Todd Davey

Entrepreneurship perceptions and career intentions of international students

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the differences between African and European students with regard to their entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, role models and entrepreneurial experience. It also aims to set the scene for future comparative research between developing and developed countries in the area of graduate entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative empirical research design was applied, using self‐administered questionnaires. Questionnaires were distributed to first‐year business students at universities in three African countries that are either developing (Uganda and Kenya) or emerging (South Africa) and four European developed nations (Finland, Germany, Ireland, and Portugal).Findings – The results indicate that students from developing/emerging economies are more likely to envisage future careers as entrepreneurs and are more positive towards entrepreneurship than their industrialised European counterparts, even though motivators for employm...

Does context matter in academic entrepreneurship? The role of barriers and drivers in the regional and national context

With pressure on universities to better contribute to society, academic entrepreneurship is an increasingly recognised source of new knowledge and technologies as well as being a driver of the movement to a knowledge society. However, whilst growing, the level of academic entrepreneurship in Europe is still relatively low. Two reasons that are factors influencing this are inhibitors (barriers) and facilitators (drivers), however the understanding of how their interplay influences academic entrepreneurship, particularly across different context is lacking. For this reason, this study focussed on two environmental settings, European regions and countries, seeking to understand if it is the hurdle (barrier) or (and/or) tail-wind (drivers) that most impacts academic entrepreneurship and how does the regional or national context influence this. An online survey was translated into 22 languages and undertaken in 33 countries in Europe and the European Economic Area. From the original data set, 12 countries in four European regions provided a sample of 2925 responses, with a second step to focus on four ‘lead’ countries within those regions. The results show that there is a significant difference in the university-business cooperation barriers and drivers that effect academic entrepreneurship in the European regions. Furthermore, different barriers and drivers were found to significantly affect the four lead countries with barriers and drivers being able to provide a good explanation of the extent of academic entrepreneurship in the UK and Germany, and a limited explanation of entrepreneurial activity by Spanish and Polish academics. Overall the article contributes to the literature of resource-based theory and also the understanding of factors influencing European academic entrepreneurship.

Attitudes of Higher Education Students to New Venture Creation: The Relevance of Competencies and Contextual Factors.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play an important role in the generation of high-tech ‘entrepreneurial capacity’. As entrepreneurship education gives greater attention to the creation of new ventures, there is an urgent need for a better understanding of the attitudes of students, potentially the entrepreneurs of the future. Logit estimates using 4,413 responses from students enrolled in Portuguese HEIs show that students who have business-related competences and live in an environment that fosters and encourages entrepreneurship have a stronger desire to become entrepreneurs. This supports the contention that entrepreneurship is a process that can be learned and that HE establishments, teachers and other institutions and individuals are in a position to encourage entrepreneurial behaviour.

Supporting university- industry linkages A case study of the relationship between the organizational and individual levels

The literature emphasizes the importance of ensuring that measures developed at the organizational level are transferable to the individual level. This is important not only for effective technology and knowledge transfer in general, but also and especially for university–industry linkages. This study reflects on support mechanisms identified by previous studies as important in the support and fostering of such linkages and examines their implementation through a case study of the Münster University of Applied Sciences. Using qualitative analysis, the authors demonstrate how the support mechanisms developed by the management of the university can be translated to the individual level and thereby can encourage and foster university–industry linkages.

University-Business Cooperation Outcomes and Impacts - A European Perspective

University-Business Cooperation Outcomes and Impacts University-Business Cooperation (UBC) is gaining importance within European HEIs, and increasing amounts of resources are invested in it, by the HEIs themselves and governments at different levels. In the face of rising scrutiny of their contribution to society, universities, and the governments funding them, are increasingly challenged to justify the organisational and societal outcomes and impacts of UBC. However, until now, methods for evaluating UBC have failed to capture its full value and complexity. This paper explores the topic and history of UBC outcome and impact evaluation, highlights some often overlooked factors that require further consideration, and suggests a preliminary framework for standardised evaluation of UBC outcomes and impacts.

Entrepreneurship education and the role of universities in entrepreneurship Introduction to the special issue

Despite the considerable political and academic interest in concepts such as the triple helix of government, business and higher education as well as entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial universities, relatively little has been written about the role of the university in developing entrepreneurship. More specifically, the questions of how the university can contribute through education, entrepreneurial support and network functions and be entrepreneurial in its endeavours have lacked academic focus and rigour, particularly in relation to fostering entrepreneurial mindsets. This introductory article therefore provides a thorough discussion of the role of the university in entrepreneurship and then summarizes the contribution to that debate of the articles in this special issue of Industry and Higher Education.

Marketing—Making a Difference for Entrepreneurial Universities

In the knowledge economy, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are facing increasingly competitive environments. On the one side knowledge is now produced in a variety of organisations, so therefore universities are no longer the only producers or sources of knowledge. Universities are also competing with other education providers due to the growing offers of commercial education providers with a strong vocational dimension, and the emergence of new technologies in the higher education market offering virtual programs (Ferreira et al. 2007). Against this background HEIs are now operating in markets where it is imperative for them to make usage of marketing instruments if they want to succeed and remain sustainable. In this vein, the two core activities of HEIs, research and education, are addressing different markets and target groups. Consequently HEIs need to apply marketing, its toolbox and instruments to be successful in those markets, and they need to be entrepreneurial to access them. In this paper the markets for research in HEIs are examined more closely. The paper describes the particularities of a Marketing approach for science and recommends a comprehensive “Science-to-Business Marketing” approach, exhibiting and combining knowledge from different Marketing disciplines.