THE STATUS QUO BIAS OF STUDENTS AND REFRAMING AS AN EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING AND CHANGE ADOPTION

Abstract

Namen raziskave je pregledati nagnjenost k ohranjanju obstoječega stanja in ukrepe za preoblikovanje med študenti poslovnih ved, v poskusu, da bi razumeli vlogo teh ukrepov na podjetniško odločanje študentov, ter s končnim ciljem, da bi ugotovili, ali lahko z uporabo izobraževalnega ukrepa v smeri inovativnosti in sprejemanja sprememb vplivamo na podjetniško razmišljanje študentov. Čeprav so navedene raziskovalne teme že bile obravnavane ločeno in pretežno v nepodjetniškem kontekstu, je cilj naše raziskave povezati te enake teme v skupno študijo z laboratorijskim poskusom v izobraževalnem kontekstu, ki vključuje univerzitetne študente poslovnih ved. Eksperimentalna študija vključuje vzorec več kot 200 dodiplomskih študentov tretjega ali četrtega letnika študijskega programa menedžment na Univerzi Svetega Cirila in Metoda v Skopju. Na splošno ugotovimo, da so študentje v 7 od skupno 18 primerov znatno nagnjeni k ohranjanju obstoječega stanja, kar nakazuje na zmerno raven ohranjanja obstoječega stanja. Rezultati drugega dela naše študije pokažejo močan vpliv preoblikovalnega ukrepa na premagovanje pristranskosti do ohranjanja obstoječega stanja. V vsakem primeru naša raziskava predstavlja edinstven prispevek, ki ponudi praktičen primer pristopanja podjetniškemu učenju v obliki ukrepa v smeri inovativnosti in sprejemanja sprememb med študenti poslovnih šol in univerz.

Alternate abstract:

The purpose of this research study is to examine the status quo bias and reframing interventions among business students in an attempt to understand their role in the students entrepreneurial decision making, aiming eventually to find out whether we can affect students entrepreneurial thinking by using an educational intervention towards innovation and change adoption. Though these research topics have previously been examined separately and mostly in a non-entrepreneurial context, this research paper aims to integrate them into one laboratory experiment study in an educational context, considering business students at the university. The experimental study is conducted on a sample with more than 200 undergraduate university students in their third or fourth year of studies of the Management study program at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Overall, we find that students are significantly biased towards status quo in 7 out of 18 cases, demonstrating a moderate level of status quo bias. The results from the second part of our study evidence a strong effect of the reframing intervention on overcoming the status quo bias. In any case, the research paper adds a unique practical contribution by offering an actual entrepreneurship learning approach, as an intervention towards the innovation and change adoption among students at business schools and universities.