Signalling Success or Shortfall? Analysing the online promotion of UK Entrepreneurship Education Programmes

Abstract

This study investigates the alignment between the online promotional materials of Entrepreneurship Education Programmes (EEPs) offered by UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the actual content and pedagogical approaches delivered. Despite widespread claims of providing experiential, applied, and innovative learning opportunities, discrepancies often exist between these promotional promises and the programmes’ practical delivery. Applying information signalling theory, we use web-scraping and thematic analysis to systematically analyse the promotional content presented on UK HEI websites. Our findings reveal a dominant promotional narrative emphasising institutional prestige and entrepreneurial success, often overshadowing clear communication of programme specifics and actual pedagogical practices. This misalignment potentially creates misleading signals for prospective students, affecting their satisfaction and the development of intended entrepreneurial competencies. Our contributions include highlighting critical information asymmetries in the online marketing of entrepreneurship education (EE) and offering recommendations to HEIs for more transparent and accurate signalling. These findings provide significant insights for educators, policymakers, and institutional marketers, with regards to the need for congruence between advertised programme objectives and their real-world implementation, both within the UK and internationally.