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Teaching entrepreneurship in China: culture matters

Jiejie Lyu (Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand)
Deborah M. Shepherd (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand)
Kerry Lee (Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand)

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research

ISSN: 1355-2554

Article publication date: 17 June 2021

Issue publication date: 23 July 2021

783

Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this research is to explore how the cultural context, in this case, China, influences the teaching of entrepreneurship that seeks to cultivate student entrepreneurs during their university experience.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative case study approach is adopted to explore how the cultural environment affects the delivery and application of entrepreneurship education to university students in a Chinese context. Seventeen student entrepreneurs and three lecturing staff members in three Chinese universities were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach.

Findings

The findings suggest that while Chinese universities have been importing teaching models and methods of entrepreneurship education from the United States and other countries, both students and educators are starting to recognise the need for teaching methods to be contextualised and designed based on national conditions and cultural characteristics. Findings from this study highlight cultural fusion and collision in the process of importing and implementing entrepreneurial teaching methods. For example, teaching students how to write a business plan appears to offer limited value for students' start-up activities and their venture development. The didactic teaching method centred on teachers without entrepreneurial experience works for the teaching “about” entrepreneurship but is paradoxical to the goal of teaching “for” entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

Little theoretical or empirical attention has been paid to the complexity of the cultural environment of teaching approaches to entrepreneurship education. This paper provides novel empirical insight into why the cultural environment plays a critical role in teaching approaches to entrepreneurship education and how these teaching approaches can be culturally nuanced to better meet the needs of nascent student entrepreneurs in various cultural contexts.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Students creating ventures in higher education – nascent entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship students”, guest edited by Lise Aaboen, Roger Sørheim, Dag Håkon Haneberg and Torgeir Aadland.

Citation

Lyu, J., Shepherd, D.M. and Lee, K. (2021), "Teaching entrepreneurship in China: culture matters", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 1285-1310. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-09-2020-0653

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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