David Rae's Triadic Model of Entrepreneurial Learning

Summaries of Influential Papers
In this post I refer describe an academic paper which has influenced my thinking. More will follow over the next few months.

Rea (2004) Entrepreneurial Learning – a Practical Model from the Creative Industries

Rae, D. (2004). Entrepreneurial Learning: a Practical Model from the Creative Industries. Education and Training, 46(8-9), 492-500.

###  Click her for a 2-page summary of the paper  ###


The paper proposes a triadic model consistes of 3 main themes and 11 sub-themes

· Personal and social emergence of entrepreneurial identity. Their identity expresses their sense of self and future aspirations, and how they want to be recognised by others. They re-negotiate their personal/social identities, influenced by early life and by current experiences.

· Opportunity recognition arising from contextual learning. Share/compare their experiences with others and intuitively learn to recognise opportunities, to find out who they can become, who they can work with, and what they can/cannot achieve.

· The negotiated enterprise. Ideas and aspirations are not achieved alone, but by negotiated interpersonal relationships and exchange with others inside and outside the business.

Implications for my PhD

I discovered this paper early in my PhD reading and found it extremely useful. Much of the content chimed well with my experience as a practitioner and as a teacher/mentor. The triadic model was the first I had found to provide a comprehensive conceptual framework applicable to the creative sector. Since then I have been surprised to find nothing else like it, though some papers explore other aspects of the development of creative businesses.

 Equally I have been disappointed to see that it has not been cited as much as it appears to deserve. Is this a reflection on the model or on the paucity of researchers in the area?


My participants comprise seven creative entrepreneurs in the process of emerging – and I am following their journey in real time. Many aspects of the model seem applicable, and I will be exploring how well it applies to them, and what new factors need to be added. They will test and broaden the model as their journeys may include business failure, and/or shift to employment, as well as business success.


Already it is clear that personal factors will play a large part in their outcomes as they go through the daunting/exciting transition from student to being a ‘grown up’ with a business, a career and even a family in some cases. These factors need to be more explicit in any new model covering young creative NAGRENTS.
 
My next three blogs will explore the three themes - in relation to my research participants