American Journal of Educational Research, 2018, Vol. 6, No. 1, 9-17
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/6/1/2
©Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/education-6-1-2
Educational Entrepreneurship (EE): Delineating the
Domain and Highlighting its Importance and Feasibility
in Educational Management in Uganda
Gyaviira Musoke Genza
*
, Badru Musisi
School of Education, College of Education & External Studies, Makerere University
*Corresponding author: musokegenza@gmail.com
Abstract Although it is true that government financial support for education is dwindling in many countries, most
educational institutions in Uganda have failed to devise functional internal mechanisms to enable them to raise
resources to continuously deliver quality education in quantity. Might the application of certain entrepreneurial
strategies in educational management perhaps help to make a difference? What is educational entrepreneurship (EE)?
How feasible is EE in a developing world education landscape like that of Uganda? Which challenges must EE
surmount before it can envisage success? Using literature review methodology, this study attempted to find answers
to such questions. Its aim was to delineate the EE domain and to highlight both its importance and feasibility in
Uganda’s context. The study made two key discoveries; first, indeed EE is clouded in conceptual mishmash, hence
need for more scholarly attention; second, however salvaging EE can be to struggling educational institutions, it is
not without serious challenges – even apparent contradictions – hence preference for a “moderate risk” approach to
entrepreneurship within educational institutions.
Keywords: educational entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, school leadership, educational management
Cite This Article: Gyaviira Musoke Genza, and Badru Musisi, “Educational Entrepreneurship (EE):
Delineating the Domain and Highlighting its Importance and Feasibility in Educational Management in Uganda.”
American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 6, no. 1 (2018): 9-17. doi: 10.12691/education-6-1-2.
1. Introduction
One of the issues in educational leadership and
management that has received keen scholarly attention in
recent years, particularly in the Western World, is
Educational Entrepreneurship (EE) [1] – entrepreneurship
carried out within education institutions. This keen
attention has been occasioned by dwindling public and
donor financing of education [2], on the one hand; and, on
the other, by widespead failure by most educational
institutions to generate their own funds from within [3].
Yet the concept of “EE” (Educational Entrepreneurship)
still eludes the comprehension of many. Besides, the
feasibility of EE in a third world education landscape, like
that of Uganda, also appears to raise more questions
than answers. Delineating the EE domain might therefore
help to open the EE to both more scholarly attention
(by researchers) and more empirical application (by
practitioners – both educational managers and the wider
business community). Hence the current study, which
reviews existing literature on EE with the purpose of
delineating the EE domain and highlighting both its
importance and feasibility in the Ugandan context. More
specifically, the paper’s objectives are four; namely:-
i. To shed more light on the meaning of the term
Educational Entrepreneurship (EE).
ii. To delineate the scope of the EE domain.
iii. To highlight the potential importance of EE in the
management of education in Uganda.
iv. To determine the feasibility of EE in the Ugandan
context.
2. Methodological Underpinnings
This study employed a narrative literature review design
[4,5], whereby peer-reviewed articles were used as the
main source of data. This implies that peer-reviewed
literature was the parent population to which the
researchers went for sampling (of relevant articles), data
collection (from each chosen article), analysis (of opinions
collected from various articles) and ethical applications
(mainly issues of academic honesty vis-à-vis plagiarism)
[5,6]. Following its narrative approach, the study relied on
interpretivism as its epistemological stance. Consequently, it
is thematic analysis [7] that was used for both data analysis
and synthesis. Findings were eventually organised and
presented around four themes, which also determined the
study’s ultimate four specific objectives.
To locate peer-reviewed sources that were relevant
to EE, the study mainly relied on the Google Scholar
search engine; using “educational entrepreneurship”,
“entrepreneurship in education” and “educational
entrepreneurs” as its key search terms [4]. The terms