18 February, 2021

Congratulations to Hincks' Rísam PhD Scholar Ciara Lavelle for successully defending her thesis today with Dr Therese Moylan and Prof Ljerka Sedlan Konig.

The title of Ciara's thesis was - Perceptions, Role Models, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Career Intentions: Educating the 21st Century Entrepreneur.

The thesis explores attitudes and perceptions, role model influence, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and career intentions of secondary school students in Ireland. Most prior research includes entrepreneurial education as an important factor in the decision to start a business. Few studies include the importance of entrepreneurial perceptions, role models, self-efficacy, and career intentions combined. Previous studies cite the importance of role models for potential entrepreneurs but ignore how the role model is perceived or who the role models of this generation are. This study used a semi-structured questionnaire and the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) to elicit the views of 125 secondary school students (aged fourteen to eighteen) from the Munster region in Ireland.

Congratulations also to Ciara's Supervisors - Dr Breda Kenny and Dr Pio Fenton.

Well done Dr Lavelle from all at the Hincks Centre.