TY - JOUR

T1 - Do the Winners Really Take It all?

T2 - Exploring Entrepreneurial Learning in Start-Up Competitions

AU - Stolz, Lennard

AU - Sternberg, Rolf

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is supported by Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur (76202-17-3/17).

PY - 2022/2/2

Y1 - 2022/2/2

N2 - Originating from business plan competitions at universities, start-up competitions (SUCs) are nowadays a widely used policy tool to foster entrepreneurial learning among a larger group of potential and nascent entrepreneurs. While the literature on entrepreneurial learning highlights the importance of participants’ prior experiences, studies on learning in SUCs often ignore these experiences, but detect different perceptions of the learning outcomes from SUCs. To address this research gap, we explore configurations of prior experience and the participation routines of entrepreneurs at SUCs. To do so, we apply fuzzy-sets qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to in-depth interview data from 26 participants at two German SUCs. Based on theories on entrepreneurial learning, insights from the interviews, and our empirical results from fsQCA, we identify one necessary condition and two specific configurations of conditions that lead to the outcome. The absence of entrepreneurial knowledge was found to be a necessary condition for entrepreneurial learning in SUCs. Prior industry experience is part of both solutions, but whether the presence or absence of it is important depends on whether it is combined with active participation in the competition. We present implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers.

AB - Originating from business plan competitions at universities, start-up competitions (SUCs) are nowadays a widely used policy tool to foster entrepreneurial learning among a larger group of potential and nascent entrepreneurs. While the literature on entrepreneurial learning highlights the importance of participants’ prior experiences, studies on learning in SUCs often ignore these experiences, but detect different perceptions of the learning outcomes from SUCs. To address this research gap, we explore configurations of prior experience and the participation routines of entrepreneurs at SUCs. To do so, we apply fuzzy-sets qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to in-depth interview data from 26 participants at two German SUCs. Based on theories on entrepreneurial learning, insights from the interviews, and our empirical results from fsQCA, we identify one necessary condition and two specific configurations of conditions that lead to the outcome. The absence of entrepreneurial knowledge was found to be a necessary condition for entrepreneurial learning in SUCs. Prior industry experience is part of both solutions, but whether the presence or absence of it is important depends on whether it is combined with active participation in the competition. We present implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers.

KW - entrepreneurial learning

KW - fuzzy-sets qualitative comparative analysis

KW - policy instruments

KW - qualitative comparative analysis

KW - start-up competitions

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127148310&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/25151274211068191

DO - 10.1177/25151274211068191

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85127148310

VL - 5

SP - 599

EP - 626

JO - Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy

JF - Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy

SN - 2515-1274

IS - 4

ER -