Creativity and Entrepreneurship: A Team-Based Learning Analysis of Firm Early Development and Performance

Understanding the entrepreneurial processes and how we can inspire and teach entrepreneurship is currently one of the core issues of the European Union 2020 strategic plan. Empirical evidence in several developed economies has shown that small, independent firms - and especially the new entries - contribute disproportionately to innovation, job creation and regional economic well-being. Despite increasing research interest on the topic of Entrepreneurial Education (EE), a critical examination of the relevant literature reveals that it is still unclear to what extent such education impacts the level of graduate entrepreneurship or whether it enables graduates to become more effective entrepreneurs (Pittaway& Cope, 2007). Scholars posit that a substantial component of contemporary entrepreneurship education appears to be largely theoretical and is not well supported by empirical evidence of its practical effects (Honig, 2005). Furthermore, while the Academy of Management Learning & Education special issue argues that entrepreneurial education needs to reflect the real-world environment (Greene, Katz &Johanisson, 2004), little attention is devoted to how, through experience, develop creative and entrepreneurial knowledge that may have positive impact on subsequent venture performance (Politis, 2005). Consequently, we ask ourselves how to best develop an effective approach in the context of higher education that can positively impact on the entrepreneurial learning process leading to new venture performance.Following the paths of Shane &Venkataraman (2000) and Davidsson (2004), we set our research in the context of the firm early development process. Building on entrepreneurial action and diversity theories (McMullen and Shepherd, 2006; Jackson, May and Whitney, 1995; Cox, 1993), this study explores whether connections exist among team characteristics, entrepreneurial action and performance. It argues that team diversity and creativity have a positive relationship with new venture performance.