Entrepreneurship in society : institutionalized roles of entrepreneurs in professional skill formation

Kurzfassung/Abstract

This dissertation analyzes how entrepreneurs contribute to the formation of professional skills, particularly within the German dual vocational education and training (VET) system. It is motivated by structural changes in labor markets driven by generative artificial intelligence, which increasingly automates knowledge-intensive tasks while simultaneously raising demand for practical, experience-based skills. As a result, vocational education is gaining renewed importance as a key mechanism for developing resilient, occupation-specific competencies.
The German dual VET system serves as a central empirical reference point. It combines firm-based training with state-regulated schooling and certification, creating a highly coordinated institutional framework. Its effectiveness lies in aligning incentives across firms, the state, and intermediary organizations, thereby enabling stable investment in skill formation and successful labor market integration. Within this system, entrepreneurs play a pivotal role—not only as training providers but as actors embedded in broader institutional processes.
The dissertation addresses a critical gap in existing research, which predominantly conceptualizes entrepreneurial engagement in VET as a firm-level cost–benefit decision. In contrast, this work reconceptualizes entrepreneurs as occupying multiple institutionalized roles, extending beyond market behavior to include governance, value-driven action, and societal participation. These roles are systematically developed and empirically grounded across four papers:

Paper I: Beyond new venture creation: Who is an entrepreneur in terms of values? An Empirical Approach.

This paper conceptualizes entrepreneurs as carriers of trans-situational value structures. Using a mixed-methods design (N = 470), it identifies core values that guide entrepreneurial behavior across contexts. The findings show that values related to openness to change and self-enhancement (e.g., pioneering, leadership) are stable, while values such as humanity and team spirit vary depending on context. The study extends entrepreneurship research by introducing a value-based perspective that transcends situational intention and behaviour.

Paper II: Which values drive for-profit entrepreneurs to volunteer? An empirical analysis.

The second paper highlights entrepreneurs’ role as voluntary co-producers of VET-related institutional frameworks. It examines which values drive for-profit entrepreneurs to engage voluntarily in institutional processes of VET systems (e.g. examination boards and regulatory committees). Combining qualitative interviews and survey data (N = 356), it shows that entrepreneurs are primarily driven by achievement-oriented and pioneering values rather than purely altruistic motives.

Paper III: Co-formation of human capital: A new agency theory perspective on vocational education.

This paper introduces an agency-theory perspective on vocational training. It models the relationship between the public sector (principal) and training companies (agents), emphasizing goal conflicts and information asymmetries. The analysis demonstrates that institutional mechanisms such as participation in governance and transparency in certification processes reduce agency costs and improve human capital outcomes. The paper provides a formal framework for analyzing governance in VET systems.

Paper IV: Balancing power in vocational education: Micro foundations for Acemoglu and Robinson's state-society heuristic.

Building on institutional economics, this paper conceptualizes entrepreneurs as societal actors balancing state power within VET systems. Using the “Narrow Corridor” framework, it shows how the dual system maintains a productive equilibrium between state regulation and entrepreneurial autonomy. The concept of the Narrow Corridor describes a fragile but productive power balance in which both the state and societal actors are strong enough to mutually constrain each other, thereby preventing both excessive state control and unchecked private dominance. The analysis identifies key institutional principles that ensure effective coordination and long-term system stability.

Conclusion
Overall, the dissertation demonstrates that professional skill formation is not solely the outcome of market dynamics or state intervention but a co-produced institutional process shaped by entrepreneurs in multiple roles. These roles span behavioral (values), institutional (co-production), governance (agency), and systemic (power balance) dimensions.
The findings imply that policymakers should actively design institutional environments that foster responsible entrepreneurship, leverage value-based engagement, and maintain a balanced relationship between state and private actors. By reframing entrepreneurs as institutionally embedded actors, the dissertation advances both entrepreneurship research and the understanding of vocational education as a societal system