What differentiates future entrepreneurs? Developing entrepreneurial competencies in higher education

Objectives: Research in the field of entrepreneurship has contributed to determine what personal characteristics enable certain people to engage in a new venture creation. Among these intrinsic factors that distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs, emotional, social and cognitive competencies (ESCs) may have a positive impact on discovering, evaluating and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. Prior studies primarily focused on these competencies possessed by adult entrepreneurs and on their impact on firm performance, neglecting their development process especially in young people. The aim of our research is to contribute to fill this gap by understanding what favors the development of emotional, social and cognitive competencies in graduates who express an entrepreneurial intent. We address the following questions: do graduates who will to start their own venture present a different ESCs profile than those who do not express this intent? What factors favor the development of ESCs? Prior Work: ESCs received a great attention in the management literature especially in the field of leadership. Prior research shows that ESCs affect the pursuit of entrepreneurial initiatives and their performance. However, literature devoted a limited attention to the role of ESCs in affecting the formation of an entrepreneurial intent and to the factors that impact on ESCs development. Approach: We carried out a study on two groups of Italian young graduates who participated in a two-week program concerning the assessment of their ESCs within two different cycles of seminars. The participants enrolled in these cycle of seminars were at the end of their academic experience or had recently graduated. One cycle of seminars was delivered to participants who expressed the intent to become entrepreneurs and provided them knowledge and skills on new venture creation, whilst those who participated in the other learned some general techniques to enter into the labour market. This study tests the hypothesis that the emotional, social and cognitive competencies of the two groups of participants are different. We measured the differences from the multisource feedback which was provided to students based on a survey instrument, namely the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory. Results: Findings show the difference in the competency profile of the two groups of participants and provide evidence on the relationship between students’ learning experience, such as work, social and international background, and the possession of ESCs. Implications: These results add to the debate on how emotional, social and cognitive competencies can be promoted in the context of entrepreneurship education, in order to support students in their entrepreneurial career decision. Value: This paper suggests an approach to evaluate and compare competencies between students who express different professional intents. It also takes into account their antecedents for a future entrepreneurial career.