Abstract
At a time of growing interest in graduate entrepreneurship, this studyfocuses on the role of mentoring in developing students’entrepreneurial careers in the Early Years of University (EYU). Anintegrated conceptual framework is presented that combines mentoringfunctions and entrepreneurial development (entrepreneurial intentionsand nascent behaviour). Data from 18 student mentees who expressedan interest in starting their own businesses, and who were mentored byalumni entrepreneurs of a British University were analysed. Findingssupport the applicability of our framework in addressing the multi-faceted nature of the mentoring functions, which include a range ofknowledge development and socio-emotional functions such asentrepreneurial career development, specialist business knowledge, role-model presence and emotional support. The results contribute tounderstanding mentoring functions and entrepreneurial development inthe EYU. Implications for the design of entrepreneurial mentoringprogrammes and avenues for future research are discussed
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1159-1174 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Studies in Higher Education |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 27 Sept 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way
Keywords
- Early Years of University
- Mentoring
- entrepreneurial intentions
- entrepreneurship education
- nascent entrepreneurial behaviour
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education