The Educational Foundations of Entrepreneurial Development: Comparing Academic, Certification and No Formal Entrepreneurship Education Pathways

This study investigates how different forms of entrepreneurship education academic programmes, certification-based training and the absence of formal entrepreneurship education shape entrepreneurial propensity and the mechanisms through which learners develop entrepreneurial capabilities and motivation. Drawing on Human-Capital Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study examines how educational design, personal traits and contextual influences jointly contribute to entrepreneurial development. Data were collected from 410 entrepreneurs using a stratified survey, and analyses included a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) supplemented by ANCOVA controlling for age, gender and country income, comparing entrepreneurial propensity across educational pathways, followed by hierarchical regressions conducted separately for each group. Results show that entrepreneurs with formal entrepreneurship education, whether academic or certification-based, report significantly higher entrepreneurial propensity than those without structured training, with no statistically significant difference between academic and certification routes. Self-reported creativity was positively associated with entrepreneurial propensity in all three groups, although this association should be interpreted cautiously given the shared self-report method and common Likert response format, whereas critical thinking was a significant predictor only within academic programmes. Gender, parental support and country context emerged as group-specific influences, highlighting the developmental and sociocultural factors that shape entrepreneurial learning. The study contributes to entrepreneurship education research by clarifying how diverse learning modes foster entrepreneurial readiness and by emphasizing the pedagogical importance of experiential depth, creative problem-solving and supportive learning environments in programme design.