Preparing business students for co-operation in multi-disciplinary new venture teams: empirical insights from a business-planning course

Interdisciplinary co-operation among people trained in technical and economic fields has been identified as an important success factor in new venture teams. However, empirical findings also indicate that individuals often refuse to engage in close and trustful relationships with representatives of other disciplines. Thus, the question arises whether education programs on interdisciplinary co-operation may be suitable to prepare students for future activities in multi-functional business start-up teams.In this study, we investigate the psychological effects of an interdisciplinary business-planning course held at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration with the intention of promoting co-operation between technology-oriented professionals and business management students. The findings show that this course experience changes the students' attitudinal beliefs with respect to representatives of the technical discipline by reducing stereotypical assumptions. At the same time, the course fosters awareness of the challenges involved in cross-disciplinary co-operation. The more students communicate with their technical counterparts and the more they familiarize themselves with the technical aspects of the project, the stronger these effects become.