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Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2016

Peter G. Klein  and
J. Bruce Bullock
Peter G. Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
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Abstract

Is entrepreneurship an innate ability or an acquired skill? Can entrepreneurial acumen be achieved and enhanced through education and training, or are certain people “born” to be entrepreneurs or to act entrepreneurially? Economists and management theorists give widely divergent answers to these questions. This paper reviews the major approaches to teaching entrepreneurship, primarily at the undergraduate level, and relates them to economic theories of entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, we find little connection between the leading approaches to entrepreneurship education and economists' understanding of the entrepreneurial function. We assess likely explanations for the lack of contact between these two groups of scholars and suggest possible improvements.

Keywords

alertnessentrepreneurshipinnovationopportunity identificationresource acquisitionuncertainty bearingM13A22O31
Type
Invited Paper Sessions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , August 2006 , pp. 429 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2006

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