"How to Do Things with Words": The Discursive Dimension of Experiential Learning in Entrepreneurial Mentoring Dyads

The purpose of this article is to assess the mentoring impact in an experiential learning entrepreneurship program. We did three-year participant observation in the major business school incubator of the Paris area with the aim to identify the interpersonal communicational strategies that mentors, which are confirmed entrepreneurs, use in order to influence nascent entrepreneurs' attitudes and behaviors in dyadic interaction. These communicational strategies are categorized as persuasion, engagement, criticism, and provocation. An additional two-year field research allowed us to assess the impact of these communicational strategies at the individual (commitment, compliance, resistance) and the enterprise levels (business launching and fund-raising).