Van Vuuren, Jurie Jansen2025-10-012025-10-012022-042021-09*A2022http://hdl.handle.net/2263/104559Thesis (PhD (Entrepreneurship))--University of Pretoria, 2021.‘Universities create the future.’ – Alfred North Whitehead South Africa is an upper middle-income country that aspires to become an advanced economy by 2030. The National Development Plan envisions South Africa as a knowledge-based economy by 2030. A knowledge-based economy predominantly relies on knowledge as a factor of production as opposed to a resource-based economy that relies on capital, labour and land as factors of production. It is accepted in the literature that universities are the institutions that create economically valuable knowledge that helps a resource-based economy transition to a knowledge-based economy. The literature reveals that universities have evolved over five phases from traditional to entrepreneurial universities that drive socio economic development in society. This transformation has seen universities incorporate the third mission of entrepreneurialism into their traditional missions of teaching and learning and research. Despite this knowledge, the South African government has not orchestrated requisite resources to ensure that universities fulfil this significant role in economic transformation. Secondly, entrepreneurship scholars seem to have paid less attention to this theme as well. Thirdly, civil society, students and other stakeholders have also not prioritised this theme. It is against this backdrop that this study was executed. Universities are regarded as engines of economic growth and development in society because they fulfil three major societal responsibilities. Firstly, they produce (or ought to) produce competent human capital for the economy. Economic developments mean that the market requires people with high levels of knowledge and competence acquired mainly from universities. Secondlee, universities are expected to conduct research that produces knowledge for society and other stakeholders. Thirdly, universities are required to generate economically valuable knowledge that can be commercialised to generate revenues for universities and other participants. Through this third stream of entrepreneurial activities, universities can contribute to job creation, poverty eradication and reduction of inequalities in their localities, regions and countries. This stream may also enable South African universities to reduce the high levels of unemployment amongst their graduates. According to a South African Cabinet report, South Africa has approximately 1.5 million unemployed graduates. This is an opportunity for South African universities to implement the entrepreneurial dimension of their mandate. This is also an opportunity to realise the supposition of the recession-push hypothesis that postulates that economic downturns provide the economy with readily available skilled labour. It is accepted that university leaders at different levels should embrace the notion of an entrepreneurial university to help their institutions transform into entrepreneurial universities. This study measured the perceptions of South African university managers regarding the entrepreneurial orientation of South African universities. South Africa has 26 public universities that are accredited to award various academic and professional qualifications. Universities are, therefore, invaluable public policy instruments that can contribute to the realisation of the country’s development aspirations. However, universities should also embark on their own corporate entrepreneurship initiatives that renew and align their strategies with new socio-economic imperatives. This means that universities should transform themselves before they attempt to transform society. This study is analytical in nature and used the modified and adapted ENTRE-U scale. This is the most comprehensive measurement instrument developed to date to evaluate the entrepreneurial orientation of universities. Assessment tools such as the HEInnovate tool developed by the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development and the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities Toolkit developed by the University Industry Innovation Network have been reviewed as points of theoretical reference. They, however, lack the intellectual rigour of the ENTRE-U scale. This study consisted of a cross-sectional survey that electronically distributed a self administered questionnaire with 30 response items. Finally, this study significantly contributes to knowledge in the realms of corporate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial universities. It contributes to the enrichment of the ENTRE-U scale. The study contributes to a better understanding of the factors that constitute entrepreneurial universities. The five factors generated through the factor analysis are a significant contribution to the entrepreneurial orientation of universities scholarship. The study also contributes to the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial universities as catalytic institutions for economic development in society. This should empower South African public policymakers to align resource allocation towards universities or the development of the knowledge/quaternary sector of the economy in the journey towards 2030. The study supplies tertiary students and graduates with appropriate tools to engage university leaders on the normative roles they ought to play. Different university leaders are empowered to fulfil their roles in the journey to become entrepreneurial. However, executives shoulder more responsibility, as they ought to direct resources and drive strategic renewal programmes towards the realisation of an entrepreneurial university. This study, therefore, practically empowers societal stakeholders to engage universities on how they propose to institutionalise entrepreneurialism as a university-wide strategic phenomenon. The study can also be generalised to other settings, such as technical and vocational education and training colleges, and other countries, such as the Southern African Development Community and the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa block. It can serve as a strategic geo-economic instrument in the African Union and the United Nations.en© 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.UCTDSustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Entrepreneurial universityEntrepreneurial orientationKnowledge spillover theoryEconomic vassalsEntre-u scaleKnowledge economyQunary economyPublic policy programmificationPublic policy pedagogyCorporate entrepreneurshipThesisu23402212N/A