Evaluation of entrepreneurial competence through scaled behavioural indicators: Validation of an instrument

In recent years, entrepreneurship has occupied a prominent position on the agendas of policymakers and researchers. This is not surprising, as studies have shown that the enhancement of the entrepreneurial spirit can make an effective contribution to sustainable economic growth. Moreover, scholars have confirmed that the entrepreneurial spirit can be enhanced through entrepreneurship education. One important gap in the scientific literature in this area involves research on the evaluation of such education. The focus of this study is on developing an instrument in which scaled behavioural indicators will be used as a basis for giving concrete feedback to the students instead of using Likert-scale surveys. Based on a criterion-driven literature study 11 sub-competences that together constitute entrepreneurship in a behaviour-oriented and for educational purposes feasible way have been defined. These sub-competences were further subdivided into various behavioural indicators, which formed the basis for creating an evaluation instrument. Next the instrument has been validated in a sample of 201 secondary education students at the beginning of an EE-trajectory. The validity and reliability of the resulting instrument was tested through a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The validity check revealed a strong cohesion of the sub-competences we distinguished from the review, which is coherent with research that defines entrepreneurial competency as an over-arching construct. Finally 21 items were retained in an instrument that is sufficiently reliable and valid to warrant further application in the coaching of entrepreneurship education. To conclude the opportunities for fostering entrepreneurship education by using this instrument are discussed.