Issued Quarterly

Issued Quarterly

March 2004

ENT 10.1

03/04

Abstract

Encouraging Youth to Consider Entrepreneurship

Prepared by:

Glenn Muske

Home-Based and Micro Business Specialist

Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service

104 HES, Oklahoma State University

Stillwater, OK 74078

(405) 744-9931; (405) 744-1461 (fax)

muske@okstate.edu

Peterman, N. E. & Kennedy, J. (2003). Entrepreneurship education: Influencing students; perceptions of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28(2), 129-144.

implications for Cooperative Extension. Many communities, both large and small, are actively developing economic development plans as the basis to grow and enhance that part of the community. The idea is that by growing the economic base of a community, the other commonly used indicators of quality of life will also increase. In order for many communities to realize this idea of an increased economic sector, it will be important that they look at what they can do to increase entrepreneurship development using the resources in place. One such resource is the youth in the community. This study examines on whether or not youth entrepreneurship programs can increase the likelihood of the youth someday opening a business. The data do support the community’s involvement in entrepreneurship education as a means to increase the desirability of business ownership.

OVERVIEW A key element in the development of a dynamic economy is the fact that there is a constant supply of new businesses starting. For there to be a continual new supply of entrepreneurs requires that there be individuals who have the desire to be their own boss. Many of tomorrow’s future entrepreneurs are today’s youth.

While often suspected that youth are positively influenced by an early exposure to entrepreneurship, there has been little research to confirm those findings. Much of the research has evaluated if instead the decision to start a business is influenced by a trait or personality characteristic. Newer research has focused on a person’s intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This line of research has encouraged a look at the entrepreneurial intentions of young adults but little information has been gathered regarding whether or not youth entrepreneurship education programs will foster positive attitudes towards owning one’s own business as well as increasing the youth’s intent to someday be his or her own boss.

The purpose of this article was to study the effect of entrepreneurship education on the perceptions of entrepreneurship in adolescents. Based on various intention models, it would seem that the decision to start a business is influenced by perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, and propensity to act. These three influencing factors can all be influenced by previous exposure to entrepreneurship.

METHODS The study involved a pre-test/post-test survey of adolescents involved in a enterprise education program similar to that of Junior Achievement. Participants participated in four modules. The participants received support materials, newsletters and were coached by volunteer role model advisers. Participants were encouraged to start his or her own business at during which time the adviser took on a consulting role. The program ran for five months. One hundred seventeen adolescents were in the course in total. A control group of 119 youth was used as a comparison group.

RESULTS Regarding the decision to participate in the program, adolescents who had broader and more positive prior entrepreneurial experiences were more likely to enroll. The prior experience may have come from their parent/s owning a business, having known someone else who had started a business, having worked in a start-up business or having started their own business. Regarding the positive feelings, adolescents who perceived the perceived desirability to own their own business found youth feeling more positive towards business ownership.

Youth adolescents who participated in the program had greater intentions of starting their own business at some time. Adolescents who had lower levels of positive prior experiences showed a greater increase in both the desirability and feasibility of starting their own business in the future.

SUMMARY The results of this study first confirmed that prior experience does positively influence the adolescents desire to open a business. It did not however change the perceived feasibility that the youth held towards that happening. Those who participated in the in the educational program had overall higher desires to start a business. They also saw that doing so was more feasible than those who had not attended the program. Finally while the program was able to increase the desirability among those who had prior entrepreneurial experience, those who had had less experience or a less positive experience noted even greater increases in the desire to start a business. In summary, the study would support the inclusion of entrepreneurial education in a community’s program of long term economic development.