A Framework for Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Behaviors in Undergraduate Engineering Students: Operationalizing the Kern Family Foundation’s “3Cs”

Oct 15, 2026

The paper addresses the need for a shared language to describe entrepreneurial mindsets among undergraduate engineering students in terms of attitudes and behaviors. A framework is developed by operationalizing the Kern Family Foundation’s 3C’s: curiosity, connections, and creating value. Built from three rounds of reviewing relevant literature and assessment tools, the framework maps twelve attitudes and seventeen behaviors to the 3Cs, supporting future assessments and learning experiences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Advances in Engineering Education

Framework Development Methods

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FALL 2018 A Framework for Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Behaviorsin Undergraduate Engineering Students: Operationalizing the Kern Family Foundation’s “3Cs” JEREMI S. LONDON Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA JENNIFER M. BEKKI SAMANTHA R. BRUNHAVER ADAM R. CARBERRY AND ANN F. McKENNA Arizona State University Mesa, AZ ABSTRACT The increasing interest in cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset among engineering students necessitates a shared language around what this looks like in terms of attitudes and behaviors, and frameworks provide this. A framework was developed to characterize the entrepreneurial mindset in light of the Kern Family Foundation’s 3C’s: curiosity, connections, and creating value. The framework was developed based on three rounds of reviewing the literature for relevant frameworks and assessment tools. The resulting framework that is presented in this paper includes twelve attitudesand seventeen behaviors that map to the 3Cs. This framework can serve as the basis for assessmentsand experiences designed to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among engineering students. Key words: Entrepreneurship, Undergraduate Education INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in entrepreneurship within the engineering education community. This interest is commonly expressed in the form of new courses, certificates, minors, extracurricular activities, and a growing body of scholarship on this topic. ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION A Framework for Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Behaviors in Undergraduate Engineering Students: Operationalizing the Kern Family Foundation’s “3Cs” However, when people use the term entrepreneurship, this term may mean different things and look differently for various stakeholders. What is missing from the discussion are conceptual frameworks that articulate what it meant by the use of the term. While framework is a term that can generally be used for any exercise that involves organizing objects (Nickerson, Varshney, Muntermann, 2013), for the purposes of this study we are adopting Schwartz et al.’s (2007) perspective which states that a framework is “a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute a way of understanding the research within a body of knowledge”(p. 41) . This paper presents a framework that characterizes the entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviors. Such frameworks are important to engineering educators when designing related curricula and assessments. Our work is influenced by the Kern Family Foundation (KFF) . KFF is one of few organizations within the engineering education ecosystem with a solitary focus on cultivating an EM among engineering faculty and students. KFF’s primarily activity is to provide financial support for the Kern Engineering Education Network (KEEN) . KEEN consists of 28 partner institutions with the shared mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work ( [http://engineeringunleashed](http://engineeringunleashed). com/keen/about/) . KEEN takes a specific approach to defining the entrepreneurial mindset along three components: curiosity, creating value, and connections. These components are referred to asthe “3 C’s” and they guide the network’s activity including curricular development, faculty workshops, student engagement, etc. (e. g. Fry, 2016; Rayess, 2016; Thoroughman, 2014; Reid, 2011; Ferguson, 2016; Gerhart, 2014; Riofrio, 2015; Condoor, 2009) . Also of note is the “3Cs” framework has a specific focus on the social and societal aspects of entrepreneurship and intentionally separates itself from competencies associated with commercialization aspects of entrepreneurship. Though succinct and memorable, the extent to which the “3Cs” framework al

FAQs

What is the purpose of the proposed framework in the paper?

It characterizes entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviors among undergraduate engineering students by operationalizing the Kern Family Foundation’s 3Cs.

How are the entrepreneurial mindset components defined in this study?

The study uses three components—curiosity, connections, and creating value—as defined by the Kern Family Foundation and referenced as the “3Cs.”

What does the final framework include?

The framework presents twelve attitudes and seventeen behaviors that map to the three 3Cs, and it can be used to design assessments and educational experiences.

Oct 15, 2026

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