Search

Universities are a relevant and little-explored context to the study of strategic action, considering their need to adapt to environmental dynamics and establish a closer relationship with society. This study contributes to shedding light on how the changing process from a traditional university model to a more entrepreneurial model takes place. Thus, this study aims to analyze the role played by the universities' strategic management to the establishment of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the academic environment. For this sake, we did a multiple case study focusing on managers' decisions at the strategic level. The selected cases are three universities, two in Brazil and one in Sweden, recognized for their academic entrepreneurship approach in their environments. Based on these cases, the study reveals the influence of top-management decisions for the establishment of EO and how traditional institutions can pursue an entrepreneurial university model. The results emphasize the key role played by the universities' strategic management in establishing EO, through different levels of participation, but with recurrent behaviors in the implementation of the third academic mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As there is a common opinion in literature that entrepreneurship can be taught, the role of education system in providing the knowledge and skills necessary for future entrepreneurs is undeniable. The growing need for entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and actions in both professional and private life becomes more imperative, and education plays an important role in creating an entrepreneurial society and business culture. The number of educational programs in entrepreneurship at all levels of education systematically grow worldwide. Entrepreneurship education should develop entrepreneurial individuals and aspiration by equipping people with the appropriate knowledge and skills to initiate and sustain enterprises. Entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on the development of the entrepreneurial spirit of youth, its intentions towards starting own business, higher employability and finally more significant role in society. Entrepreneurial intention initiates entrepreneurial actions. Entrepreneurial intention shows the objective of an individual to choose entrepreneurship as a professional career. Within organization, entrepreneurial intention are the basis for entrepreneurial orientation of the whole company. Entrepreneurial orientation can be described as a individual's natural inclination or attitude towards entrepreneurship. From this point of view, it can be developed and strengthen during the upbringing, especially within the educational system. It is analyzed within strategic management of enterprise. Creating entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors brings benefits not only to individuals, but also translates into the economic results of enterprises, and in a broader perspective, contributes to the economic development of a given country. As the entrepreneurial orientation is a multi-dimensional construct of a complex nature, actions and attitudes should be studied and compared in relation to each dimension of the construct. Construct could be described as multidimensional when we are dealing with several separate but related dimensions, treated as one coherent theoretical concept. The dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation most often mentioned in the literature include: proactivity, organizational autonomy, competitive aggressiveness, internal innovation and risk taking. This paper is a research article in character. The main aim of the article is to investigate the correlation between entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial intentions of students, understood as a declaration of willingness to start their own business. The article presents the results of a survey among 250 students in Poland, conducted in the first quarter of 2021. Entrepreneurial attitudes of students were examined as elements of entrepreneurial orientation, and were assessed in 5-point Likert scale. To data analysis, the descriptive statistics were used, and Gamma correlation coefficient to analyze the correlation between non-parametric variables. The study confirmed a positive relationship between the potential for entrepreneurial orientation and the intentions to start a business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]