Successful entrepreneurship, higher education and society: from business practice to academia

Abstract

Abstract This research explores the coverage of success factors for entrepreneurship in higher education through the lens of the actual practice in prosperous company launchings. Accordingly, the paper analyzes how universities prioritize the importance of the success factors in entrepreneurship identified by business practitioners. Through the text analysis of a set of syllabi of courses on entrepreneurship we find that the success factors underlined in the teaching-learning process are the idea, business model, CEO, finance, and marketing. The exploration of a collection of recent papers on entrepreneurship education suggests that the factors emphasized by researchers are CEO, social impact, team, and formation. We find differences in the teaching-learning and research spheres regarding the ranking of success factors. Teaching-learning focuses on more traditional aspects of entrepreneurship and firm management, associated with key functional areas in companies. Research, in contrast, emphasizes social and psychological aspects and pays more attention to recent trends in management, like gender, diversity, and social impact. This suggests that research enjoys more flexibility and capacity for quick adaptation to new trends and ideas in society than teaching. Our findings imply that the process of teaching-learning in entrepreneurship must strive to remain closer to the reality of firms to prioritize the transmission and development of knowledge and skills more in accord with business practice.