From student to entrepreneur: towards a model of graduate entrepreneurial career‐making

Abstract

This paper examines the process of transition from student to graduate entrepreneur. The aim is to develop a typological framework that captures the key person–environment dimensions involved in this transitional journey. This paper draws upon interview data from 15 graduates, all of whom had established their own business within five years of graduation. The paper engages with two dimensions that, we argue, usefully capture an important dynamic of the student‐to‐entrepreneurship transition: (1) the entrepreneurial maturity of the individual; and (2) the complexity of the business idea. The paper maps qualitative data from the graduates onto a framework based on these dimensions. This offers the basis for an enhanced understanding of the graduate entrepreneurship process. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for theory and practice and, importantly, further research.

Keywords:

• student‐to‐graduate entrepreneur transition
• career‐making
• entrepreneurship
• business start‐up
• United Kingdom

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) and the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) for their support in the research reported upon in this paper.

Notes

1. All names have been changed.