The effectiveness of hackathons on entrepreneurial intentions and behavior

Purpose This study measures the effects of a hackathon on the entrepreneurial intention and behavior of students. The total group consists of 49 students – split in a test group of 23 and a control group of 26 people – who are member of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ghent University and who were interested in becoming an entrepreneur prior to this hackathon. Design/methodology/approach This paper is an explorative study where intention and behavior are measured via a split plot factorial design over three waves in order to measure what the differences are between both groups via 147 data points. Entrepreneurial intention is measured by Icek Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, while entrepreneurial behavior is a variable based on measures of former papers and defined as the actions pre-starters take before effectively starting up an own business. Findings Students who followed the hackathon scored significantly higher regarding their entrepreneurial intention and behavior after six months. This study shows that this kind of non-traditional format of entrepreneurship education can have a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior with a mediation effect of entrepreneurial intention. Originality/value While recent studies have deepened the understanding about the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention, papers that examine whether entrepreneurship education also has an impact on entrepreneurial behavior are rare. This paper adds new insights in order to make an overview about the sequence of the actions a pre-starter takes before actually becoming an entrepreneur.