Brescia School of Leadership & Social Change Publications
Title
Who, Me? Increasing High School Girls’ Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Knowledge and Intentions
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2020
Journal
Collectif
Volume
2020
First Page
48
Last Page
74
Abstract
This paper provides a case study of two female-only entrepreneurship education programs designed by faculty from Brescia University College, Canada’s only women’s university, located in London, Ontario, Canada. The programs were designed to address the substantial gender gap found in women’s participation in entrepreneurial activities by inspiring, educating, and exposing program participants to entrepreneurial endeavours. One program was a one-day conference and the other was a one-week boot camp. The study was designed to better understand how to strengthen the female entrepreneurial pipeline by measuring changes in entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), and entrepreneurial intentions (EI). Program participants were asked to complete pre- and post-experience questionnaires where information about leadership experiences, role models, entrepreneurial knowledge, ESE, and EI was collected. The results of the analysis reveal that the gender-specific programming increased ESE in the one-week camp and that both programs significantly increased both objective and self-perceived knowledge of entrepreneurship. The authors conclude that the female-only educational interventions helped to transform adolescent girls’ sense of entrepreneurial possibilities. We recommend a scaffolded and integrated approach to future entrepreneurship education programming to address and ultimately close the entrepreneurship gender gap.
Citation of this paper:
Jean, M., & Sharen, C., M. (2020). Who me? Increasing high school girls’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, knowledge and intentions. Collectif: Examining the Value and Utility of a Women’s College Education in North America, 48–74.
Notes
https://www.womenscolleges.org/discover/reports/collectif-examining-value-and-utility-womens-college-education-north-america