A keen interest in the role of entrepreneurship in developing countries led Duncan Levinsohn to conduct research on entrepreneurial learning. In June, he presented his dissertation, “No Entrepreneur is an Island: An Exploration of Social Entrepreneurial Learning in Accelerators,” at the Jönköping International Business School. One of the dissertation’s conclusions is that the group in an accelerator creates most of the learning together.
– Based on this insight, the recruitment process for an accelerator becomes very important. The group arrives at the same time and works incredibly intensively together for several weeks. The group process and the composition of the group are crucial to the learning experience. The leaders act as process facilitators rather than experts. The fact that the participants are at the same stage in their entrepreneurial journey is also highly significant; coming from the same industry, however, is not nearly as important, according to the participants I interviewed, says Duncan Levinsohn.
Another insight Duncan has drawn from his research is that many of the social entrepreneurs with a background in development aid made significant progress toward financial sustainability during their time in the accelerator program.
Changing Perspectives
“Many people who have worked on aid projects have done so on a project basis and received grants. In the accelerator, they learned instead to operate according to a more sustainable and long-term business model. For them, it was important to change their approach and perspective in order to move away from a more short-term mindset,” says Duncan.
A third key finding from Duncan’s research, in which he studied three different accelerator groups, is that in addition to the role of the group, the physical space and location themselves have a significant impact on learning. In his dissertation, Duncan coins the term “splace,” a blend of the words “space” and “place.” He argues that in an accelerator, it is impossible to separate the physical space from the learning process.
The significance of the location
“The location has a strong impact on interaction and learning. Who you share a room with and how the living space is designed also matter, since conversations continue even outside the classroom. You can’t separate the mental space from the physical space; they influence each other. Since interaction is important in an accelerator, the location is also important,” says Duncan.
Since completing his dissertation, Duncan Levinsohn has continued his research at the Jönköping International Business School. These days, he focuses more on learning in the context of innovation in general. He has a keen interest in creativity and its role in learning.
“How can we break with tradition and do something new? And how can we support social entrepreneurs in doing something new? These are questions that interest me and that I think we need to learn more about,” he concludes.
Facts
An accelerator is an intensive development program for startups. It gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to get started and build their companies in a creative environment alongside other entrepreneurs, over a relatively short period of time.
Read more and download Duncan Levinsohn’s dissertation here.