Title: Roles of career anchors and path dependency in the entrepreneurial process: case Finland

Authors: Rauno Rusko; Lenita Hietanen; Krista Kohtakangas; Taina Järvi

Addresses: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, P.O.B. 122, FI96101 Rovaniemi, Finland ' Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, P.O.B. 122, FI96101 Rovaniemi, Finland ' Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, P.O.B. 122, FI96101 Rovaniemi, Finland ' Lapland Vocational College, Porokatu 35, FI 96400 Rovaniemi, Finland

Abstract: Studies of entrepreneurship education emphasise the impact of this educational process in career and entrepreneurship development. This study focuses in particular on the impact of the decision to start entrepreneurship education at the university level. Traditionally, career anchors are associated with relatively stable career development, but through an analysis of 59 life stories, this research observed that career anchors are more flexible. This study revealed four main types of previous life paths among the students beginning the entrepreneurship studies program (ESP) in Northern Finland, including their transitions between latent nascent entrepreneurship and actual entrepreneurship and between different career anchors. Entrepreneurship experiences do not always mean continuum in an entrepreneurship career.

Keywords: career anchors; entrepreneurial process; competencies; path dependency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2019.101104

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2019 Vol.37 No.3, pp.342 - 363

Received: 10 Mar 2017
Accepted: 09 Sep 2017
Published online: 24 Jul 2019 *

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