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Universities globally are aspiring to grow through investing in the delivery of online learning programmes. However, the attrition rate for online learning is high. It has been noted that those students with a sense of belonging to their course experience increased enjoyment and reduced anxiety and are therefore less likely to withdraw. Yet too often programme design guidance to support a sense of belonging for student communities focuses on localised, full-time and young students rather than older, globally dispersed, time-starved students such as those in the online entrepreneurship programme that is the subject of this paper. The authors explore how a sense of belonging in entrepreneurship students can be supported effectively in a virtual learning space throughout their online degree studies. The research presented adopts an interpretivist perspective and includes interviews with eight students studying a 1-year top-up degree in a UK higher education institution. The teaching and support staff interviewed were based solely in the UK. The data collected were examined using thematic analysis. The paper contributes to the debate about what a sense of belonging means in a virtual space for entrepreneurship students and identifies how such students can feel connected and supported to finish their course.

The purpose of the research presented in this article was to investigate the added value of mentoring for entrepreneurs during the start-up phase. This small-scale exploratory research focused on five start-up entrepreneurs in Scotland to determine the entrepreneurs' perceptions regarding the "added" value of their mentoring support. To achieve the research aim, a qualitative approach was adopted and an embedded case study strategy was followed with data collection from semi-structured in-depth interviews. The case study findings indicated a selection of perceived benefits of the mentoring experience for the start-up entrepreneurs, which included gaining business knowledge, getting guidance and prioritizing goals, an increase in confidence and access to relevant networks. The results point towards the use of multiple mentors and peer support at start-up to maximize the full benefits of the mentoring process. The study also provides tentative recommendations for supporting agencies as well as entrepreneurs to enhance the value in the mentee-mentor relationship.

In this paper, we argue that national culture is important for explaining variations in entrepreneurial activity across countries. We examine both direct and interaction (moderation) effects of culture on entrepreneurial activity by applying a hierarchical logistic regression model for multilevel analysis. We use individual-level data for 84 countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) from 2009 to 2013 (969,246 observations) merged with national-level data on the cultural context from GEM's National Expert Survey (NES). The results of our empirical analysis imply that a supportive culture towards entrepreneurship not only positively affects the number of entrepreneurs but also the allocation of entrepreneurs towards higher shares of women and lower educated individuals, arguably two demographic groups in the labour market with lower confidence levels. These findings are of particular relevance for the future development of entrepreneurship and understanding of existing relationships between individual and cultural factors. This focus also provides insight into how entrepreneurship can be designed according to the cultural context, serving future policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]