IMPROVING ENTREPRENERUIAL EDUCATION THROUGH SELF-REGULATORY SKILLS

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IMPROVING ENTREPRENERUIAL EDUCATION THROUGH
SELF-REGULATORY SKILLS Peter Bryant University
of Sydney Australia Presented to the 10th NCIIA
Meeting Portland, Oregon, March 2006
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Key Definitions

• Self-regulation Scholars define
  self-regulation as a systematic process of
  human thought and behavior that involves setting
  personal goals and steering oneself toward the
  achievement of those goals.
• Entrepreneur There are numerous valid
  definitions of entrepreneurship and
  entrepreneur (Davidsson, 2005). In this study I
  refer to entrepreneurs as founder managers of new
  ventures aiming to exploit growth opportunities.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Background Significance

• Scholars see entrepreneurial cognition as a key
  factor in many areas of entrepreneurship
  (Mitchell Busenitz 2004 Baron, 2004).
• Self-regulation is central feature of social
  cognition and important in goal setting, work
  motivation, learning, and education (Vancouver
  2000 Higgins 2002).
• Self-regulatory interventions are known to
  influence educational and learning outcomes
  (Wood, 2005).
• A few researchers study entrepreneurial
  self-efficacy in relation to education (e.g.,
  Bechard Gregoire, 2005). This study also
  explores other aspects of self-regulation.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Research Questions

• Do entrepreneurs possess a distinctive pattern of
  self-regulation?
• What role does self-regulation play in
  entrepreneurial learning and education?
• What is the scope for self-regulatory
  intervention and training to improve
  entrepreneurial decision making?

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Mixed Methods

• Purposive selection of a variation sample of 30
  entrepreneurs as the main study group.
• Plus opportunistic selection of 30 non-founder
  employee managers as a control group.
• Both groups answered a survey which measured
  three aspects of self-regulation chronic
  regulatory focus (or regulatory pride),
  entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and metacognition.
• In addition, I interviewed all 30 entrepreneurs
  about numerous aspects of their decision making.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Survey Measures

• Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy instrument
  developed by Scherer (1989) measuring sense of
  self-efficacy in the entrepreneurial task domain.
• Regulatory Pride instrument developed by Higgins
  (2001) measuring a persons sense of regulatory
  pride defined as a persons chronic future goal
  orientation derived from their history of
  achievement success. Either promotion pride
  (chronic focus on attaining gains) prevention
  pride (chronic focus on avoiding losses).
• Metacognition instrument based on Schraws
  (1994) Metacognitive Awareness Index (MAI). It
  measures Knowledge of Cognition and Regulation of
  Cognition.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Survey Results
Survey Results for Entrepreneurs
Survey Results for Managers
Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Entrepreneurial Regulation

• Based on the survey results, I derived a single
  score for Entrepreneurial Regulation by
  combining normalized measures for promotion
  pride, metacognitive knowledge of cognition, and
  entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
• After interview coding was complete, I ordered
  the 30 interviews into three groups of high,
  medium, and low Entrepreneurial Regulation scores
  (10 interviews in each group)

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Interview Results

• Entrepreneurs in low self-regulatory group more
  likely to refer to systematic learning and
  decision making.
• Those in the high group more likely to refer to
  experiential learning and intuitive decision
  making.
• Those in the high self-regulatory group were also
  more self-aware about their learning experiences
  and spoke about them more frequently.
• These results broadly concur with the
  self-regulatory literature.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Key Findings

• The survey results suggest that entrepreneurs
  possess a distinctive pattern of self-regulation
  consisting of three significantly
  inter-correlated factors promotion pride,
  metacognitive knowledge of cognition, and
  entrepreneurial self-efficacy (a 0.69).
• The interview results suggest that entrepreneurs
  with stronger self-regulatory skills tend towards
  intuitive decision making and experiential
  learning, while those with lower self-regulatory
  skills tend towards systematic decision making
  and formal learning.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Implications for Research

• Findings suggest that studies of entrepreneurial
  cognition and education should investigate
  multi-dimensional factors (such as multiple
  aspects of self-regulation) and not just single
  factors (such as self-efficacy alone).
  Researchers should also recognize and incorporate
  fundamental within-group heterogeneity.
• Because self-regulation is both chronic and
  situational, studies of self-regulation in
  entrepreneurship education and decision making
  need to incorporate both inherent personal
  characteristics and situational contingency.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006
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Implications for Practice

• Insofar as intuitive decision making and the use
  of heuristics are important skills for
  entrepreneurs, then educational interventions
  aimed at increasing relevant self-regulatory
  skills may improve the quality and effectiveness
  of entrepreneurial decision making.
• All three self-regulatory skills regulatory
  pride, self-efficacy, and metacognitive knowledge
  of cognition can be enhanced or primed, and
  those existing techniques could be adapted for
  use in the education, training and mentoring of
  both potential and experienced entrepreneurs.

Peter Bryant presentation to 10th NCIIA
Conference, Portland, March 2006