Who wants to be an entrepreneur?

Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship as a career

Roger Henderson
Reader in International Finance at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Martyn Robertson
Senior Lecturer in Business Strategy at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK

Keywords

Entrepreneurs, Careers,
Young people, Higher education,
Roles

Abstract

The changing nature of work

suggests that young people may
face the prospect of a ``portfolio''
career including periods of paid
employment, non-work and selfemployment, of which the latter
implies greater scope for
entrepreneurial activity. Reports
questionnaire surveys of young
adults which examine their
attitudes to entrepreneurship as a
career. Reference is also made to
current policy initiatives and
entrepreneurship education in the
UK. The findings suggest that
generally positive images of
entrepreneurship are hampered by
a lack of identifiable role models,
poor media presentation of
individuals or small firms, and lack
of encouragement from important
influencers on career choice such
as teachers and career guidance
specialists. University courses
have their limitations but can have
a role in providing a useful insight
into the challenges involved in
being an entrepreneur and also
encouraging skill development
and self-reliance.

The authors are grateful to

Dr Richard Holden and two
anonymous referees for
their comments on earlier
drafts.

The European Union (EU) definition of smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) covers

those entities with fewer than 250 employees.

These account for 99.8 per cent of all EU
enterprises, 66.52 per cent of jobs and 64.85
per cent of turnover. Moreover, 99 per cent of
enterprises have no more than 50 employees
(Biagiotti, 1997). Such statistics underline the
importance of the SME to future European
growth and employment.
Moreover, if current trends continue in the
Western world, the twenty-first century postindustrial society is likely to be
characterised by a knowledge-based
environment dominated by information
technology and networking with less
locationally-dependent and more fragmented
business operations. The focus will be on
flexible business structures. Indeed,
notwithstanding the continued concentration
in some industries and the emergence of
giant firms, for example, Exxon-Mobil, such
businesses will not be large companies in the
traditional sense but are likely to exhibit
project and small team (or company)
characteristics in many departments.
Moreover while global influences will
develop, the need for a local focus will
remain.
Thus in a multicultural, multifunctional
operating environment the need for
flexibility points to an increasing role for
entrepreneurial activity. In this respect
narrow concepts of enterprise, as ``business
entrepreneurialism'', mainly identified with
small business activity, are likely to be less
relevant than the broader view of
entrepreneurship as a set of qualities
influencing behaviour and enabling
individuals to be flexible and creative in the
face of change.
The traditional mainstream view of the
entrepreneur is as a ``risk-taker'' bringing
different factors of production together. The
``Austrian school'' takes a more dynamic
perspective with entrepreneurship crucial

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Introduction
Various UK governments have championed
the concept of an enterprise culture, yet
much of the growth in the 1990s has come
from large companies, especially in services.
The entrepreneurial spirit remains tenuous
in a society which is ageing yet where the
future working environment will depend
heavily on the creativity and individuality of
the young. In spite of efforts by bodies such
as the Prince's Trust there has been limited
infusion of long-term entrepreneurship
ideals among young people; indeed relatively
little is known about young adult views on
entrepreneurship. The work that has been
undertaken tends to focus on the specific
factors which influence someone to start a
business rather than entrepreneurship as a
career choice. Yet in the new millennium the
prospect of a ``portfolio career'' involving
periods of salaried work, self-employment
and unemployment is increasingly likely, in
which case entrepreneurial skills will be
more important.
This paper raises issues for
entrepreneurial education and draws on
questionnaire surveys undertaken between
1996 and 1998 among young adults, including
MSc students studying entrepreneurship in
Scotland, a group of new bank recruits to the
Enterprise Section of a major UK clearing
bank, and undergraduate business studies
students in England. The results are
compared with theories of entrepreneurial
careers as expounded by Scott and Twomey
(1988), Gibb Dyers (1994) and Curran (1996).

The future working environment

issues for education and society?
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287
# MCB University Press
[ISSN 1362-0436]

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Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

[ 280 ]

for economic development and as a catalyst

for change. In particular the Schumpeterian
entrepreneur is an innovator who introduces
new products or technologies. Frequently the
notion of entrepreneurship is associated with
predominant characteristics such as
creativity and imagination, selfdetermination, and the abilities to make
judgmental decisions and co-ordinate
resources. However, Deakins (1996) suggests
that concerns with entrepreneurial
personality divert attention away from the
learning and development process in
entrepreneurship, namely that the individual
gains skills and attributes from undertaking
entrepreneurship, as much as from innate
abilities.
Such consideration of entrepreneurship as
a process together with the changing nature
of work throw down several challenges for
education. The focus in this paper is the 18+
group (and mature students) but awareness
of quality issues and ``fitness for work'' have
received high priority with academics and
policy-makers covering the whole education
sector. Various studies of entrepreneurship
education have been undertaken and for a
ten-year literature review see Gorman and
Hanlon (1997). Among their wide-ranging
findings are that although there has been a
marked increase in entrepreneurship
education courses, there is little uniformity
among the programmes offered. They argue
for a more in-depth assessment of the
matching process between perceived
entrepreneurial characteristics and attempts
by educational institutions to enhance them.
Their review also suggests a consensus that
entrepreneurial attributes can be positively
influenced by educational programmes;
however, equally there remains some
prejudice among small businesses against
formal training.
Several types of education and training
programmes exist for entrepreneurs, and
may be classified broadly as:
1 Programmes for small business start-ups.
These cover functional areas such as
raising finance, basic accounts,
employment issues, marketing, etc., and
are aimed at those persons wishing to
enter self-employment.
2 Continuing (adult) small business
education. These predominantly short
courses provide training in specific skills
development or updating.
3 Small business education. General
educational courses aimed at secondary
or tertiary-level students with the
objective of increasing awareness,
possibly with a view to a career option,

and providing information on the

establishment of a business.
There is clearly some overlap between (1) and
(3) in that many ``business start-up'' courses
offered are arguably of the ``awareness
education'' category. Garavan and
O'Cinneide (1994) suggest that
entrepreneurship and management have
been treated as very distinct disciplines.
Whereas the education and training of
entrepreneurs has remained basically
technical, focusing on specific skills, e.g.
budgeting or new information, e.g. legal
changes, in contrast management training
continues to be influenced by new thinking
such as action learning and systems
approaches.
Clearly formal training is not the only form
in which owner-managers learn, indeed
much of their training is on-the-job through
cumulative experience and the personal
contact network through which they operate.
Nevertheless Gibb (1993; 1996) has argued
consistently that the training and education
systems have enforced values and abilities
which do not encourage entrepreneurialism.
Among criticisms are that conventional
classroom approaches stress theory and
conceptual thinking, involve large amounts
of information and knowledge dissemination,
tend to be teacher or trainer-led, and have a
general, subject or functional focus. The
emphasis is on understanding and critical
analysis with the development of problemsolving skills often in a case-study context of
assumptions and partial information. This
generally passive approach contrasts with
the reality of the entrepreneur operating
with intuition and limited information under
time pressures and with specific problems to
resolve.

Entrepreneurship and education

what action is being undertaken?
In terms of what is on offer, most UK
business and management education from
sixth form to postgraduate includes some
small business studies. While the Economic
and Social Science Research Council (ESRC)
Directory lists more than 40 postgraduate
programmes in the management of
innovation, courses in entrepreneurship
often remain part of larger schemes, notably
MBAs where the dominant theme is the large
or multinational corporation. The focus for
established SME-oriented studies is limited
with the top-rated UK programmes generally
perceived to be those at Durham University
Business School (DUBS), Stirling, Cranfield
and London Business School (Vesper and

Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

Gartner, 1997). As examples, DUBS have

recently launched an MA in
entrepreneurship, while Stirling offer an
MSc in entrepreneurship. Some of the newer
universities have embraced the field, such as
Paisley which receives ESRC funding for
specialist seminars, Nottingham Trent and
Kingston which all have chairs in
entrepreneurship and run various enterprise
courses.
However, by comparison with the USA the
level of penetration is limited. In 1984 Babson
College started a series of programmes which
earned it international acclaim in
entrepreneurship. They believed that you
could not teach someone to be an
entrepreneur but that you could teach an
entrepreneur the skills needed to be
successful. Moreover, they argued that the
need to integrate research and teaching with
the real world of leadership and decision
making had never been greater in USA's
business schools. By the start of the 1990s
Solomon and Fernald (1991) recorded a
dramatic rise in the number of US colleges
and universities offering courses and
programmes in the field from six in 1967 to
400 by 1990.
In UK business school education, any move
towards a more entrepreneurial focus within
conventional structures is not without
difficulties such as:
.
motivating mainstream business school
staff with functional expertise and
medium-sized company orientation;
.
the perceived problems in dealing with
more complex, sophisticated and
intellectually demanding smaller
organisations; and
.
justifying resources and research devoted
to smaller organisations.
Gibb (1996) cites two major concerns. First,
the need to link entrepreneurial behaviour
more fundamentally with learning processes
in a way that goes beyond adding
``transferable'' or ``soft'' skills to the
educational process as a series of separate
events. The second is to find a framework for
exploring the link between the process of
small business management, associated
learning needs and entrepreneurial
behaviour.
Conversely, the potential benefits for a
business school from involvement in
entrepreneurship education include:
.
promotion of a culture of enterprise with
impacts on the long-term regional
development;
.
involvement in regional partnerships,
networks and joint ventures;

the use of more diverse learning and

training methods; and, above all,
teaching which is relevant to a student's
job opportunities.

The overall implication is that challenges

and opportunities exist for UK business
educators to provide a more entrepreneurial
focus in their courses with emphasis on:
.
learning by doing;
.
multidisciplinary perspectives;
.
experience-based learning;
.
the making of judgements under
pressure;
.
flexible learning situations; and
.
the use of practitioners.
Training also needs to be made specific to
participants' requirements.
Such concerns are surfacing in
government policy. The University for
Industry (UfI) will be an organisation for
open and distance learning whose strategic
objectives are, first, to stimulate lifelong
learning among businesses and individuals,
and second, to promote access to relevant,
high quality and innovative learning, largely
via information and communication
technologies. In its ``pathfinder'' prospectus
(Department for Education and Employment,
1998) the UfI cites small and medium-sized
businesses as a priority area and has set an
indicative target that within five years UfI
programmes and services will be delivered to
100,000 start-up businesses and 50,000
established SMEs per year. It argues that by
working in partnership with organisations
such as Business Link, small firms bodies,
the Management Charter Initiative (MCI)
and Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs)
it will make education and training
accessible to owner-managers and employees
of SMEs at the time and place they need
them.
On a broader scale the government is
concerned that an underdeveloped enterprise
culture impacts on economic
competitiveness and dynamism. In a recent
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
report Gavron et al. (1998) examine the
potential for overhauling current business
support schemes and tackling funding gaps.
However, education plays a central role. The
report argues that firms complain about the
lack of preparation for employment among
school-leavers and graduates, yet the latter in
particular may have to consider selfemployment or jobs in small firms in future
as graduate numbers increase while large
company vacancies decrease. The report
proposes a ladder of skill development
through education including:

[ 281 ]

Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

Developing business skills among

younger children (e.g. mini enterprise).
More support for the ``Young Enterprise''
scheme for 15-19 year olds.
Inclusion of commercial skills in teacher
training.
The introduction of entrepreneur clubs at
university.
Inclusion of business modules in
university and college courses, especially
in design, science and engineering
subjects.
More attention paid by university careers
advisers to self-employment and the
involvement of local support agencies.
Courses and support for graduates
wishing to start their own businesses.

Enterprise as a career?
Such a spectrum raises questions of whether
enterprise can be considered as a career by
young people and whether it can be taught
successfully in the UK, especially in view of
the aforementioned observations on
educational and training practice. In
examining this area a starting point is to
consider whether entrepreneurs are ``born or
made''. If entrepreneurs can be developed
then business advisers and educationalists
could have a positive effect on small business
development. If on the other hand innate
entrepreneurial characteristics and traits
exist, then these may limit the numbers
pursuing this activity.
Traditionally entrepreneurship
researchers have studied those factors that
motivate someone to start an entrepreneurial
career rather than focusing on career
progression and advancement. Three broad
approaches to the choice of enterprise as a
career may be identified:
1 Trait theory tries to identify common
links among entrepreneurs which bind
them together as a group. McClelland
(1961) and Rotter (1966) suggest these
include a high need for achievement, selfbelief, propensity to take risks, and
independence. However, no single trait
has been proved exclusively
entrepreneurial and trait measurement is
subject to controversy.
2 The social development approach
recognises that decision makers have
access to limited information and are
prone to external influences and
constraints at different stages. Gibb and
Ritchie (1982) cite factors such as risk,
family influences, prior education and
training, and perceived job opportunities.
However, their model does not account for

[ 282 ]

young
entrepreneurs nor, importantly, other
influences such as peer groups and
location.
3 The structure opportunity model rejects
the two previous approaches for their
insufficient emphasis on social factors
such as family, neighbourhood, school,
peer group and general work situation.
The latter important demand-side factor
implies that career choice is influenced by
employers' needs and the overall
economic and job climate. Curran (1996)
also suggests the prevailing attitudes of
family, friends and neighbours perpetuate
a young person's social position so that
value structures and attitudes affect their
consciousness.
Elements of all three approaches may be seen
as important in understanding influences on
entrepreneurial careers. However, Gibb
Dyers (1994) observed that ``despite the long
tradition of research in the two fields of
careers and entrepreneurship, most work
has been in parallel. Little has been done
using the theories from both fields to build a
comprehensive theory of entrepreneurial
careers''. He attempted to develop a more
comprehensive model describing the
dynamics of entrepreneurial careers based
on:
.
the factors which influence career choice;
.
career socialisation;
.
career orientation; and
.
career progression.
Factors influencing the decision to become
an entrepreneur include individual or
psychological components, social, and
economic features. These then feed into
socialisation experiences that encourage an
entrepreneurial career. For example, Dalton
and Holloway (1989) found that many
aspiring entrepreneurs had received
significant responsibilities at a young age,
even to the extent of some starting
entrepreneurial ventures. Effective training
and education on running a business can also
push some people towards such a career.
The orientation to an entrepreneurial role
is perceived by Gibb Dyers (1994) as
happening in two stages. Initially there is
acceptance of the ``general'' entrepreneurial
role of creating and owning the business.
This may develop either full or part-time, for
example, many entrepreneurs create their
own business when still in regular
employment and accordingly they adopt
several occupational identities over the
course of a ``portfolio'' career, a feature likely
to become more significant with future job
insecurity. The second stage is the creation of

Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

a ``specific'' entrepreneurial role. This may

reflect the enjoyment of developing a new
technology, or building an organisation, or
deal-making. Thus the experience of, and
socialisation processes affecting, the
entrepreneur will influence the roles taken
on.
Career progression implies the need to
respond to changes in personal, family,
business and economic circumstances over
time. For example, early stage personal
dilemmas may relate to finance or marketing
whereas later on issues may arise relating to
whether to grow a business, or withdraw, or
retire with consequent succession problems.
In an earlier attempt to model career
aspirations Scott and Twomey (1988)
examined undergraduate student ambitions.
The authors define a series of pre-disposing
factors such as parental influence and work
experience which feed into the key elements
of the model the perceptions of what a small
business involves and the attitudes a person
has towards himself/herself as an
entrepreneur or employee. In turn these
trigger career preferences which seek to
satisfy personal ambitions. Attitudes play a
crucial role in the case of young students and
Curran (1996) suggests that their experience
draws heavily from secondary sources as the
residue of the attitudes of parents, peers and
teachers. However, the individual might also
have some direct experience, such as a Young
Enterprise course. Therefore if a young
person's social environment is conducive to
entrepreneurship and the individual has
positive personal experience of a business
venture, he or she may well be drawn
towards entrepreneurship.
Studies of influences on young adults'
career choices have been limited. Curran's
(1996) survey of Scottish High School pupils
found that although teachers and television
were major influences, neither medium
portrayed entrepreneurship in a positive
light:
Most of the television programmes which
have encouraged young people into a
particular profession tend to portray a pacey,
high drama, exciting life (generally police,
fire, doctors, nurses). Clearly
entrepreneurship could offer a pacey, high
drama, exciting life, however it tends not to
be portrayed in this light on television.
Owner managers' business lives are
incidental to the plot unless such characters
are facing money worries. This hardly
portrays entrepreneurship in a flattering
light.

Furthermore although many young people

were ambivalent towards entrepreneurship,
those from schools in economically-deprived
areas viewed entrepreneurs particularly

negatively, believing that there were more

barriers to entry than for their peers from
more efficient areas. Moreover, teachers
from such depressed areas also had a
negative attitude to entrepreneurship which
clearly influenced their pupils. Although
those students from affluent backgrounds
viewed entrepreneurship positively,
relatively few seemed inclined towards it
because of the high perceived opportunity
cost in terms of career forgone. Elsewhere
studies by Harrison and Hart (1992) and
Blackburn and Curran (1993) found that
family role models were positively
influential with those most wanting to run
their own businesses likely to come from
homes where their parents owned their own
businesses.
The current study seeks to complement
these investigations by drawing on groups at
various levels in higher education.

Methodology
During the period 1996-98 three groups of
young people were asked for their attitudes
to entrepreneurship by means of a
questionnaire survey. The primary group
consisted of undergraduates, mainly aged
between 19-25 years, at Leeds Metropolitan
University. All the 117 final year
undergraduates studying business studies as
part of their full- or part-time degree
programmes were required to complete a
questionnaire in class. Of these half (59) were
studying an elective ``Running a small
business''.
In addition the same survey questions
were put to all ten participants on the MSc
Entrepreneurship degree at Stirling
University and to a cohort of 11 new bank
trainees at a major UK clearing bank, whose
focus was to be on small business customers.
The three groups are thus diverse, both in
terms of composition and numbers of
respondents, hence meaningful inferences
are acknowledged to be difficult, especially
among the postgraduate and bank trainee
responses. Nevertheless, the 138 replies
provide a set of case studies on views of
entrepreneurship among young people either
in, about to leave, or who have just left higher
education yet with some inkling of small
business affairs.
The survey had two broad themes: first to
gauge understanding of what the respondents
knew about entrepreneurs; second, to
examine the influences on young people as
they pursue their career choices. Depending
on the groups involved, the questions were
expected to elicit information relevant to the

[ 283 ]

Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

first or second part. For example, young bank

trainees having made a career choice might
be expected to be more forthcoming on the
first part whereas inexperienced young
business studies students might tend towards
discussion of the influences on their career
choices rather than reflect on
entrepreneurship as such.

Results
In view of the statistical limitations of the
data sets the results are reported in
qualitative terms and the main findings
summarised in Tables I-IV.

Part A perspectives on entrepreneurship

Respondents were quizzed for their

perspectives on the nature of entrepreneurs,
their characteristics, and the functions they
undertake. Keywords were also sought which
they felt encapsulated the term
``entrepreneur''. Across the groups the
overwhelming impressions were favourable
with entrepreneurs commonly regarded as

Table I
Keywords associated with the term
``entrepreneur''
Keywords
Risk-taker
Motivated
Ambitious
Successful
Hard-working
Rich
Others (nine citations)
Total

Responses
(numbers)

Responses

47
38
29
26
20
20
146
326

14
12
9
8
6
6
45
100

Table II
Are entrepreneurs born or made?
Percentage
Born
Made
No idea/no response
Total

33
45
22
100

bright or intelligent, mainly in an

imaginative rather than academic sense. The
most frequently mentioned traits were
``motivated'', ``hard-working'', ``self-belief''
and ``determined''. The mature MSc students
focused on terms such as ``self-confidence'',
``selfish'' and ``innovative'', and emphasised
the need for a strong character for hard
decision making. The inexperienced
undergraduates similarly mentioned
``innovation'', but also ``ambition'' rather
than the more ruthless single-mindedness.
The perceptions of what entrepreneurs
actually do are relatively simple: set up and
run businesses. From these various
associated functions emerge the ability to
organise resources, to exploit opportunities
and take calculated risks. The bank trainees,
perhaps reflecting upon the importance that
banks place on business plans, stressed
planning. Most undergraduates, especially
those studying enterprise courses, saw
entrepreneurs simply as making money and
growing businesses. Relatively few
references were made
to leadership, networking and business
interaction skills in terms of entrepreneurial
functions.
Table I lists the most frequently cited
keywords associated with the term
entrepreneur, notably: ``risk-taker'';
``motivated''; ``ambitious'' and ``successful''.
Such adjectives accord with the generally
positive perceptions of entrepreneurs in this
and other studies. Indeed, some 96 per cent of
respondents viewed entrepreneurship
favourably, saying that it led to wealth and
job creation, innovation, and greater
consumer choice.
In keeping with the controversy in the
literature (see McClelland, 1961; Gibb and
Ritchie, 1982) the respondents' views as to
whether entrepreneurs are ``born'' or ``made''
were also varied (Table II). Although there
exists a perception that entrepreneurs have
innate characteristics that set them aside
from other people, most who argued that
entrepreneurs are born suggested that their
traits needed an environmental trigger to be
nurtured, and that this accounted for why
relatively few entrepreneurs developed (see

Table III
Career intentions

Employee
Own business
Other
Total
[ 284 ]

Undergraduate

Undergraduateenterprise

Postgraduate

Bank trainees

Total

29
7
22
58

27
17
15
59

6
5
11

4
2
4
10

60
32
46
138

Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career

Table IV
Main influences on career choice

Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

Personal experience
Family or friends
Teachers or studies
Careers guidance
Other citations
Total

Undergraduate

Undergraduateenterprise

Postgraduate

Bank trainees

Total

30
23
4
1
3
61

38
25
6
1

70

1
4
10

2
2
2
4
2
12

75
50
12
7
9
153a

Note: a more than one factor cited by some respondents

also Volery and Mazzarol, 1997). Across the
groups opinions varied: both the bank
trainees group and those undergraduates
studying enterprise courses were equally
divided, whereas in the other groups the
majority felt entrepreneurs could be ``made''.
Respondents were then asked to identify
current entrepreneurs. Across all groups
there were several individuals who could not
identify an entrepreneur, whereas the most
commonly cited ones were Richard Branson,
Anita Roddick, and Bill Gates, all of whom
were highly regarded yet whose popularity
and success as entrepreneurs is possibly at
odds with the large companies they now run.
The overall implication was that young
adults do not know enough entrepreneurs,
are not aware of their work, and, moreover,
receive variable messages from the media
about business people in general. When
asked about visual media or literature
characters involved in running their own
businesses, there was frequent reference to a
narrow range of TV soaps, many of whose
characters operated suspect businesses, e.g
Eastenders, Minder, Lovejoy, and Only Fools
and Horses. This confirmed Curran's
findings mentioned above. Very few
could relate to any characters from the
literary world or to autobiographies of
entrepreneurs. In an increasingly mediadominated environment an opportunity
exists for a more enlightened attitude
towards promoting entrepreneurship among
young people.

Part B influences on career choice

When considering their definitive career

plans many were preoccupied with shortterm horizons linked to completion of their
studies (Table III). Within individual groups
two of the 11 bank trainees expressed a desire
to run their own business having come into
contact with small businesses, and seven of
the ten MSc cohort indicated they intended to
run their own firms or be involved with
small firms, including `` becoming a nonexecutive director'' or ``starting a

consultancy for SMEs''. Among the

undergraduate business studies cohort a
marked difference existed between those
studying entrepreneurship and those not.
Some 67 per cent of the former expressed a
desire to run their own firm compared to just
5 per cent among the rest.
In examining who or what influenced
respondents' career choices the dominant
factors were cited as the interviewee's own
experience together with family views (Table
IV). Teachers and career guidance
counsellors were perceived to have little
direct impact. Indeed, the latter were
considered to have insufficient knowledge of
small firms and entrepreneurship as a
career. Questions were asked as to whether
studying a higher education enterprise
course had influenced their choice. Whether
influential or not there was a general feeling
that such courses could raise awareness. The
bank trainees also mentioned that studying
small businesses made them more cautious,
probably not the response most
entrepreneurs would wish to hear
about their prospective bank managers. The
undergraduates suggested that it helped to
increase their personal motivation and
showed the difficulties of setting up and
making a business successful.
When asked whether in the future they
might consider starting their own business,
some two-thirds of the total respondents said
yes. Among the primary reasons cited were
``being one's own boss'' and ``to make money''.
For those not contemplating this option, their
answers included ``do not have the qualities'',
``not a risk-taker'', ``want a family life'', ``no
capital to invest'', and ``it involves too much
work''.
In terms of what is needed to start a
business several factors emerged in addition
to the perceived entrepreneurial traits of
motivation, energy, commitment and
confidence. Finance dominated across all
groups suggesting that stories of the
difficulty in raising capital, of bank-industry
relations, and of late payment issues, are

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Roger Henderson and

Martyn Robertson
Who wants to be an
entrepreneur? Young adult
attitudes to entrepreneurship
as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

influential. In addition the needs for business

knowledge, for knowledge of how to find a
market and for organisational skills were
mentioned.

Conclusions
The new millennium is likely to involve
greater uncertainty but also more personal
responsibility for employment and financial
affairs, whether at the end of a working
career in terms of pension or at the start in
terms of job and career orientation. Young
people are likely to experience a ``portfolio''
career consisting of periods of paid
employment, non-work, and selfemployment. Flexibility and creativity will
be necessary survival skills in the workplace.
The changing structure of firms suggests that
a team or project focus and small-scale
working will be important within large firms
while the role of the small firm will increase
with ``down-sizing'' and ``outsourcing''
encouraged by technology.
Such an environment points to greater
need for entrepreneurial activity. It is vital
for future national economic growth that new
additions continue to be made to the business
stock. Hence it is important that young
people are encouraged to pursue
entrepreneurial careers, a challenge for both
educationalists and policy-makers alike.
There is some evidence that more
universities are providing courses and
support for those interested in running their
own businesses and recent government-led
initiatives suggest concern for this area.
However, the level of penetration remains
low and this study confirms the findings of
other authors such as Scott and Twomey
(1988) and Curran (1996) that
entrepreneurship is not readily considered
as a career.
The surveys suggest that entrepreneurs
are favourably regarded for their ability to
make money, their dynamism, their
motivation and their contribution to the
economy. However, there is still a feeling
among many young people that
entrepreneurs are born rather than made, or
that certain special traits are required. A
disappointingly poor knowledge is shown of
actual entrepreneurs, conditioned largely by
media which often portray business people in
an unflattering light. Young people can be
influenced by teachers and careers guidance
specialists but these do not always
demonstrate sufficient knowledge of, or
enthusiasm for, entrepreneurship as a career
choice.
At university level various types of
provision exist from short-courses on specific

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issues to general ``education'' on small firms.

While often criticised for ``classroom'' or
``theoretical'' emphasis divorced from reality,
nevertheless educationalists can still offer an
insight into entrepreneurship which can
influence the choice of entrepreneurship as a
career. Moreover, interaction could be
improved by a combination of traditional and
new steps. Among the former measures there
is still scope for the use of short-term
placement periods and ``sandwich years'',
although in the past these have tended to
focus on larger entities. In addition
undergraduate and postgraduate
dissertations could have a more active role,
focused towards work-related projects, and so
encouraging more primary than desk- or
library-based research. More active use could
be made of the programmes such as teaching
company scheme (TCS)-type work but within
the business planning, marketing and
information technology areas as opposed to
mainly technical design or engineering
disciplines.
The above survey, in keeping with the
literature, also points to a shortfall in
understanding by teachers and careers
guidance officers of the issues facing, and
opportunities provided by, SMEs, and to
attitudes which do not encourage
entrepreneurial careers among the young.
Arguably there is a case for more interaction
at this level between adults in business and
education via attachments or consultancy,
although the practical logistics of this are
difficult to manage. Nevertheless
developments are possible such as
``enterprise clubs'' as advocated by the
Association of Business Schools and
professional bodies and policy-makers may
have roles as catalysts, such as the Chartered
Association of Certified Accountants and the
Institute of Small Business Affairs, which
have actively linked educational
developments and SMEs. In addition as the
EU seeks to encourage SME growth there
may be a specific role for regional policy
makers, such as the new Regional
Development Agencies, to look more closely
at the interaction between higher education
and local entrepreneurship. Above all in an
increasingly media-oriented society a
helping hand could come from more
sympathetic but influential media portrayals
of entrepreneurial role models.

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as a career
Career Development
International
5/6 [2000] 279287

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Further reading

Curran, J. (1986), Bolton 15 years on: A Review and

Analysis of Small Business Research in
Britain 1971-1986, Small Business Research
Trust, London.
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UK Economy, Small Business Research
Centre, Kingston University, Kingston.
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and Enterprise: A National Survey, Kingston
Business School, Occasional Paper Series,
No. 11, November.
Curran, J. and Blackburn, R. (1991), ``Changes in
the context of enterprise: some socio
economic and environmental factors facing
small firms'', in Curran, J. and Blackburn, R.,
Paths of Enterprise: The Future of the Small
Business, Routledge, London.
Department of Trade and Industry (1988), DTI:
Department for Enterprise, White Paper,
Cmnd 278, HMSO, London.
Katz, J. (1994), ``Modelling entrepreneurial career
progressions: concepts and considerations'',
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
Winter, pp. 23-39.
Morrison, A. (1998), Entrepreneurship: An
International Perspective, Butterworth
Heinemann, London.
Ritchie, J. (1991), ''Enterprise cultures: a frame
analysis'', in Burrows, R. (1991), Deciphering
the Enterprise Culture, Routledge, London.
Vesper, K. (1980), New Venture Strategies,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

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