Literature reviews have concluded that entrepreneurship education and training programs are particularly effective in fostering entrepreneurship when they are action-oriented (e.g., Carpenter and Wilson, 2022). Despite this, the theoretical understanding of the training design elements, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of such programs is still limited. We suggest that the concept of active learning provides a useful theoretical framework to explain the effectiveness of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. Referring to the concept of active learning, we review the literature to present an overview of the short- and long-term effects on entrepreneurial outcomes as well as within-training processes and differential effects of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training programs. Based on the review, we present an extended active learning framework of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training that adds coaching/mentoring and working in teams to the core training design elements of control, exploration/experimentation, and information provision. Furthermore, the extended active learning framework describes the within- and post-training processes as well as the short-term learning and long-term entrepreneurial outcomes of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. We conclude by presenting avenues for future research. ©2025 M. M. Gielnik and A. E. Glosenberg.
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