Process Studies in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education (EE) includes the processes of learning and teaching entrepreneurship. Studies on EE have traditionally focused on the outcome and its variances, while process studies have the potential to capture processual understanding. This study explores how processes are examined in EE research, and its insights provide a foundation for future directions for process studies in EE research. The study includes a systematic literature review of process studies in EE research and the subsequent mapping of 101 process studies. The identified process studies are grouped into those focusing on students’ learning, module design, study program evaluation, and the development of entrepreneurial universities and ecosystems. For enhanced clarity on how learning takes place and how processes unfold in EE, this paper details the process content, mechanism, and sequence, as well as the methods applied to study these processes. Moreover, the paper offers a research agenda on how to use the potential of process studies in EE. Improved use of process studies implies better answers to how learning takes place and how processes unfold in EE, thus improving educational practices and enabling the more efficient use of public funding for education.