Learning Through Consequence: Entrepreneurial Learning in a Games-Based Simulation

This study examines how postgraduate business analytics students perceived SimVenture Evolution, a games-based entrepreneurship simulation, as a vehicle for learning through consequence. Drawing on a survey of 33 students at a single institution, the research reports that participants found the simulation realistic and immersive, and that it supported experimentation, iterative decision-making, greater confidence under uncertainty, and heightened awareness of risk and trade-offs. Headline results are striking: 93.9% reported improved decision-making confidence, 87.9% felt better prepared for entrepreneurial challenges, and 97.0% would recommend the tool.

The study's central contribution is a proposed "learning through consequence loop" comprising decision, consequence, feedback, reflection, and adaptation. This model is offered as an interpretive framework rather than a validated theory. The evidence base is limited to post-only, self-reported perceptions with descriptive analysis, no pre-test or comparison group, and only six substantive qualitative comments from one cohort. The authors explicitly caution that these data do not establish actual learning gains, and participants' high prior entrepreneurial interest and professional experience may have inflated favourable ratings.

The scope is therefore narrow in geography, population, and time: a single postgraduate cohort at one institution, assessed at one point. The paper situates its arguments within established literature on entrepreneurship education, simulation-based learning, and recent work on gamification in business education, though its own claims remain exploratory. Its principal value lies in generating a testable conceptual model and identifying the need for causal, longitudinal, and comparative research before conclusions about the simulation's effectiveness can be drawn.