The purpose of this study is to add to the literature on entrepreneurial university ecosystems by highlighting the ways in which academics engage or decouple in entrepreneurship processes and thereby in the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem. The study extends our understanding of the emergence of an entrepreneurial university ecosystem by providing an in-depth analysis of a Finnish university campus, investigating how individuals’ perceptions respond to societal and institutional demands for the fostering of entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that education and research are regarded as the highly institutionalized logics of universities, and these logics tend to be maintained since more rewards are associated with them than are associated with the logic of entrepreneurial actions. These competing logics lead to conflicting interests and cause intentional and unintentional decoupling in the adaptation and implementation of entrepreneurial actions in universities.

Despite considerable progress in research related to network organizations in recent years, current understanding seems to be more concerned with the reasons why the network mode may be a superior mode of governance, but there is limited understanding of how networks are governed. This study contributes to narrowing this knowledge gap. Moreover, the article contributes to the debate over how networks are governed by identifying governance mechanisms for multi-party collaboration of public organizations. A qualitative methodology based on conversational interviews is used in the cross-case setting consisting of six non-profit multi-party networks including governmental, university and private organizations.

No abstract

The purpose of this study is to add to the literature on entrepreneurial universities by investigating entrepreneurial culture (EC) in higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors investigate how students experience EC and which factors explain their perceptions of EC. The study is based on a survey of HEI students in Finland with 1277 responses. The results show that formal institutional support and institution-level activities have the strongest impact on the students’ experienced EC. According to the findings, formal institutional support has a greater impact on students’ perceptions of EC than student-driven activities. Furthermore, the results highlight that the encouragement of teachers has a greater influence on students’ perceptions of EC than peer students and student-driven activities. Accordingly, the paper’s theoretical contribution to the literature lies in its demonstration that institutional support, in addition to the encouragement of teachers, influences HEI students’ perceptions of EC. With regard to practical implications, the findings indicate that, if HEIs wish to build an EC and operate entrepreneurially, it is vital to support teachers’ entrepreneurial behaviour and thinking. In addition, equal emphasis needs to be placed on the observable artefacts and on clear, well-communicated organisational structures and processes.

No abstract