Entrepreneurship: Exploring the knowledge base

Entrepreneurship research has a long tradition and since the 1980s the field has grown significantly. In this study we identify the ‘knowledge producers’ who have shaped the field over time and their core entrepreneurship research works. A unique database consisting of all references in twelve entrepreneurship ‘handbooks’ (or state-of-the-art books) has been developed. The chapters in these handbooks were written by experts within the field, and it can be assumed that the most frequently cited references represent ‘core knowledge’ with relevance to entrepreneurship research.From our analysis, it appears that entrepreneurship is a rather changeable field of research, closely linked to disciplines such as ‘management studies’ and ‘economics’. Over time, the field has become more formalized with its own core knowledge, research specialities and an increasing number of ‘insider works’. However, it is still based on some fairly old theoretical frameworks imported from mainstream disciplines, although during the last decade we have seen the emergence of a number of new field-specific concepts and theories. We argue that to successfully develop entrepreneurship research in the future, we need to relate new research opportunities to earlier knowledge within the field, which calls for a stronger ‘knowledge-based’ focus. We would also like to see greater integration between the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation studies in the future.     

Consistency and variability of learning strategies in different university courses

The present study addressed the question of consistency and variability in learning strategies. Four university courses provided different learning contexts. The same group of students reported about their learning strategies by completing identical questionnaires on each of these courses. Participants were 85 students attending the first year of Law studies. A second study consisted of 63 students attending similar courses in the following academic year. An analysis of variance showed that students varied their reported learning strategies as a function of different learning contexts. This indicated a context-specific component in strategy use. Intercorrelations, however, showed that students displayed consistency in reported learning strategies across course contexts as well. This indicated a personal, habitual component in strategy use. It thus seems that the question of variability and consistency in learning strategies does not yield an either-or, answer. Context variables were explored to explain the variations. Use of stated cases, provision of a clear organisation of subject matter and of diverse didactic resources appeared to diminish encountered problems and lack of regulation (which proved to be related variables), and promote the use of concrete processing, relating, analyzing, self-regulation and externally regulated strategies. Evidence was found that learning strategies differed among each other in the degree of variability. Memorizing turned out to be relatively resistant to differences in course context, whereas concrete processing strategies and lack of regulation showed relatively large susceptibility to course context. Explanations were proposed in terms of different stages in the development of learning strategies and in terms of context-variables.     

Effects of writing instruction and assessment on functional composition performance

In this study the relationships between writing instruction and functional composition performance were analyzed. The data were obtained in a national assessment on the language proficiency of students in the third year of Dutch secondary education (age ±15). Multivariate multilevel analysis showed that 10 out of 36 instructional characteristics were related to functional composition performance. The effective instructional characteristics included: instruction and exercises in writing functional texts, writing for a specific purpose, tailoring to a particular audience, global rating of writing products by the teacher, and frequent evaluation of Dutch language proficiency through teacher-made tests and written assignments. No effects were found for the rather popular subskill exercises on idiom, syntax, spelling and punctuation, and for pre-writing activities, text revisions and peer-review. Furthermore, the effect of instructional characteristics was often different on one task than on another. Finally, there was little differential effectiveness for different groups of students. If one instructional characteristic was more effective than the other, this was generally true, to an equal degree, for boys and girls and for promoted and non-promoted students.     

Measuring perceived social presence in distributed learning groups

Social presence—the degree to which ‘the other’ in a communication appears to be a ‘real’ person—has captured the attention of those dealing with learning in groups through computer-supported collaborative learning environments. The concept is important because it affects participation and social interaction, both necessary for effective collaboration and knowledge construction. This article reports on the construction and validation of a self-reporting (Dutch-language) Social Presence Scale to determine perceived social presence in distributed learning groups using computer-supported collaborative learning environments. The result is a one-dimensional scale consisting of five items with an internal consistency of .81. We used a nomological network of similar constructs for further validation. The findings suggest that the Social Presence Scale has potential to be useful as a measure for social presence.     

Modernising gender,civilising sex: perverse imaginary in the state feminist politics of Liu Yu‐hsiu

Abstract

The gender sexual politics of Liu Yu‐hsiu has been pivotal in the hegemonic ascendancy of Taiwan state feminism in recent years. Through an examination of Liu’s psychoanalytically mediated essays of cultural criticism, this article traces the contour of Liu’s sexual imaginary within the context of 1990s feminist and queer politics. Liu’s modernising project of gender equality, I argue, upholds heterosexual monogamy as a feminist ideal that seeks to purge all the masculine ills, including perversion and promiscuity. Meanwhile, queers and prostitutes come to be figured as the very negativity that must be repressed. Yet, like the Lacanian Real, they impinge on the symbolic order that Liu ordains as they thwart her desire to civilise sex.     

Between education and care? Critical reflections on early childhood policies in Germany

This article identifies the responsibilities for early childhood care and education (ECCE) in the German child and youth welfare system and shows the expansion of children's services. The official German statistics demonstrate that almost every child from the age of three to school age attends ‘Kindergarten’. Current policies and measures are therefore mainly focused on extending provision for the under‐threes. There are still enormous differences in the number of places available for children under three years of age between the eastern and western parts of Germany. Due to the increased significance of early education and the educational curricula drafted in all 16 Länder over the past few years, the qualifications required of professional pedagogues today have changed considerably. There is a broad consensus in Germany that it is necessary to redefine the course content and structure and put them on a theoretical basis. The article pinpoints the problems of children with special needs, and especially of those whose family language is not German. Despite some positive developments in German ECCE little progress has been made with regard to effectively implementing the conceptual unity of education, care and upbringing.     

The social structure of entrepreneurship as a scientific field

Entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly, irrespective of the measures used. In this article we raise the question: How can we understand the evolution and success of entrepreneurship as a scholarly field? In particular, we focus on the social structure of entrepreneurship scholars to explain (1) how they are becoming integrated into larger scholarly communities and (2) how they differ from the way scholars integrate within the field of innovation studies. Based on a unique database and responses from 870 entrepreneurship scholars, we demonstrate that entrepreneurship can be regarded as a phenomenon-driven field bound together by a shared communication system and social interaction rather than strong theoretical influences, i.e., a social scholarly community. We identify two broader social communities; one embedded in entrepreneurship conferences that includes a rather eclectic group of entrepreneurship scholars, and another related to entrepreneurship journals and entrepreneurship economics, characterized by a stronger domain orientation. In contrast, scholars in innovation studies tend to be more theory-driven and are bound together by their disciplinary and theoretical background, i.e., an intellectual scholarly community.