Presentations

Presentation at USASBE Conference

January 9-12, 2016, San Diego, California

On January 9-12, 2016, in San Diego, California, Dr. Jennifer Hall, EMP Co-author, and Professors David Hayes and Dr. Bill Richmond of Western Carolina University (WCU), presented a workshop titled “Building Critical Entrepreneurial Skills through the Use of an Online Assessment” at the USASBE Conference: Entrepreneurship Everywhere.

The session focused on a four-year project at Western Carolina to explore how measuring entrepreneurial mindset can benefit their students, educational programs, and entrepreneurship research in general.  The three primary objectives of the project are as follows:  1)  For students to receive their own unique EMP profiles, gain an understanding of their entrepreneurial strengths and be better equipped to address their specific development needs, 2)  For professors of entrepreneurship courses to help students develop skills critical to entrepreneurial success, analyze the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship curriculum, and allow for program enhancements, and 3) For educators to conduct both cross-sectional and longitudinal research studies to advance the science of entrepreneurship.

When students receive their individual results, they are asked to identify one or two of the EMP skill dimensions which represent development opportunities for them.  Then they are invited to read and apply strategies from the EMP Development Guide for developing those skills and are encouraged throughout the course of the semester to continue to find ways to focus on practicing and thereby enhancing those skills.

In addition to distributing the individual EMP reports to students, the professors also create composite EMP Group Reports.  These reports allow them to understand the starting point of the class as a whole on the 14 EMP scales and—more importantly—to create targeted programming to address the lower-rated skills.  For example, if it turns out the class scores relatively low on the scales of Execution and Self-Confidence, assignments can be created to address and build these particular skill sets both within and outside the classroom setting.

Presentation at APA Division 13 Conference

February 3-7, 2016 in Orlando, Florida

Jennifer Hall and Mark Davis presented a session titled “Entrepreneurial Mindset: Navigating the Complexities of Today’s Business Environment” at the 24th annual Consulting Psychology Conference for The Society of Consulting Psychology (APA Division 13), in Orlando, FL, on February 3-7, 2016.

This session focused on the “positivity triad” of Self-Confidence, Optimism, and Persistence.   Research has found that entrepreneurs possess each of these characteristics to a greater degree than non-entrepreneurs and that these three dimensions are significantly associated with one’s sense of self-efficacy.  The co-authors reviewed evidence of the importance of these dimensions and reported on recent successful attempts to increase them through direct interventions.