The Emergence of Innovative Entrepreneurship: Beyond the Intention — Investigating the Participants in an Academic SUC
Abstract
To stem the increasing competitiveness of many newcomer countries, managerial and business literature underlines the necessity to favor entrepreneurship in high tech and innovative sectors. From this perspective, an increasingly important role in the generation of innovative entrepreneurship is carried out by the universities, which are natural incubators of borderline and cutting-edge technologies. With this in mind, the present study explores the entrepreneurial intention among a population of academics participating at a start-up competition (SUC) that view entrepreneurship as an opportunity-driven choice to give value to their researches. Two variables affecting the entrepreneurial intention among these participants are specifically examined: the perception of external environment and the perception of subjective competencies. To test the intention, the paper refers to the widespread Theory of Planned Behaviour, currently recognised as one of the most influential theoretical model.
The results of the present research show that the considered variables have a strong effect on intent through entrepreneurial attitudes and personal behaviour control. Consistently with other leading articles, the findings confirm the importance of the external environment and knowledge in favouring or discouraging the entrepreneurial choice even among academics participating at the SUC.
