Why bother teaching entrepreneurship? A field quasi-experiment on the behavioral outcomes of compulsory entrepreneurship education

The proliferation of entrepreneurship education in business schools suggests that it is commonly believed to foster venture creation. At the same time, research on entrepreneurship education is growing. However, further studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of compulsory entrepreneurship education (CEE) by providing evidence on the specific type of entrepreneurial behavior it elicits and when these effects occur. To address this gap, this study evaluates different behavioral outcomes of CEE over time while building on social cognitive career theory to account for mediating effects of entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. We conduct a field quasi-experiment by following university business students (1,387 observations for 450 individuals) over 24 months post-treatment. Our findings reveal that CEE effectively increases entrepreneurial behavior in the short term but does not extend much beyond that. A follow-up study (N = 395) adds confidence to the generalizability of the results. We contribute to research on entrepreneurship education and policy.