Skip to main content

The Effects of the Academic Environment on PhD Entrepreneurship: New Insights from Survey Data

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
University-Industry Knowledge Interactions

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 52))

Abstract

This paper investigates PhD entrepreneurship. We focus on the university factors most closely associated to: (1) students’ success in starting a business venture; (2) students’ startup intention; (3) students’ abandoning the entrepreneurial idea. The empirical analysis is based on data from a questionnaire survey, administered in 2016 in Italy. We focus on four factors related to the university entrepreneurial environment: (1) university entrepreneurship policy frameworks; (2) PhD orientation to business problems; (3) entrepreneurship training; (4) PhD lab reputation. We find that the academic environment can have a fundamental impact on students’ decisions to start new ventures and on their entrepreneurial attitude.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/8555

  2. 2.

    The variance inflation factor test was always below 10.

References

  • Abreu, M., & Grinevich, V. (2013). The nature of academic entrepreneurship in the UK: Widening the focus on entrepreneurial activities. Research Policy, 42, 408–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal, A., & Henderson, R. (2002). Putting patents in context: Exploring knowledge transfer from MIT. Management Science, 48, 44–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arenius, P., & Minniti, M. (2005). Perceptual variables and nascent entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 24(3), 732–755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Åstebro, T., & Bazzazian, N. (2011). Universities, entrepreneurship and local economic development. In M. Fritsch (Ed.), Handbook of research on entrepreneurship and regional development. Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Åstebro, T., Bazzazian, N., & Braguinsky, S. (2012). Startups by recent university graduates and their faculty: Implications for university entrepreneurship policy. Research Policy, 41(4), 663–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Autio, E., Kenney, M., Mustar, P., Siegel, D. S., & Wright, M. (2014). Entrepreneurial innovation: The importance of context. Research Policy, 43(7), 1097–1108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azagra-Caro, J. M., Mas-Verdú, F., & Martinez-Gomez, V. (2012). Forget R&D–pay my coach: Young innovative companies and their relations with universities. In Technology transfer in a global economy (pp. 13–34). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barbero, J., Casillas, J., & Wright, M. (2014). Do different types of incubators produce different types of innovations? Journal of Technology Transfer, 39, 151–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekkers, R., & Bodas Freitas, I. M. (2008). Analysing knowledge transfer channels between universities and industry: To what degree do sectors also matter? Research Policy, 37, 1837–1853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bercovitz, J., & Feldman, M. (2008). Academic entrepreneurs: Organizational change at the individual level. Organization Science, 19, 69–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergmann, H., Hundt, C., & Sternberg, R. (2016). What makes student entrepreneurs? On the relevance (and irrelevance) of the university and the regional context for student start-ups. Small Business Economics, 47, 53–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bienkowska, D., & Klofsten, M. (2012). Creating entrepreneurial networks: Academic entrepreneurship, mobility and collaboration during PhD education. Higher Education, 64, 207–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bienkowska, D., Klofsten, M., & Rasmussen, E. (2016). PhD students in the entrepreneurial university – perceived support for academic entrepreneurship. European Journal of Education, 51, 56–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blackford, B. J., Sebora, T. C., & Whitehill, T. (2009). The effects of collegiate entrepreneurship education on post-graduation startup of new ventures: A first look. International Review of Entrepreneurship, 7(3), 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonaccorsi, A., Daraio, C., Fantoni, S., Folli, V., Leonetti, M., & Ruocco, G. (2017). Do social sciences and humanities behave like life and hard sciences? Scientometrics, 112(1), 607–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branscomb, L. M., Kodama, F., & Richard, F. (1999). Industrializing knowledge: University–industry linkages in Japan and the United States. MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldera, A., & Debande, O. (2010). Performance of Spanish universities in technology transfer: An empirical analysis. Research Policy, 39(9), 1160–1173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calderini, M., Franzoni, C., & Vezzulli, A. (2007). If star scientists do not patent: The effect of productivity, basicness and impact on the decision to patent in the academic world. Research Policy, 36, 303–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarysse, B., Tartari, V., & Salter, A. (2011). The impact of entrepreneurial capacity, experience and organizational support on academic entrepreneurship. Research Policy, 40, 1084–1093.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W. M., Nelson, R. R., & Walsh, J. P. (2002). Links and impacts: The influence of public research on industrial R&D. Management Science, 48, 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, M. G., & Piva, E. (2012). Firms’ genetic characteristics and competence-enlarging strategies: A comparison between academic and non-academic high-tech start-ups. Research Policy, 41, 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conti, A., & Visentin, F. (2015). A revealed preference analysis of PhD students’ choices over employment outcomes. Research Policy, 44, 1931–1947.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Este, P., Mahdi, S., Neely, A., & Rentocchini, F. (2012). Inventors and entrepreneurs in academia: What types of skills and experience matter? Technovation, 32(5), 293–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, J. P. J., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2007). How leaders influence employees’ innovative behaviour. European Journal of Innovation Management, 10, 41–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delamont S., & Atkinson P. (2001). Editorial. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 275–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, L., & Kenny, B. (2015). Research collaboration and commercialization: The PhD candidate perspective. Industry and Higher Education, 29, 93–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H. (2017). Innovation lodestar: The entrepreneurial university in a stellar knowledge firmament. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 123(4), 122–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The dynamics of innovation: From National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of university–industry–government relations. Research Policy, 29, 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., Webster, A., Gebhardt, C., & Terra, B. (2000). The future of the university and the university of the future: Evolution of ivory tower to entrepreneurial paradigm. Research Policy, 29, 313–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2010). Monitoring industrial research: The 2010 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. Seville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. (2001). The entrepreneurial event revisited: Firm formation in a regional context. Industrial and Corporate Change, 10(4), 861–891.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, E., & Rubenstein, A. H. (1989). University-industry relations: A review of major issues. In A. N. Link & G. Tassey (Eds.), Cooperative research and development: The industry-university-government relationship (pp. 43–62). Kluwer Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Geuna, A., & Muscio, A. (2009). The governance of university knowledge transfer: A critical review of the literature. Minerva, 47, 93–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghio, N., Guerini, M., Lehmann, E. E., & Rossi-Lamastra, C. (2015). The emergence of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 44, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1994). The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guerrero, M., Urbano, D., Cunningham, J. A., & Gajón, E. (2018). Determinants of graduates’ start-ups creation across a multi-campus entrepreneurial university: The case of Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. Journal of Small Business Management, 56, 150–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, M., & Gibson, S. G. (2008). Examining the entrepreneurial attitudes of US business students. Education and Training, 4(1), 35–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppe, M. (2016). Policy and entrepreneurship education. Small Business Economics, 46, 13–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, S., van de Zande, T., Brinkkemper, S., Stam, E., & Varma, V. (2015). How education, stimulation, and incubation encourage student entrepreneurship: Observations from MIT, IIIT, and Utrecht University. International Journal of Management Education, 13, 170–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessels, J., & Kwakman, K. (2007). Interface: Establishing knowledge networks between higher vocational education and business. Higher Education, 54(5), 689–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krabel, S., & Mueller, P. (2009). What drives scientists to start their own company? An empirical investigation of Max Planck Society scientists. Research Policy, 38, 947–956.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuratko, D. F. (2005). The emergence of entrepreneurship education: Development, trends, and challenges. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 577–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landry, R., Amara, N., & Rherrad, I. (2006). Why are some university researchers more likely to create spin-offs than others? Evidence from Canadian universities. Research Policy, 35, 1599–1615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laudel, G. (2001). Collaboration, creativity and rewards: why and how scientists collaborate. International Journal of Technology Management, 22, 762–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester, S., & Costley, C. (2010). Work-based learning at higher education level: Value, practice and critique. Studies in Higher Education, 35(5), 561–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockett, A., Wright, M., & Franklin, S. J. (2003). Technology transfer and universities’ spin-out strategies. Small Business Economics, 20(2), 185–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, R. A., & Gonzalez-Brambila, C. (2007). Faculty entrepreneurs and research productivity. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 32, 173–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maresch, D., Harms, R., Kailer, N., & Wimmer-Wurm, B. (2016). The impact of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial intention of students in science and engineering versus business studies university programs. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 104, 172–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, M., & McAdam, R. (2008). High tech start-ups in University Science Park incubators: The relationship between the start-up’s lifecycle progression and use of the incubator’s resources. Technovation, 28, 277–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCormack, J., Propper, C., & Smith, S. (2014). Herding cats? Management and university performance. Economic Journal, 124, 534–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, C. C., Glick, W. H., & Cardinal, L. B. (2005). The allocation of prestigious positions in organizational science: Accumulative advantage, sponsored mobility, and contest mobility. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 489–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitra, J., & Matlay, H. (2004). Entrepreneurial and vocational education and training: Lessons from eastern and central Europe. Industry and Higher Education, 18(1), 53–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muscio, A., & Pozzali, A. (2013). The effects of cognitive distance in university-industry collaborations: Some evidence from Italian universities. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 38, 486–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muscio, A., & Ramaciotti, L. (2018). Dataset from a qualitative survey on Ph.D. entrepreneurship in Italy. Data in Brief, 18, 1272–1276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muscio, A., & Ramaciotti, L. (2019). How does academia influence Ph.D. entrepreneurship? New insights on the entrepreneurial university. Technovation, 82–83, 16–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muscio, A., Quaglione, D., & Vallanti, G. (2013). Does government funding complement or substitute private research funding to universities? Research Policy, 42, 63–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muscio, A., Quaglione, D., & Ramaciotti, L. (2016). The effects of university rules on spinoff creation: The case of academia in Italy. Research Policy, 45, 1386–1396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olmos-Peñuela, J., Castro-Martínez, E., D’Este, P., & D’Este, P. (2014). Knowledge transfer activities in social sciences and humanities: Explaining the interactions of research groups with non-academic agents. Research Policy, 43, 696–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oosterbeek, H., van Praag, M., & Ijsselstein, A. (2010). The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial skills and motivation. European Economic Review, 54(3), 442–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phan, P. H., & Siegel, D. S. (2006). The effectiveness of university technology transfer. Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 2, 77–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philpott, K., Dooley, L., O’Reilly, C., & Lupton, G. (2011). The entrepreneurial university: Examining the underlying academic tensions. Technovation, 31, 161–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powers, J. B., & McDougall, P. (2005). Policy orientation effects on performance with licensing to start-ups and small companies. Research Policy, 34, 1028–1042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pruett, M., Shinnar, R., Toney, B., Francisco, L., & Fox, J. (2009). Explaining entrepreneurial intentions of university students: a cross cultural study. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 15(6), 1355–2554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramaciotti, L., & Rizzo, U. (2015). The determinants of academic spin-offs creation by Italian universities. R&D Management, 45(5), 501–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramaciotti, L., Muscio, A., & Rizzo, U. (2017). The impact of hard and soft policy measures on new technology-based firms. Regional Studies, 51(4), 629–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, E., & Borch, O. J. (2010). University capabilities in facilitating entrepreneurship: A longitudinal study of spin-off ventures at mid-range universities. Research Policy, 39, 602–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, E., Mosey, S., & Wright, M. (2014). The influence of university departments on the evolution of entrepreneurial competencies in spin-off ventures. Research Policy, 43, 92–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothaermel, F. T., Agung, S. D., & Jiang, L. (2007). University entrepreneurship: A taxonomy of the literature. Industrial and Corporate Change, 16, 691–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez, J. (2011). University training for entrepreneurial competencies: Its impact on intention of venture creation. International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, 7, 239–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, S. K., & Pahnke, E. C. (2014). Parting the ivory curtain: Understanding how universities support a diverse set of startups. Journal of Technology Transfer, 39, 780–792.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibayama, S. (2019). Sustainable development of science and scientists: Academic training in life science labs. Research Policy, 48, 676–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibayama, S., Baba, Y., & Walsh, J. P. (2015). Organizational design of university laboratories: Task allocation and lab performance in Japanese bioscience laboratories. Research Policy, 44, 610–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D. S., & Wright, M. (2015). Academic entrepreneurship: Time for a rethink? British Journal of Management, 26, 582–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D. S., Waldman, D. A., & Link, A. N. (2003). Assessing the impact of organizational practices on the relative productivity of university technology transfer offices: An exploratory study. Research Policy, 32, 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., Campbell, T., Holleman, M., & Morgan, E. (2002). The “traffic” in graduate students: Graduate students as tokens of exchange between academe and industry. Science, Technology and Human Values, 27(2), 282–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B. R., Matthews, C. H., & Schenkel, M. T. (2009). Differences in entrepreneurial opportunities: The role of tacitness and codification in opportunity identification. Journal of Small Business Management, 47(1), 38–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souitaris, V., Zerbinati, S., & Al-Laham, A. (2007). Do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources. Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 566–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, M. (1973). Job market signalling. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamboulis, Y., & Barlas, A. (2014). Entrepreneurship education impact on student attitudes. The International Journal of Management Education, 12, 365–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephan, P. E. (2012). How economics shapes science. Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Storey, D., & Tether, B. (1998). New technology-based firms in the European Union: An introduction. Research Policy, 26, 933–946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuart, T. E., & Ding, W. W. (2006). When do scientists become entrepreneurs? The social structural antecedents of commercial activity in the academic life sciences. American Journal of Sociology, 112(1), 97–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thune, T. (2009). Doctoral students on the university-industry doctoral interface: A review of the literature. Higher Education, 58, 637–651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thune, T., & Støren, L. A. (2015). Study and labour market effects of graduate students’ interaction with work organisations during education. Education + Training, 57, 702–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thursby, J. G., & Thursby, M. C. (2007). University licensing. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 23(4), 620–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Looy, B., Landoni, P., Callaert, J., van Pottelsberghe, B., Sapsalis, E., & Debackere, K. (2011). Entrepreneurial effectiveness of European universities: An empirical assessment of antecedents and trade-offs. Research Policy, 40, 553–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanevenhoven, J., & Liguori, E. (2013). The impact of entrepreneurship education: Introducing the entrepreneurship education project. Journal of Small Business Management, 51(3), 315–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rijnsoever, F. J., van Weele, M. A., & Eveleens, C. P. (2017). Network brokers or hit makers? Analyzing the influence of incubation on start-up investments. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 13, 605–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Graevenitz, G., Harhoff, D., & Weber, R. (2010). The effects of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 76, 90–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, S. G., Parboteeah, K. P., & Walter, A. (2013). University departments and self-employment intentions of business students: A cross-level analysis. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37, 175–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welter, F. (2011). Contextualizing entrepreneurship-conceptual challenges and ways forward. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), 165–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, M., Vohora, A., & Lockett, A. (2004). The formation of high-tech university spinouts: The role of joint ventures and venture capital investors. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 29, 287–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, M., Clarysse, B., Mustar, P., & Lockett, A. (2007). Academic entrepreneurship in Europe. Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., & Darby, M. (1996). Star Scientists and institutional transformation: Patterns of invention and innovation in the formation of the biotechnology industry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 93, 12709–12716.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Ugo Rizzo for his help with the data cleaning process and to CINECA for the questionnaire administration and data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro Muscio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Muscio, A., Shibayama, S., Ramaciotti, L. (2022). The Effects of the Academic Environment on PhD Entrepreneurship: New Insights from Survey Data. In: Azagra-Caro, J.M., D'Este, P., Barberá-Tomás, D. (eds) University-Industry Knowledge Interactions. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 52. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84669-5_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics