Date Approved
4-28-2025
Embargo Period
4-28-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Engineering Education
Department
Experiential Engineering Education
College
Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
Advisor
Cheryl Bodnar, Ph.D.
Committee Member 1
Prateek Shekhar, Ph.D.
Committee Member 2
Kaitlin Mallouck, Ph.D.
Committee Member 3
Cassandra Jamison, Ph.D.
Committee Member 4
Mary Stachle, Ph.D.
Keywords
Assessment;Concept Maps;Engineering Education;Entrepreneurial Mindset;Narrative Inquiry;Triad of Entrepreneurial Mindset
Disciplines
Engineering
Abstract
The Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) has been acknowledged as beneficial for engineers entering the workforce in a constantly advancing society. With an EM, professional engineers are better equipped to be innovative, creative, and translate ideas into reality. However, assessing how students develop an EM has been plagued with difficulties, mainly due to the discrepancy in EM definitions between different fields. This dissertation applies three EM assessment methods guided by one theoretical framework: the Triad of EM, which contextualizes EM into cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. Chapter 3 of this work analyzes EM across multiple years of an undergraduate engineering curriculum using a self-report survey, the ESEMA. Chapter 4 uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to categorically analyze first year and senior students’ EM concept maps. Finally, Chapter 5 of this work uses the qualitative method of narrative inquiry to formulate and assess biomedical engineering research students’ stories of their engineering experiences and identify how these stories capture EM elements. This dissertation found that students mainly focus their understanding of EM within the cognitive and behavioral dimensions, and only touch on the emotional dimension in their personal stories. Therefore, educators and researchers should consider emphasizing the importance of emotional EM elements in future engineering EM interventions.
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Alexandra Mary, "ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET IN UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS USING QUANTIATIVE, QUALITATIVE, AND MULTI-METHODS APPROACHES" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 3348.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/3348