Evaluating the impact of serious games: the effect of gaming on entrepreneurial intent

Abstract

Purpose Serious games are playing an increasingly significant role across a range of educational contexts. Business focused serious games can provide students with an authentic learning experience and their use has been increasingly taken up by business school faculty, including those delivering entrepreneurship education (EE). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of participation in a serious business game on the entrepreneurial intent (EI) of undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. It employs a modified version of Linan et al.’s (2011) EI model in the form of a questionnaire survey completed by 263 undergraduate business and management students. Findings A logic regression model was used to analyse the survey responses. The research findings indicate that the serious game used in this study has a significant negative impact on EI. Gender and role model effects are also identified from the analysis. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it demonstrates the impact of serious business games on EI during the enterprise awareness stage of a student’s EE. Second, it provides a foundation for exploring the role that serious games can play in educating the potential entrepreneurs of the future.