The entrepreneurial intentions of academic researchers in an emerging knowledge economy

Abstract

This study analysed the entrepreneurial intentions of academic researchers to create spinoffs in a country where the phenomenon of academic spinoffs is emerging. The study consisted of a quantitative analysis of entrepreneurial intentions, performed within the context of South Africa’s Higher Education Institutions and Science Councils.The study drew from psychological and entrepreneurship research on intentionality to measure the level of entrepreneurial intentions using specific determinants (entrepreneurial self-efficacy, personal networks, perceived role models, number of years spent at the academic institution, number of patents/ copyrights/ designs, type of research, and cooperation with industry) that characterise the emergence of academic entrepreneurial intentions that lead academics to the creation of spinoffs. The study also aimed to determine if there were differences in the entrepreneurial intentions between researchers in technical and non-technical fields of expertise.A quantitative online survey was conducted amongst researchers in higher education institutions and science councils, followed by data analysis using a multiple linear regression to measure the entrepreneurial intentions. Thereafter a determination of factors associated with the higher levels of intention and a comparison of the level of intentions was conducted between researchers from the two study groups using an analysis of coefficients and significance tests respectively.The study showed that the entrepreneurial intentions of researchers in South Africa were very low. It was also shown that entrepreneurial self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of academic entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore it was found that there was no significant difference in the entrepreneurial intentions between researchers in technical and non technical fields of expertise.