Academic entrepreneurship: A focus on entrepreneurial alertness, attitudes, norms and beliefs

Abstract

Considering the increasing importance of the "third mission" to universities, several scholars recognise that academic entrepreneurship is required for successful commercialisation of research and venture start-ups. While several universities in South Africa have embarked on establishing technology transfer offices, the potential effect of academic entrepreneurship has yet to be realised. This study aims to provide insights into how an individual's entrepreneurial alertness shapes their attitudes, beliefs and norms in terms of academic entrepreneurship. Following a survey, the results show that "attitudes towards behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control" are significantly increased when higher levels of entrepreneurial alertness are prevalent. Educators are encouraged to design curricula focused on improving entrepreneurial alertness by considering its antecedents in relation to academic entrepreneurship.

Stimulating Academic Entrepreneurship through Technology Business Incubation: Lessons for the Incoming Sponsoring University

“…University research commercialization activity is also limited within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region where Botswana is located. Urban (2019) notes that despite the significance of commercialization of research for universities, universities in South Africa have been -slow to transform their traditional research and teaching activities to enable the commercialisation of research and technologies‖ (p. 193). Urban (2019) states that only a small percentage of research outputs are commercialised in South Africa despite the amount of research funding allocated to universities and science councils.…”

Academic enrepreneurship and organisational support factors

“…Consequently, universities continue to be shaped by a historical social context and the idea of academic entrepreneurship needs to be applied with caution and should also involve a social entrepreneurship component. Social entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in promoting entrepreneurial initiatives and building social capital to address social challenges in regions and local communities (Urban 2019).…”

“…and Development (IPR PFRD) Act No 51, was promulgated in 2010 (DST 2012), where HEIs and Science Councils were required to establish Technology Transfer Offices (TTO)" in order to bridge the "innovation chasm" by addressing some of the factors that inhibit commercialisation (DST 2015;RSA 2008;Sibanda 2017). In South Africa, HEIs are expected to contribute to regional innovation and often play a significant role in the commercialisation of technologies (Kruss and Visser 2017;Urban 2019). Additionally, it has been proposed that while commercialisation success depends on the beneficial exploitation, industrial application and absorption of the intellectual property (IP) into the market, the organisational context in which commercialisation and technology transfer takes place is of utmost importance (Nelson 2014; Pouris and Pouris 2011).…”

“…Although there is mounting interest in academic entrepreneurship in South Africa (Grundling and Steynberg 2008;Sibanda 2017;Urban 2019), empirical evidence reveals that there are generally "low rates of academic start-ups and low levels of commercialization" (Allessandrini et al 2013, 206). Studies indicate that "academics are often constrained with their work overload, and that there is insufficient modelling of innovative behaviour and inadequate funding support" (Jakovljevic 2018, 114).…”

“…Recognising that innovation "translates knowledge into economic growth that contributes to the well-being of society" (Jakovljevic 2018, 110), there is an increasing sense of awareness for the need to foster entrepreneurial activities at educational institutions and science councils for economic and social development purposes (Allessandrini, Klose and Pepper 2013, 207;Audretsch and Caiazza 2016;Urban 2019). Over the past few decades scholarly attention to academic entrepreneurship has increased steadily over various disciplines and in several fields of management (e.g., literature reviews in Rothaermel, Agung and Jian 2007;Siegel and Wright 2015).…”