Entrepreneurship Education: Tacit Knowledge and Innovation Transfer. An Analysis Through Nonaka’s Model

Abstract

Innovation is recognized in the field of entrepreneurship research as an essential component of entrepreneurship. Indeed, the paradigm of innovation is considered one of the oldest in the field of entrepreneurship research and returns to the Austrian school through the work of the economist Joseph Schumpeter (1934). Moreover, innovation is one of the most important entrepreneurial skills (Bayad, Boughattas and Schmitt, 2006). While education programs in entrepreneurship (PEE) main objective is inculcating key entrepreneurial skills to participants, today’s debate concerns both the learning content and the methods used. The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of the transmission of knowledge (mainly tacit knowledge) through PEE’s through the integration of its components to Nonaka’s model. The role of tacit knowledge in the development of an innovative entrepreneur will be highlighted. The conceptual part of this paper will be focused on the study of the relationship between the concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation and the role of tacit knowledge; the second part will present the PEE components and analyze the transmission of tacit knowledge through the proposition of future research with Nonaka’s model.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p253