Adolescent Pathways to Entrepreneurship
Child Development Perspectives
Published online on June 25, 2016
Abstract
Entrepreneurship is crucial not only for creating jobs and innovating, but also because it reflects how personal agency and risk taking contribute to social change. Because entrepreneurship is widely regarded as a skill of the 21st century, societies worldwide want to design and implement education programs to encourage entrepreneurs. In this article, I discuss the role of the formative years of adolescence in the development of entrepreneurship, reviewing research on adolescent precursors of entrepreneurship. I also explore the role of the developing self‐concept and the interplay between biology and levels of context in the development of entrepreneurial skills throughout life. Finally, I propose a biopsychosocial model of entrepreneurial development and conclude with questions for researchers.