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Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training
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Differences in the educational paths of entrepreneurs and employees

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training volume 2, pages 83–105 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper examines whether individuals who become either entrepreneurs or employees follow systematically different educational paths to a given educational level. Following Lazear’s jack-of-all-trades theory, we expect that entrepreneurs aim at a balanced set of different skills — that is, they combine academic and vocational skills — while employees specialize in one skill. This means that entrepreneurs follow educational paths that combine different types of education, while employees follow same-type paths while climbing up the educational ladder. We use the Swiss Labor Force Survey to test our hypothesis. Our empirical findings are in line with Lazear’s theory and indicate that individuals who change between different types of education and acquire a more balanced set of skills are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Thus, the permeability of a country-specific educational system is one crucial determinant of entrepreneurship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair for Empirical Research in Business, Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Uschi Backes-Gellner, Simone N. Tuor & Daniela Wettstein

Authors
  1. Uschi Backes-Gellner
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  2. Simone N. Tuor
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  3. Daniela Wettstein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Uschi Backes-Gellner.

Additional information

This study is partly funded by the Swiss Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology through its Leading House on the Economics of Education, Firm Behaviour and Training Policies. We would like to thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for data provision.

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Backes-Gellner, U., Tuor, S.N. & Wettstein, D. Differences in the educational paths of entrepreneurs and employees. Empirical Res Voc Ed Train 2, 83–105 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03546490

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