Entrepreneurship Education and Sustainable Development Goals: A literature Review and a Closer Look at Fragile States and Technology-Enabled Approaches

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has the potential to reduce poverty, stimulate economic growth and boost innovation, in addition to enhancing social and environmental sustainability. In accordance with the human capital theory and previous empirical studies, it is assumed that entrepreneurship education and training (EET) directly correlates with positive entrepreneurial outcomes and therefore sustainable development. Although several scholars have attempted to review and analyze EET literature over the past decade, none of these reviews directly links EET with sustainable development or focuses on the role and status of EET (research) in less-stable areas of the world. This systematic review thus attempts to analyze recent literature to identify the extent to which EET research addresses Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review identifies several gaps in research and practice that potentially hinder EET from adequately advancing sustainable development, including a dearth of research on fragile states and demographic diversity, limited EET access to non-university students and a general lack of focus on educational technology, progressive education approaches, and innovation in fragile countries compared to stable ones. The review also identifies challenges pertaining to EET resource constraints in fragile contexts. The paper concludes by offering insights on how educational technology could mitigate EET challenges in fragile environments to ultimately ease some barriers towards SDG advancement and provides recommendations for future research directions.