The Effect of University Missions on Entrepreneurial Initiative across Multiple Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Evidence from Europe

Abstract

Entrepreneurial universities are a significant element of entrepreneurial ecosystems and aspire to foster entrepreneurial initiative through their “third mission”. However, while entrepreneurial ecosystems are scrutinized using a contextual approach to detect differences and similarities and how they affect entrepreneurship, little is known about how entrepreneurial universities impact entrepreneurial initiatives in general, considering multiple environments. Drawing on entrepreneurial university and entrepreneurial ecosystem theories, a conceptual framework is proposed that aims to explain the effect of the entrepreneurial university on an entrepreneurial initiative through its three “missions”, using an entrepreneurial ecosystem taxonomy. Based on individual data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, this entrepreneurial initiative analyzed 18 European countries in 2017. The results do not generally support the importance of entrepreneurial universities to entrepreneurial initiative. The relevance of entrepreneurial universities increases in more fragile entrepreneurial ecosystems since individuals need support over multiple dimensions. Conversely, the entrepreneurial universities that are embedded in stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems lose relevance and negatively affect the entrepreneurial initiative. Therefore, the value of entrepreneurial universities is reduced when individuals receive greater support from other dimensions. The variations across both groups suggest that the concept of entrepreneurial universities is not a contemporaneous phenomenon; however, their effect is progressively revealed by the maturity of each university’s mission. This perspective substantially changes the understanding of entrepreneurial universities as a thwartwise strategy, suggesting that the universities’ impact is expanded as their missions gradually evolve. Overall, the study contributes to an understanding of the implications for universities that blindly follow entrepreneurship, neglecting the exogenous environment, namely, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and individual drive.

Barriers to academic collaboration with industry and community: Individual and organisational factors

“…Women were overrepresented in the sample, as well as professors, while academics in health sciences, and arts, are underrepresented. This may have some impact of the results as former studies (Pita et al, 2021; Calvo et al, 2019; Lam, 2011) have shown that males are more active in innovation and entrepreneurial actives than females, and academics in health and life sciences are more active in commercialisation of research than academics in social sciences and humanities (Powers, 2003; Stuart and Ding, 2006). Younger academics are also more likely to participate in TM activities than professors as already noted.…”

“…Male academics have been found to be more involved in entrepreneurship and collaboration with industry than their female counterparts (Pita et al, 2021;Calvo et al, 2019;Lam, 2011) and have higher entrepreneurial intentions (Iakovleva and Adkins, 2022). Reasons for this are higher proportion of male academics in innovation and technology-driven fields in science, technology, engineering, and mathematic fields (STEM), as well as a higher participation in networks outside of academia (e.g.…”

Competencias emprendedoras para generar una cultura de emprendimiento en la educación superior

“…Por otra parte, se propone una definición de empresario a partir de la actitud emprendedora, que significa tomar acciones humanas creativas para construir algo de valor a partir de una decisión con certidumbre o incertidumbre (Hidalgo, 2014); y toma una posición crítica frente al emprendimiento y las instituciones que se dedican a su fomento, expresando que, lo más importante es crear una mentalidad emprendedora basada en competencias y habilidades en la toma de decisiones y gerenciales (Uribe-Toril et al, 2019). Esta expresión, por ejemplo, es el eje de la mayor parte de los esfuerzos de la Unión Europea para promover la educación emprendedora en los centros de educación superior (Pita et al, 2021), sindo importante porque orientan al desarrollo emprendedor en un sentido más amplio que el de la creación de una empresa.…”

“…Junto a ello, el desarrollo de competencias hacia el establecimiento de una cultura emprendedora debe ser acompañado por políticas claras de incentivos y promoción de los agentes del desarrollo y sus actores (Okolie y Ogbaekirigwe, 2014; Ukah y Atah, 2021), puesto que se hace indispensable que todos los actores de la sociedad identifiquen su papel dentro de la cadena productiva, convirtiendo al emprendimiento, más que en un proyecto, en un eje programático dentro de la planeación estratégica de los espacios locales, del cual se desprenden lineamientos tan fuertes como la transformación de la educación (Prasad et al, 2018;Pita et al, 2021).…”

“…Así, la formación de profesionales en los centros de educación superior, con énfasis en los emprendimientos, se convierte en una estrategia y una política educativa, así como productiva importante; además, se constituye en un instrumento privilegiado por cuanto persigue la construcción de un ideal humano mediante estrategias, medios, recursos (Vesper y Gartner, 1997;Monsalve, 2010;Saldarriaga y Guzmán, 2018;Zapata, Corredor y Mena, 2019;Lopes et al, 2021;Pita, Costa y Carrizo, 2021), con los que generan la adquisición de valores, creencias, conocimientos, actitudes, saberes, habilidades, entre otros aspectos (Calderón-Martínez, 2017), necesarios para promover el desarrollo de una cultura emprendedora basado en competencias para la intervención en el conjunto de iniciativas productivas.…”