Riccardo Fini

The Determinants of Corporate Entrepreneurial Intention within Small and Newly Established Firms

In this article, we study the determinants of corporate entrepreneurial intention (CEI) within small and newly established firms. Given that in these ventures, entrepreneurial activities usually occur as a result of individuals’ behaviors, the CEI of their founders is key to explaining these companies’ ability to become engaged in entrepreneurial actions. Building on the theory of planned behavior, we conceptualize how individual characteristics and contextual variables influence CEI. Our theoretical model of the micro–foundation of CEI is tested on a sample of 200 entrepreneurs, founders of 133 new technology–based firms. Results show that CEI is influenced by situationally specific motivation, individual skills, and perceived environmental dynamism. Managerial implications are discussed.

Different Yokes for Different Folks: Individual Preferences, Institutional Logics, and the Commercialization of Academic Research

In this chapter, we review the literature that analyzes how the peculiar missions, rules, and incentive systems in the scientific community affect the process and outcomes of the commercialization of academic research. We will focus on how the peculiar institutional logics of academia determine the decision of academics to commercialize their research, and how these logics affect the outsourcing of research from firms to academic laboratories, as well as the attempts of firms to reproduce academic incentive systems within their research labs by allowing their researchers to publish and offering them financial rewards based on their standing in the scientific community. Finally, we report on research that has analyzed how the rules of the scientific community might lead to the production, transfer, and commercialization of false knowledge.

University spin-offs and their impact: longitudinal evidence from Italy

The creation of university spin-off companies (USOs) is one of the most visible form of commercialization of university research. To date, there is scant and mixed evidence about USOs and their performance, thus producing a debate about their impact on the economy and society and about the legitimization of policies to support their development. In this paper, we address this gap by providing evidence about the growth strategies and performances of USOs in the Italian context. We analyze the population of nine hundred thirty-five USOs spin-off from Italian public universities since 2000, highlighting potential avenues for future research on this important topic.

The Transition Towards Entrepreneurial Universities: An Assessment of Academic Entrepreneurship in Italy

In this paper we illustrate the changes that the Italian university system underwent from the early 2000s till today, with a special focus on the transition to academic entrepreneurship. We describe these changes as part of more general and similar trends taking place in other European countries in the same period. The Italian case shows the on-going effort that national Government and academic institutions have been devoting to create better conditions to enable the successful commercialization of academic research results. Specifically, we look at the differences in the amount of academic entrepreneurship generated by the 64 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical universities during the last decade, assessing the impact of normative and structural support mechanisms on the universities’ ability to engage with the market logic. Policy implications are discussed.

Academic logic and corporate entrepreneurial intentions: A study of the interaction between cognitive and institutional factors in new firms

This article studies the extent to which corporate entrepreneurial intentions are enacted differently by academic and non-academic entrepreneurs. Using constructs from cognitive research and exploiting the theory of institutional logics, we observe that academic entrepreneurs, notwithstanding their engagement in entrepreneurship, still implement their corporate entrepreneurial intentions acting in accordance with the academic institutional environment to which they belong. Using a matched-pairs research design, our results show that academic entrepreneurs (compared to non-academic ones) leverage their awareness of technical competencies significantly more and their entrepreneurial self-efficacy and awareness of managerial skills considerably less. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications related to how cognitive and institutional factors interact to foster entrepreneurial value in newly established firms.

Process Approach to Academic Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Globe

Academic entrepreneurship is a hot topic that is drawing increasing attention from policymakers, university administrators, and the scientists who engage in it. By adopting a process view of academic entrepreneurship, in this book, we aim to contribute to the conversation on how to effectively commercialize university research. We collect evidence from twelve countries and three continents. We use both qualitative and quantitative research methods to illuminate how and to what extent entrepreneurship unfolds from universities worldwide.

Collaborative Practices and Multidisciplinary Research: The Dialogue between Entrepreneurship, Management and Data Science

Digital technologies and their applications are systematically altering established practices and making new ones emerge in different realms of society. Research in social sciences in general and management in particular is no exception, and several examples that span a variety of fields are coming into the spotlight not only from scholarly communities but also the popular press. To join this conversation, in this chapter we focus on how management and entrepreneurship research can benefit from ICT technologies and data science protocols. First, we discuss recent trends in management and data science research to identify some commonalities. Second, we combine both perspectives and present some evidence arising from different collaborative projects addressing: university-industry collaborations, the impact of technology-based activities, the measurement of scientific productivity, as well as performance measurement and business analytics. Implications for collaborative practices in entrepreneurship research are discussed.

The Internationalization of Academic Spin-Offs: Evidence from Italy

Despite a growing interest in academic spin-offs (ASOs), research has overlooked the determinants, strategies, and outcomes of their internationalization choices. In this chapter, we review existing literature on the topic of internationalization of ASOs, connecting it to international business and international entrepreneurship literature, identifying relevant theoretical and empirical knowledge gaps. We then carry out a descriptive investigation about the characteristics and internationalization patterns of ASOs in the Italian context, drawing on a survey on 120 companies. Based on the review and our results, we highlight research areas deserving future investigation.

Desirability and Feasibility in Internationalization Intentions: Impact of Psychological Distance

In this paper, we model entrepreneur’s intentions to internationalize based on their perceptions of desirability and feasibility of such opportunities and we test how psychological distance moderate these relationships based on insights of Construal Level Theory. Recognizing that the impact of entrepreneurs’ intentions and perceptions characterize strategic choices especially in new and small firms, we test our model on a sample of 169 entrepreneurs, owners of 140 newly established, independent, technological firms. Results show that internal-driven elements of desirability and feasibility, such as attitudes and skills, rather than external-driven ones, such as social norms and external supports, drive internationalization intentions. Evaluation of internationalization under different conditions of temporal distance, i.e. in the long run vs. in the short run, modifies the relative importance of perceived desirability and feasibility on intention. We discuss potential implications for researchers, practiti...