Impacts of school context and formal teaching on entrepreneurial attributes: a social learning perspective

We used social learning theory to examine whether a supportive school environment and formal entrepreneurship education (EE) are linked to secondary school students’ entrepreneurial attributes. We obtained responses to survey questions from 850 students from a total of 28 secondary schools in Hong Kong. We then employed structural equation modelling to test the associations of formal teaching and the school environment with students’ entrepreneurial attributes. Entrepreneurship consists of four distinct constructs: opportunity recognition, innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness. Students in supportive school environment show greater entrepreneurial attributes, but those receiving formal teaching of entrepreneurship show fewer entrepreneurial attributes. These findings provide important insights that can be used for reassessing notions of entrepreneurship in school students, particularly in secondary school students. Our application of social learning theory helped to clarify the effects of EE, and identified the secondary school context as a critical element to consider when designing EE for secondary students.