Who is the entrepreneurial educator? A transferability perspective to tease out antecedents needed to form a signature pedagogy

Purpose Entrepreneurial education (EE) has grown rapidly and become important for how we prepare future generations for work. However, a less addressed piece of the puzzle is: who is the entrepreneurial educator? In this paper, our aim draws upon Palmer’s (1998) idea of wholeness, where we seek to connect the two problem spaces of the role diversity of entrepreneurial educators and how the educator is closely tied to the evolutionary development of the domain in constructing signature pedagogies that could cater for the issue of a low capitalization rate. Design/methodology/approach We problematize on a conceptual level the entry-level personas that have been addressed in prior literature by using the processes of transferability and evolutionary theory to tease out how variability among educators could create antecedents to form a signature pedagogy. Findings We recognize four archetypes: the experienced entrepreneur, the entrepreneurship scholar, the academic scholar and the pedagogical expert. Our problematization on the variance of the four archetypes provides a fertile ground to engage in addressing “the elephants in the room” in EE, the capitalization rate of graduates and the importance of developing a signature pedagogy, acknowledged in other domains, to enhance legitimacy. Originality/value The paper provides a nuanced outlook on who is teaching in the entrepreneurial classroom and problematizes from an evolutionary perspective the potential future paths to continue staying relevant for society as well as justifying our presence as a legit domain in academia.