The Long-Term Impact of Early Entrepreneurship Education

Questions we care about – Objectives
Entrepreneurship education (EE) programs have proliferated globally, reflecting a growing consensus on the critical role of entrepreneurship in fostering sustainable economic development and innovation. However, most initiatives target adolescents or university students, while comparatively little research examines EE in primary school contexts. This gap is particularly relevant because early exposure to entrepreneurial thinking and behavior may shape capabilities during a formative stage of development. Beyond developing individual competencies, early EE may also contribute to a more entrepreneurial culture in society. The present study investigates the long-term impact of early EE on the entrepreneurial mind- and skillset of elementary school children using a quasi-experimental design.
Q1: What short- and long-term impacts does early entrepreneurship education have on the entrepreneurial mind- and skillset of elementary school children?
Q2: How effective are brief, resource-efficient early entrepreneurship education initiatives?
Approach
We conduct a longitudinal quasi-experimental field study comparing pupils exposed to an EE program with a control group without program participation. Outcomes are measured at baseline and across multiple post-intervention timepoints.
The sample consists of approx. 800 third- and fourth-grade children from Austrian elementary schools. Participants take part in a project-based EE program offered annually by a public university. The program follows a standardized structure to ensure consistent delivery across classrooms. The intervention consists of two workshops delivered by trained university students, followed by a one-month project phase in which pupils develop and implement their own product or service ideas. The program culminates in a sales event where pupils present and sell their creations.
To measure changes in the entrepreneurial mind- and skillset, the study captures entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes toward entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial skills such as creativity, initiative, and opportunity recognition. Demographics and entrepreneurial experience are included as controls. Data are triangulated to increase measurement reliability between pupils completing paper-based questionnaires in the classroom, and parent surveys.
Results
The research questions will be analyzed using longitudinal multilevel models that account for repeated observations over time and the nested structure of the data (pupils within classes and schools). We expect a positive interaction between program participation and measurement timepoints, indicating stronger improvements in entrepreneurial mind- and skillset among pupils exposed to EE.
Implications
From a practical perspective, the findings provide guidance for policymakers and educators on how to design entrepreneurship education initiatives that balance impact and efficiency. Many existing programs require substantial time and resources. Understanding whether shorter initiatives can generate measurable and lasting developmental effects is therefore important for designing scalable programs that can be implemented across school systems.
Value/Originality
The study contributes to the literature by examining the long-term impact of entrepreneurship education in an elementary school setting. Prior research has largely focused on adolescents or university students and often relied on cross-sectional self-reports. By employing a longitudinal field experiment with a large sample and multi-informant data collection, this study provides new insights into whether early and relatively short EE interventions can generate sustained developmental effects.
Key Words
Early Entrepreneurship Education, Longitudinal Quasi-Experiment, Entrepreneurial Mindset Development