Assessing Student Entrepreneurial Capacity: Implications For Rural Communities and Higher Education

During the 1990s, the U.S. experienced a shift in job creation: large U.S. businesses laid off approximately 10 million workers, while entrepreneurs and small businesses created 20 million jobs during the same decade. Given this shift in job creation, it is clear that entrepreneurship is the new foundation of the U.S. economy. Rural communities, in particular, should be concerned about stimulating entrepreneurship given current challenges, such as declining and aging populations, loss of traditional industry, and declining wages. Entrepreneurial development is vital to the future success and growth of rural economies. The purpose of this study is to report the results of a survey which measured the entrepreneurial capacity of students at a university in rural Kansas. We then draw conclusions about the role universities can play in developing students to become entrepreneurs and creating innovative communities.