Young entrepreneurs and skills mismatch in school-to-work transition: empirical evidence from innovation processes managed in Italian NTBFs

Abstract

PurposeDiversity in entrepreneurship has become a noteworthy topic of research since consistent differences – and few similarities, if any – exist among entrepreneurial profiles. The present paper aims to compare different entrepreneurial profiles managing innovation processes in new technology-based firms (NTBFs). In particular, attention is focussed on young entrepreneurs who are in a critical phase of their lifelong learning, the school-to-work transition.Design/methodology/approachStatistical elaborations are based on data retrieved from Italian Ministry of Economic Development in January 2021 and carried out through stochastic frontier analyses. Respectively, 1,699 young entrepreneurs, 1,079 female entrepreneurs, 205 ethnic entrepreneurs and 8,224 stereotyped entrepreneurs are considered.FindingsFactors affecting the performance of innovation processes managed in NTBFs are the same for stereotyped and female entrepreneurs, but they consistently differ for young and ethnic entrepreneurs. Achieved results are not in the position to offer a complete analysis of the phenomenon but – hopefully – can corroborate a very interesting and up-to-date research path that merits further development. In particular, young entrepreneurs disclose an unexpected skills mismatch that should be investigated in-depth.Originality/valueMost contributions offer a narrow view of entrepreneurial profiles since they focus on one profile per time. The present paper, instead, considers four entrepreneurial profiles and compares them. Moreover, young entrepreneurs reveal an unexpected skills mismatch that underlines the relevance of specific activities of on-the-job training and apprenticeships in order to try to overcome it and improve the results achievable by young entrepreneurs.

Emprendimiento en Perú antes y durante la Covid-19: Determinantes, brecha en ingresos y eficiencia técnica

“…En lo que respecta a la eficiencia técnica de la producción en las actividades de emprendimiento mediante modelos de frontera estocástica, Matricano (2022a) encuentra que, si una empresa joven italiana de innovación es creada y administrada por una mujer, la posesión de una patente es relevante sobre los procesos de transferencia tecnológica al afectar el rendimiento de la empresa en 26,0 %. Asimismo, concluye que factores internos relacionados con la innovación y el régimen tecnológico no se benefician cuando los procesos de innovación se gestionan en empresas emergentes innovadoras italianas (Matricano, 2022b). En China, Qian et al (2022) encuentran que el emprendimiento promueve la eficiencia de la innovación, este efecto difiere entre sus regiones.…”

Determinants of school-to-work transition: global outlook

“…Matricano (2022, this issue) compares young, female and ethnic entrepreneurs with conventional entrepreneurs, specifically looking at their impact on the performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in Italy. This comparison is carried out through stochastic frontier analyses.…”