Abstract:
Entrepreneurship programming has become a very popular choice among higher education students the past three decades. Entrepreneurial intent is consistently regarded as the greatest predictor of entrepreneurial behavior and success of entrepreneurial education programs, while ideation is viewed as a key skill needed for successful entrepreneurial behavior. Problem solving is also a key skill in both the ideation process and entrepreneurship, and was a unique demographic variable examined in this study. Despite the widespread discussion of entrepreneurial intent in the literature, very few studies have reported the actual impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intent, and none have discussed the impact of entrepreneurship programming on openness to ideation or problem solving style effect on entrepreneurial intent. This study examined the impact of a 150-minute divergent activity training session and new venture ideation exercise on openness to ideation and entrepreneurial intent in undergraduate college students enrolled in entrepreneurship courses. The effect of demographic variables on both entrepreneurial intent and openness to ideation were also reported, with an emphasis of problem solving style effect on entrepreneurial intent. These measures come together in this study to help further explain how entrepreneurship program leaders and educators can drive more impactful entrepreneurial behavior in students. In this study, both entrepreneurial intent and openness to ideation significantly increased in students after the brief 150-minute intervention. In addition, this study yielded a number of salient findings with relation to demographic variable effect on entrepreneurial intent. Problem solving style, gender, entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurship exposure all had a significant effect on both pre- and post-test entrepreneurial intent. This research study infers that entrepreneurial self-efficacy of ideation and opportunity recognition skills are critical to increased entrepreneurial intent in college students, and that exercises such as the ones conducted in this study can positively impact openness to ideation and entrepreneurial intentions among students. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided.
