2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This study explores if an intolerance of ambiguity might influence whether or not undergraduate engineering students to pursue an entrepreneurial capstone or minor. At this University, students have the opportunity to take an entrepreneurship minor or select an entrepreneurial section of their required Capstone course in their major. A small minority of students are choosing this pathway, even though employers note a desire for employees trained in entrepreneurial skill sets. By analyzing if students’ intolerance of ambiguity is a factor in course selection, we can identify unintended barriers and/or additional ways to increase student participation in entrepreneurial courses.

A tolerance (or in this paper an intolerance) of ambiguity has been studied as a psychological trait which manifests as whether people interpret ambiguity as either a threat or an opportunity. We believe this trait may influence students’ willingness to engage in open-ended, innovation-driven learning experiences. Grounded in theories from economics and psychology, specifically Self-Determination Theory, a survey was administered to senior undergraduate engineering students targeting four programs. These programs included students enrolled in the Engineering Management - Management Minor, Engineering Management - Entrepreneurship Minor, a traditional capstone course and an entrepreneurial capstone course. The survey included historically validated measures of ambiguity tolerance (Budner’s 16-item scale).
When segmented by specific program enrollment, distinctions among groups emerged. As expected, students in the Entrepreneurship Minor exhibited the lowest intolerance for ambiguity. Surprisingly, Capstone students in both groups showed a higher ambiguity intolerance than other groups. These findings suggest that entrepreneurial offerings may benefit from clearer framing and targeted advising strategies and suggests that ambiguity-oriented learning may help students feel comfortable engaging in more varied pursuits.