The process of impact of entrepreneurship education and training on entrepreneurship perception and intention

Purpose – Conventional wisdom as well as many studies confirm that entrepreneurship education increases entrepreneurial intention but there is a lack of research on some aspects including conceptual and theoretical development, mechanism of the effect of education and study of regional variations. The paper studies the process of impact of entrepreneurship education and training (EET) on attitudes toward entrepreneurship, perception of social norms, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data from 601 individuals from Iran is utilized to evaluate the model. The data are reported by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Binary logistics regression is used to evaluate the effects of variables. Findings – Results show that completion of one entrepreneurship course increases the likelihood of having entrepreneurial intention by 1.3 times. Wald criteria demonstrate that fear of failure, desirability of entrepreneurial career, entrepreneurs’ status in society, self-efficacy and education and training are significant predictors of entrepreneurial intention. Perceived opportunity is not a strong but a moderate predictor. Research limitations/implications – Because of the country-level focus of research, the paper's results may lack generalizability. The paper makes no rigid claim of causality. The causality is likely to be bi-directional. Practical implications – The findings have wider implications for a theory of entrepreneurial intention and also for the practice of teaching entrepreneurship. Higher efficiency of informal training than formal training, failing entrepreneurship education to provide necessary knowledge and skills for nascent entrepreneurs, and not considering the effect of macro socioeconomic conditions call for an immediate pedagogical redesign of EET in Iran. Originality/value – The paper summarizes learning processes and teaching models of entrepreneurship education, matches them with educational theories and makes argument on the mechanism of the effects of education. Then, utilizing empirical data, the paper shows the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training and education initiatives in Iran and propose areas for improvement in the national level based on the summarized educational theories and teaching models.