The Process of Entrepreneurial Learning: a Pedagogical Approach and Empirical Test

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. Despite increasing research interest on the topic, the 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 and Cope, 2007). Simulation-based learning has been highlighted as a method for engaging students more actively in the entrepreneurial learning process (Politis, 2005; Honing 2004; Minniti and Bygrave, 2001). But the impact of entrepreneurial simulation is still poorly understood and represents a significant future research activity (Honing, 2004). Building on entrepreneurial action and diversity theories (McMullen and Shepherd, 2006; Jackson, May and Whitney, 1995; Cox, 1993) our research aims to offer a new literature on entrepreneurial learning context by investigating the following research question: Who learns more and why? We provide a research model investigating whether team characteristics enhance team performance and learning by facilitating entrepreneurial action. Specifically, the study explores the mediating effects of entrepreneurial team diversity on the relationship between team characteristics, entrepreneurial action and team performance.