This chapter investigates the employees' perception of entrepreneurial mindset factors affecting the development of entrepreneurship competence (EC). Empirical cross-sectional data were collected with an online survey from 754 employees in five countries: Estonia, Finland, Poland, Portugal, and Italy. The survey aimed to measure four areas of EC (self-management, managing social situations, creative thinking and finding solutions, and acting upon opportunities and ideas) and the related 14 sub-competencies. The main aim was to verify if country-specific differences exist in employees' perceptions of entrepreneurship sub-competencies, and which sub-competencies are the best predictors for the actualization of a specific EC. A linear regression model was used for this aim.
TopIntroduction
Nowadays, due to the drastic transformations caused by pandemics, globalisation, internationalisation and technological development, the workplace and work characteristics are considerably changing (Boehlinger, Haake, Jørgensen, Toiviainen, & Wallo, 2015; Tynjälä, 2008; Fuller & Unwin, 2003; 2004; 2011; Illeris, 2003). Therefore, organizations and employees need to learn fast to face new challenges (Tynjälä, 2008; Boehlinger, et al., 2015; Veenker et al., 2008) and having employees who can respond to new job demands criteria can increase competitive advantages (Rintala et al., 2019).
In order to maintain their employability (Harteis & Billett, 2008; Kyndt & Baert, 2013; Manuti et al., 2015) and to perform their jobs to the best of their ability, it has become necessary for employees to have the opportunity to continuously learn (Kyndt & Baert, 2009; 2011; Van de Wiel et al., 2011) and to develop entrepreneurship as one of eight key competences of life-long learning (European Commission 2006), also named as transferable or employability competence. The development of employability competencies is increasingly growing: hard skills, which have played a leading role in business success for a long time, are not anymore acceptable to effectively address the challenges of the labour market (Moore & Morton, 2017; Robles, 2012).
The studies carried out among graduates are calling for greater renovations of higher education curricula, especially to ensure greater levels of ‘job readiness’ among graduates (Harvey, 2000). For graduates transferring from HEIs (Higher education institutions) to the labour market or for employees already working in companies, it is important to find ways of making working places as learning environments, which can efficiently support the development of ECs (entrepreneurial competencies) of employees at the workplace (Lehtonen et al., 2021; Pylväs & Nokelainen 2022). Learning at the workplace opens new possibilities for exploration in the world of learning throughout life (Billet, 2020).