Comparison of ontological conceptions of entrepreneurship and education

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There has been a shift from realism toward idealism in scientific literature on entrepreneurial processes during the early part of the first decade of this millennium. The same shift occurred significantly earlier in the educational literature 1. In entrepreneurship, the dominant discovery theory that views opportunities as independently existing has been complemented by scholars who see opportunities as created rather than discovered 2, 3, 4. In education, the shift means that teachers and students interactively create new knowledge together and with the environment rather than that students are given more knowledge, 5, 6, 7. Table 13.1 presents our views on the main ontological characteristics of entrepreneurship and education.

According to realism, reality exists independently of the observer’s perceptions of it. The upper part of Table 13.1 presents (following realism) entrepreneurship according to discovery theory and education according to behaviorism. Discovery theory and behaviorism have the same ontological starting point, realism, and can therefore be seen to ontologically match with each other. Following idealism, the lower half of Table 13.1 presents entrepreneurship according to creation theory and education according to social constructionism. According to idealism, reality is created by the observer. We conclude that creation theory and social constructionism match ontologically.