FEATURE PAPER

Evaluating the Legitimacy of Entrepreneurship and Small Business as a Field of Study: An Exploratory Study

The following paper was written by Kirk Heriot and Andres Jauregui of Columbus State University and was presented at the 2011 Small Business Institute Conference in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Abstract

It is well established that interest in teaching entrepreneurship and small business in colleges and universities in the US has grown at enormous rates (Solomon, 2006). As our interest in these subjects has grown, so has our interest in the place they have as academic fields of study. An interesting debate has emerged between Don Karatko (2004, 2005) and Jerry Katz (2005, 2006) about the maturity and legitimacy of entrepreneurship as a field of study in higher education. In this study, we evaluate the issue of legitimacy by using the academic and professional credentials of faculty that teach in this area as a proxy for legitimacy.

The empirical results of a survey completed by 112 college entrepreneurship instructors reveals that the fields of entrepreneurship and small business may not be viewed as legitimate based on the academic and professional credentials and the scholarly productivity of their instructors. In particular, a significant percentage of our sample of college instructors did not have a doctorate in entrepreneurship, nor did they study entrepreneurship in their curriculum. The overwhelming number of respondents had either significant experience as small business owners, working as private consultants, or supervising student consulting teams. Our findings suggest that it is not surprising that entrepreneurship may not be considered legitimate due to the limited academic credentials of the instructors assigned to teach these courses.

We discuss the implications of our findings on the field of entrepreneurship, preparation of new college professors, and future research on the subject.

(Read Entire Paper)

TIP OF THE WEEK

Selecting People for Teamwork

University of Southern California management professor Edward Lawler says, "People are very naive about how easy it is to create a team. Teams are the Ferraris of work design. They're high performance but high maintenance and expensive." It's almost impossible to have an effective work team without carefully selecting people who are suited for teamwork or for working on a particular team. A focus on teamwork (individualism-collectivism), team level, and team diversity can help companies choose the right team members.

Are you more comfortable working alone or with others? If you strongly prefer to work alone, you may not be well suited for teamwork. Indeed, studies show that job satisfaction is higher in teams when team members prefer working with others. And indirect way to measure someone'spreferenceforteamworkis to assess the person's degree of individualism or collectivism. Individualism-collectivism is the degree to which a person believe that people should be self-sufficient and that loyalty to one's self is more important than loyalty to one's team or company.Individualists, who put their own welfare and interests first, generally prefer independent tasks in which they work alone. In contrast,collectivistswho put group or team interests ahead of self-interests, generally prefer interdependent tasks in which they work with others. Collectivist would also rather cooperate than compete and are fearful of disappointing team members or of being ostracized from teams. Given these differences, it makes sense to select team members who are collectivists rather than individualists. Indeed, many companies use individualism-collectivism as an initial desired, however, individualists may also be appropriate, as discussed below.

Team level is the average level of ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team. For example, a high level of team experience means that a team has particularly experienced team members. This does not mean that every member of the team has considerable experience, but that enough team members do to significantly raise the average level of experience on the team. Team level is used to guide selection of teammates when teams need a particular set of skills or capabilities to do their jobs well. For example, at GE's Aerospace Engines manufacturing plant in Durham, North Carolina, only applicants are tested in eleven different areas, only one of which involved technical skills. Keith McKee, who works at the plant, says "You have to be above the bar in all eleven of the areas: helping skills, team skills, communication skills, diversity, flexibility, coach ability, work ethic, and so forth. Even if just one thing out of the elven knocks you down, you don't come to work here."

Whereas team level represents the average level or capability on a team, team diversity represents the variances or differences in ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team. From a practical perspective, why is team diversity important? Professor John Hollenbeck explains, "Imagine if you put all the extroverts together. Everyone is talking, but nobody is listening. [By contrast,] with a team of [nothing but] introverts, you can hear the clock ticking on the wall." Not only do strong teams have talented member are also different in terms of ability, experience, or personality.

Once the right team has been put together in terms of individualism-collectivism, team level, and team diversity, it's important to keep the team together as long as practically possible. Interesting research by the National Transportation Safety Board shows that 73 percent of serious mistakes made by jet cockpit crews are made the very first day that a crew flies together as a team and that 44 percent of serious mistakes occur on their very first flight together that day (pilot team fly two to three flights per day). Moreover, research has shown that fatigued pilot crews who have worked together before make significantly fewer errors than rested crews who have never worked together helps them overcome their fatigue and outperform new teams that have not work together before. So, once you've created effective teams, keep them together as long as possible.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Southern Management Association

It's time to start planning for the Southern Management Association's 2012 Annual Meeting. The SMA meeting will take place October 30-November 3, 2012 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The meeting will be held at the Westin Beach Resort and Spa. The hotel's waterfront location offers access to miles of beautiful white beaches, but is also close to shops, entertainment, and business centers. For more information,click here.

Flip the Switch Workshop

Are you frustrated with technology distractions in the classroom? On June 1st in Philadelphia, PA we'll show how to hijack these distracting mobile devices to engage with students at a deeper level and bring them back into the learning conversation. For more information,click here.

ICSB

International Council for Small Business will be holding its International World Conference during June 10-13, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. The submission deadline for this conference is FEB. 15. For more information,click here.

Hawaii International Conference

The 12th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Business will be held from May 24-27, 2012 at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Honolulu, Hawaii. The submission deadline for papers has been extended to Feb. 17, 2012. For more information,click here.

Allied Academies

The Allied Academies will hold its Spring 2012 international meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Presentation dates will be Wednesday April 4 through Friday April 6, 2012. Conference Paper Submissions and Registration are due by March 5. Base registration, on or before March 5, is $300, late registration after that date will be $350. For more information,click here.

North American Research Symposium

You are invited to attend The 22nd Annual North American Research Symposium on Purchasing and Supply Chain Management March 15-15, 2012 in Hilton Phonix/Chandlery, Arizona. For more information,click here.

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