of participants
* Life career of these participants by examining how they have transferred their knowledge to their professional
work.
2. Various measures of the impact of entrepreneurship education:
According to the "BEST report of the European Commission (2009), it is possible to assess the long-term
impact of entrepreneurial activities or programs like that in the short term, for example by seeking to establish the
number of students/graduates participating in entrepreneurship curricula who become entrepreneurs.
As the "BEST report of the European Commission (2012) affirm: It is important to ensure that Member States
are not producing their own individual national measures, but instead that they will join forces to find ways to
measure the broad impact of entrepreneurship education.
The same report focused on the impact of entrepreneurship education programs provided by higher education
institutions on four dimensions:
- Impact on the entrepreneurship key competence;
- Impact on the intentions towards entrepreneurship;
- Impact on the individual's employability;
- Impact on society and the economy.
Fayolle (2008) suggests the possibility for researchers to apply the model of Donald Kirkpatrick (1959) to the
evaluation of entrepreneurship training.
In this model, we can identify four levels in the evaluation work:
Reaction: reactions of participants at the end of the program;
Learning: to what extent the learning objectives (knowledge, know-how, etc..) Were satisfied;
Behavior: to what extent the training has it resulted in behavioral changes, specific behaviors;
Results: monitoring the cost / benefit for the individual, firm or corporation.
3.

Methodology and results:

The investigation was conducted through masters degree students at the High Institute of Business Administration
of Sfax. A questionnaire was prepared and then distributed to former students to assess the impact of the
entrepreneurship training on students.
3.1.
Impact of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial profile
To explore the impact of training on the entrepreneurial profile, we were inspired by a study conducted by
Gasse (2000) trying to distinguish the key entrepreneurial characteristics. After a principal component analysis, we
obtained five axes grouping the various aspects of the impact.
Table1: various aspect of the impact on entrepreneurial profile
Impact of the training
- On the entrepreneurial motivation:
looking for independence and freedom.
Be willing to organize and mobilize resources.
- on the entrepreneurial attitude:
Axis
1:
Entrepreneurial feel able to take initiatives and manage the unexpected
attitudes
feel efficient and performing in the tasks performed

Axes

713

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Khaoula Ben Nasr and Younes Boujelbene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 712 715

Axis2:
Entrepreneurial Project
approach

Axis 3: Entrepreneurial ability

Axis 4: Communication and

relationship skills
axis 5: Having
reputation

good

feel able to apply the learning outcomes at the right time

- On the entrepreneurial motivation: the search for adventure and
challenging projects.
- on the motivation to initiate or enable the project
- on looking for an idea and market information
- the feeling of being captivated and profoundly engaged in the project
- the fact of having a global project procedure.
-on the entrepreneurial attitude: to feel supported by his entourage to be
more efficient in his work.
- the entrepreneurial ability:
The perseverance and determination
on the entrepreneurial ability:
integration into the workplace and society
interpersonal and communication skills
Learn to cooperate and have the spirit of the group
adequately represent its environment and adapt to its environment
be recognized and good reputation in its workplace
have the desire to be an authority in his field

3.2. Impact of the training on the Working life of respondents

Almost half of respondents were unemployed when they entered into the training. The difference is notable
after monitoring the training. In fact, the percentage of unemployed has decreased by 31.1% and represent only one
sixth of respondents.
Learners were asked if they were able to apply what they learned during their training in EPM. 65% of
respondents were able to apply their learning in the training on their workplaces.
The achievements of EPM training were mainly exploited in various fields. First, the majority of
respondents highlighted the relational and communication skill: for them, through this training, they feel more able
to communicate with others and inserted into different professional backgrounds. Secondly, many of them agree on
the acquisition of a project process allowing them to apply it in guiding future promoters. Furthermore, the different
theoretical modules taken during the training have been used in their management process of enterprises in which
they work including fair marketing, management, and finance.
4. Conclusion:
The choice of our subject was a real challenge: in fact, assess the long-term impact of entrepreneurship
education is not an easy given the complexity of the evaluation work as revealed Fayolle and Castagnos (2006).
However, we were able to achieve interesting results measurable of the impact of this training on the
profile, and for the entrepreneurial project and the professional lives of learners. Although our questionnaire was the
most important way leading to these results but also the literature review helped us a lot better to investigate the
different fields of study. That's why we started this research by the theoretical part, which had presented the main
models related to the evaluation of training including that of Kirkpatrick (1959) and also the research work devoted
to transfer of learning on the workplace such as the work of Baldwin and Ford (1988) and Devos et al. (2006).
Finally, our study could identify a positive impact on intention, profile and entrepreneurial project learners and a
quite significant transfer in their professional lives.
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