Purpose This study aims to examine whether the psychological capital of male and female university students explains the intention to undertake entrepreneurism. Following Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, the aim was to study whether perceived behavioural control and subjective norms influence entrepreneurial intention and if subjective norms moderate established relationships, in both genders. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling and analysis of variance was applied to test the hypotheses amongst students at a Spanish university. Findings The results showed that gender differences in psychological capital, in perceived behavioural control and in subjective norms existed between the male and female population, which explain gender differences in entrepreneurial intention. Similarly, subjective norms acted as a moderator in the relationship between psychological capital, the perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention, with the moderating impact being higher on the female population. Practical implications The results obtained in this paper indicate that developing perceived behavioural control and the psychological capital of university students in training programmes of male and female students helps to promote their entrepreneurial intention. Similarly, the results suggest that building a support network, for instance of family and groups of friends is key to fostering entrepreneurial intention, particularly for women. Originality/value Entrepreneurship is key to the successful employability of current and future generations in the labour market. This study examined key antecedents of student’s entrepreneurial intention and how these are gendered. For both men and women (investing in) psychological capital is important. Informal social support was shown to play a key role in women’s entrepreneurial intention.

Purpose Scholars have emphasized intellectual capital’s importance for universities in obtaining competitive advantages and creating value. The purpose of this paper is to identify the influences of two components of intellectual capital, relational and human capital at the international level, and psychological capital on international orientation of academic entrepreneurs, and the mediating effects of international relational and human capital.Design/methodology/approach On the basis of a literature review, a theoretical model is proposed to explain the relationship between the studied variables. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 173 academic spin-offs of Spanish universities using bootstrapping methodology.Findings The results show that the international market relational capital and international human capital of academic entrepreneurs influence their international orientation, and that their psychological capital is directly, and indirectly, related to international orientation through international human capital and international market relational capital.Practical implications This study provides a better understanding of the antecedents of the international orientation of academic entrepreneurs, which would provide an important contribution to the literature on intellectual capital, academic entrepreneurship and internationalization. The achieved results highlight important implications for training of academic entrepreneurs and for managers and management teams of companies willing to enter, or even those already operating in, international markets.Originality/value In this study, the international orientation of academic entrepreneurs is explained through the psychological capital that is studied jointly with two components of intellectual capital, relational and human capital at the international level. Although some recent work has focused on the study of the internationalization of academic spin-off, this line of research is still incipient.

Academic spin-offs (ASOs) are companies with a strong international vocation for two main reasons: first, they market their products and services in global market niches to profit from their high investment in R&D, characteristic of the sectors in which ASOs operate; and second, as a consequence of the international training and experience and of the international networks that the founding academic entrepreneurs of these companies tend to enjoy, derived from their scientific activity. Despite this natural tendency to internationalize, ASOs and specifically the founding academic entrepreneurs of these companies present certain difficulties in accessing resources for internationalization and in achieving credibility in foreign markets due to their university origins. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), and network theory (NT), this work proposes that the human capital, the social capital, and the psychological capital of the academic entrepreneur could compensate for these obstacles, providing key resources for the internationalization of their companies. The results contribute to the RBV, NT, and academic entrepreneurship and internationalization literature since they show that human capital, in terms of the international experience and training of the academic entrepreneur, their networks of relationships with international academic agents, and their psychological capital, are all antecedents of the internationalization of ASOs. However, the networks of academic entrepreneur relationships with international market agents appear to be irrelevant in the process of international expansion of ASOs.