The relationship between entrepreneurial experience and preferred learning styles

Abstract

PURPOSE : Entrepreneurship is a process of learning. The entrepreneurial learning process incorporates a cumulative series of multifaceted entrepreneurial experiences, which generally involve the development of new insights and behaviours. This study aimed to determine whether entrepreneurial experience has an influence on the preferred learning styles of students. The study also investigated the appropriateness of the Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory as a measuring instrument. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : The study was conducted on 586 male and 690 female students from South Africa (n = 1042) and Norway (n = 244). The Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory, making use of principal correspondence analysis, was used to determine the preferred learning styles, while the students' level of entrepreneurial experience was captured by items addressing prior entrepreneurial experience. FINDINGS : The analysis revealed a simpler measure of students' preferred learning styles, comprising a total of 12 items with three items per learning style. The study revealed that the preferred learning style was more important for students who had entrepreneurial experience than for those with less entrepreneurial experience. If students with entrepreneurial experience have stronger concerns for how they learn, it contributes to the understanding of the content of entrepreneurial learning. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : A modified Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory resulted in a concise instrument measuring students' preferred learning style in adherence to Kolb's work and evidenced its usefulness. This study contributes to a field that has been under-researched, related to the association between students' past and current entrepreneurial experience and their learning style preference, and aims to bridge the two research fields. This research explores these links and points to how these insights could inform entrepreneurship education.