Education entrepreneurship: how do leaders in two community colleges foster and support innovation & entrepreneurship.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20317929

Abstract In recent years, community colleges have been facing a complex set of challenges in a fast-moving economic environment aggravated by declining student populations and reduced government funding. These external threats have encouraged some college leaders to look at alternatives ways to reduce or eliminate the impact of those challenges on their schools. This research, therefore, examines how community college leaders foster and support entrepreneurship at their institutions. The two research questions that guided this study were (1) How do community college leaders foster and support innovation through entrepreneurial activity at their colleges and to what end, as perceived by them? (2) What leadership strategies, structures, and use of resources do community college leaders employ in their colleges to foster and support innovation and entrepreneurial activity, as presented by the leaders, administrators, and faculty of the colleges? Qualitative methods were used to examine how college presidents foster and support entrepreneurialism, and the effects on the institution's decisions to undertake this inventiveness. The findings from this study fit the theoretical framework of Clark's (1998) entrepreneurial theory of how college leaders fostered and supported entrepreneurialism at their community colleges. Findings also showed strategic and tactical approaches the college leaders used to establish and sustain an innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The research was also able to provide useful strategies that other community colleges can undertake if they decide to consider changing their institutions from traditional to entrepreneurial education. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Community Colleges, College Leaders, Administrators, Distributed Leadership, Leadership