Bringing creativity back to entrepreneurship education: Creative self-efficacy, creative process engagement, and entrepreneurial intentions

In this paper we explore creativity as an antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions. Drawing from social cognitive theory, we explain and empirically illustrate how creative self-efficacy encourages the development of entrepreneurial intentions. We also examine the mediating roles of attitudes and creative process engagement in the creative self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions relationship. Based on a pre-post- survey design, in seven entrepreneurship courses taught in three Canadian universities, our findings support the role of creativity as an antecedent to entrepreneurship, but also hint towards some boundaries/limitations on attitudes as the primary focus of entrepreneurship education programs. We draw a number of implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship education.