Benson Honig på forskningsformidlingsdag

Employment of marginalized citizens via adult education and

entrepreneurial education

National Coordinator of the Nordic Adult Education (NVL) in Denmark

June 6, 2014

Benson HonigTeresca Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario [email protected]

Entrepreneurship may provide life-changing opportunities for persons

in marginal conditions• Virtual world is one where prejudices against

persons with disabilities are masked and opaque• World-wide market opportunities are now open to

everyone – a level playing field• Entrepreneurship provides autonomy and self

efficacy• Work can be flexible to accommodate personal

needs• Independence and self sufficiency an important

element

Can Entrepreneurship be Taught?

• Consider: Artists, musicians• Talent is essential, but not enough• Many ‘tricks’ can be taught• Who is teaching? A bureaucrat? An

instructor? An entrepreneur?

04/14/23 PSED_AOM_PDWorkshop_09Aug08 3

Entrepreneurship promotion for persons in marginal conditions is not exactly a

‘science’

• We know little about what really ‘works’ with entrepreneurship education, despite considerable expenditures world-wide

• A consistent nature vs. nurture debate• It is not the primary solution to the world’s

unemployment problem• Entrepreneurship entails risk – risk that may be

difficult for marginalized persons to manage


CONCEPTUAL MODEL – The Start-up Process

AdultPopulation

Business Firm

Population

Growth

Persist

Quit

Firm Birth

Social, Political, Economic Context

?

NE

NI

?

Start-up Processes

?NE = NASCENT ENTREPRENEURS

NI = NASCENT INTRAPRENEURSGEM

PSED PSED


Conception Gestation process Firm

Birth

Educational preparation

Work career entry

Disengagement, retirement

Firm life course

Human Labor Force

Business Population

1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,14,16,18,19,20,22,24

[21][23]

[6]

[4,11,12,13,15,17]

[26][25]

Firm B

Job 2

Job 3

Job n

Job 1

Firm A

Firm C

[22]

Fig 4.4, pg 68, from Haltiwanger, J., L. Lynch, 7 C. Mackie (Eds) (2007) Understanding Business Dynamics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Entrepreneurship Research for the Marginalized

• Entrepreneurship can be said to begin with interest, that is followed by entrepreneurial intention

• Research on intentions is done because it is expedient, not because it is good.

• Intentions are supposed to be good indicators of behaviour

• Factors that are relevant include gender, age, human capital, personality, cognitive factors, self efficacy

• We have included feasibility , desirability and passion in our research

Factors impacting entrepreneurial activity

• Perceived ability a factor• Perceived attractiveness a factor• Leads to passion – an important

element


Learning orientation

• Both tacit and explicit knowledge important

• Research shows more HC = higher nascent entrepreneurship rate

• Research shows that formal education does not advantage nascent entrepreneurs

• Tacit knowledge and social capital matter more



Social Entrepreneurship

• One approach focuses on ability to create positive social change

• Another examines social nature of organization’s objectives

• A third looks at entrepreneurship to help disadvantaged persons, including poverty alleviation, unemployment, and social inclusion


Entrepreneurship is embedded the social-political environment

• Must acknowledge power laden mechanisms people confront

• Should persons comply?• Should persons challenge?• Which they do is determined by their

self-identity as either belonging to a disadvantaged group, or wanting to belong to an advantaged group


Power and entrepreneurship

• Some activities by disadvantaged persons are more ‘acceptable’ than others

• Normative rules can be changed with successful challenges

• Or rules can be sidetracked – new rules developed

• The disadvantage face demands to comply, along with the need for reflexivity – to make a difference.



How to “win”?

• Micro-emancipation, with ongoing interactions with field level incumbents, and artful navigation through their expectations

• Reflexive action induces changed expectations

• Thus, the level of domination matters, as well as their reaction to negative feedback – do they submit, or fight?


Research from an Entrepreneurship

Promotion Scheme in Canada

• Disability is most frequently mental disability: this can be ‘tricky’ for entrepreneurship lecturers and program designers

• Two different models


Train-place

• In class or workshop training to develop certain skills, knowledge and abilities

• Think: Incubators


Place-train

• Introduces person to the vocation, and provides training as necessary to help person succeed

• Think: Accelerator centers


How to measure effectiveness?

• Need a control group, and a longitudinal study

• Self confidence? Quality of life? Health? Financial success? Independence? Self worth? Happiness?



Where do new businesses come from?

Preliminary results from our study

• Place-train model, when coupled with a financial incentive, led to an increase in gestation behaviors and actual business creation. (one program provided a one time payment of $1500 when the busienss they developed provided an $800 profit)

• Participants attitudes improved simply from engaging in gestation behaviors – there was no advantage in actually starting the business. It is as if the attempt was sufficient to increase self efficacy


How many started?

• 79% of place-train group• 44% of train-place group• This is similar to results of

vocational rehabilitation (58% vs. 21%, Bond et al, 1997).


In Sum• While clearly not a panacea,

entrepreneurship, with the new sources of virtual businesses, provide important opportunities to increase the well being of marginalized persons

• Care must be taken to ensure programs are not taken over for political expediancy

• THANK YOU!!





Why care about new firms?

• Provide half of all net new job creation • Contribution to improved sector productivity• Major source of economic innovation• Associated with economic growth• Significant work career option for many • Mechanism for immigrant social integration • Universal route for upward social mobility


• New firm creation is clearly a critical feature of most economies!!

• What data sets might be available to explore the important features and causal mechanisms involved in new firm creation?


What do these data sets provide?

• Fifteen cross-sectional comparisons of exiting firms [1,2,3,5,6,7,8, 9,10,14,16,18,19,20, 22,24]

• Seven longitudinal analysis of existing firms [4,11,12,3,15,17,23]

• Three track labor force activities of individuals and households [6,25,26]

• One, GEM, provides cross national comparisons of start-up activity [22]


Central Assumption:• People start businesses, not

– Market characteristics – Macro-economic conditions– Regional, geographic attributes – National R & D intensity– Presence of opportunities – Availability of financing – Positive entrepreneurial climate– Social networks – Speeches by politicians

• Who gets involved and what do they do?


Data collection procedure• Large scale screening to locate candidate

nascent entrepreneurs– Completed by a commercial market research firm– Based on a representative household sample– Captures nascent enterprises long before they are

included in business registries

• Detailed interviews to identify active nascent entrepreneurs and gather information on what they are doing– Completed by U Michigan Institute for Social Research

• Follow-up interviews to determine the outcomes of their efforts – Completed by U Michigan Institute for Social Research


Screening Items

• Are you, alone or with others, currently trying to start a new business, including any self-employment or selling any goods or services to others?

• Are you, alone or with others, currently trying to start a new business or a new venture for your employer, an effort that is part of your normal work?

• Are you, alone or with others, currently the owner of a business you help manage, including self-employment or selling any goods or services to others?


Define Outcome• New Firm

– PSED I: • Is the start-up now an operating business?

– PSED II: • Income in 6 of past 12 months?• Cover all monthly expenses?• Cover owners’ salaries and wages?

• Active start-up– PSED I

• Still in active start-up phase?– PSED II

• Devoted more than 160 hours in past 12 months • Expect to spend more than 80 hours in next 6 months • A major focus of work career over the next 12 months

• Disengagement [Quit]– PSED I

• No longer being worked on by anybody– PSED II

• Not new firm, not active start-up• Consider self disengaged from the business start-up