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PurposeDespite growing scholarly interest in academic entrepreneurship (AE) few studies have examined its non-commercial aspects and how it contributes to meeting grand societal challenges. One explanation for this may be the continuing focus of AE on intellectual property commercialization. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by uncovering how universities can contribute to promoting non-commercial forms of AE.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the human capital theoretical lens to make its argument and applies it to data obtained from exploratory qualitative research (55 semi-structured interviews and nine focus groups) in the developing countries of Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.FindingsUniversities can promote different forms of non-commercial AE even in the absence of sophisticated resources for innovation, through the stimulation of the specific human capital of the university community resulting from activities where they help others.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a general framework for advancing theory development in AE and its non-commercial forms, based on data obtained in uncharted territories for AE.

The accumulated knowledge about corporate entrepreneurship has provided a better understanding of its antecedents and consequences. Corporate entrepreneurship activities are strongly related to incremental or disruptive innovation processes. However, academic debates demand a novel conceptual framework to understand the gendered workforce’s contribution to corporate entrepreneurship initiatives worldwide. This study hypothesizes that a gendered workforce has similar capabilities (skills, ability to detect opportunities, and networks) to engage in corporate entrepreneurship. Therefore, any gender differences could be explained by the influence of country-level conditions (gender equality levels, culture, and social norms). We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 50,550 employees from 50 countries. Our results support these hypotheses extending the corporate entrepreneurship literature and provoking an interesting discussion to academics, managers, employees, and policymakers.

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems conditions (formal, informal and social capital) on different types of entrepreneurial re-entry at a global scale. Design/methodology/approach Given this phenomenon’s nature, this study builds a panel of data of 54 economies covering different (advanced and emerging) countries across the globe during the period 2004–2017 by mixing multiples sources of information (e.g. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund). The statistical analysis consisted of the fixed-effect dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation for panel data. Findings Three empirical insights emerge from the study. First, the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s formal conditions are mainly configured to support high-growth entrepreneurship ignoring re-entrepreneurs. Consequently, the formal conditions’ contribution is very limited in emerging economies. Second, the analysis of informal conditions revealed social media’s critical contribution for legitimizing entrepreneurship and supporting those entrepreneurs who want to re-enter the domestic or international market after a business failure. Third, social networks built during previous business angels or entrepreneurial experiences or with other entrepreneurs also play a crucial role for re-entrepreneurs to overcome the weaknesses in the entrepreneurial ecosystems’ conditions. Originality/value The study contributes to two ongoing academic debates among entrepreneurship scholars. The first is related to how the entrepreneurial ecosystem supports entrepreneurial activity in different economic contexts. The second is related to the study of the contextual determinants of entrepreneurial re-entry after a business failure.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of university ecosystems on entrepreneurial intention and self-efficacy of Brazilian undergraduate students. The empirical exercise relies on S...

The accumulation of knowledge that explains universities’ contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship’s regional eco-systems has mainly adopted a perspective based on technology transfer processes from academia to markets. Alternatively, in this study, we assume the notion of mutualism, based on the biomimetic rationale of eco-system studies that involve bidirectional flows of resources and capabilities to generate interactions and value co-creation among agents. This study theorizes about the interrelation between universities and eco-system actors in two directions: (a) universities fostering and improving eco-systems through their core activities; and (b) eco-system actors shaping capabilities and access to resources for universities. Based on the analysis of five eco-systems in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, our results underscore the existence of mutualism in the relationships established between universities and eco-system agents. The findings also highlighted implications related to the coordination of policies and the need for strategic management practices in mutualistic interactions.

Introduction: In Mexico, there is a lack of information on morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of acorns of Quercus, which makes it difficult to make decisions on the use that can be made to the fruits. Objectives: To identify the morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of Quercus rugosaNée, Q. sideroxyla Humb. & Bonpl. and Q. deserticola Trel. acorns. Materials and methods: From each species, 10 trees were selected and 30 acorns per tree were collected. Mature acorns were characterized morphologically (polar and equatorial diameter, shell weight and total weight) and in physicochemical characterization (moisture, dry matter, ash, crude fiber and protein, ethereal extract and tannins) green and mature acorns were used. Differences among species and among maturity stages were determined with an analysis of variance (P ≤ 0.05) and subsequent Tukey’s test. Results and discussion: Morphology varied among species and among trees of the same species (P < 0.05); Q. deserticola had the largest acorn size (15.69 mm) and weight (1.94 g), and Q. sideroxylaproduced the smallest acorns. Maturity stage and species significantly (P < 0.05) influenced chemical composition; mature acorns had higher content of ethereal extract (8.88 %) and protein (8.40 %). Pearson’s correlation indicated that acorn weight was strongly associated with crown diameter and diameter at breast height. Conclusion: Significant differences were found in morphology and chemical composition of acorns of each species, although they inhabit sites with similar characteristics.

PurposeLittle is known about how subsidies enhance both collaborative and opportunistic behaviours within subsidized industry–university partnerships, and how partners' behaviours influence the intellectual capital dynamics within subsidized industry–university. Based on these theoretical foundations, this study expects to understand intellectual capital’s (IC's) contribution as a dynamic or systemic process (inputs?outputs?outcomes) within subsided university–industry partnerships. Especially to contribute to these ongoing academic debates, this paper analyses how collaborative and opportunistic behaviours within industry–university partnerships influence the intellectual capital dynamics (inputs, outputs and outcomes) of the subsidized projects.Design/methodology/approachBy combining two sources of information about 683 Mexican subsidized industry–university partnerships from 2009 to 2016, this study adopted the structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the effect of collaborative vs opportunistic behaviours in intellectual capital dynamics within subsidized projects.FindingsOur results show three tendencies about the bright/dark side of subsidies within the Mexican industry–university partnerships. The first tendency shows how collaborative behaviours positively influence intellectual capital dynamics within subsidized industry–university partnerships. The second tendency shows how opportunistic behaviours influence intellectual capital impacts (performance) and return to society (job creation). The third tendency shows how initial inputs of subsidized projects generate some expected socio-economic returns that pursued the subsidies (mediation effect of intellectual capital outputs).Research limitations/implicationsThis research has three limitations that provide a future research agenda. The main limitations were associated with our sources of information. The first limitation, we did not match subsidized partnerships (focus group) and non-subsidized partnerships (control group). A qualitative analysis should help understand the effect of subsidies on intellectual capital and partnerships' behaviours. The second limitation, our measures of collaborative/opportunistic behaviours as well as intellectual capital dynamics should be improved by balancing traditional and new metrics in future research. The third limitation is that in emerging economies, the quality of institutions could influence the submission/selection of subsidies and generate negative externalities. Future research should control by geographical dispersion and co-location of subsidies.Practical implicationsFor enterprise managers, this study offers insights into IC dynamics and behaviours within subsidized industry–university partnerships. The bright side of collaboration behaviours is related to IC's positive impacts on performance and socio-economic returns. The dark side is the IC appropriation behind opportunistic behaviours. Enterprise managers should recognize the relevance of IC management to capture value and reduce costs associated with opportunistic behaviours. For the university community, this study offers potential trends adopted by industry–university partnerships to reinforce universities' innovative transformation processes. Specifically, these trends are related to the legitimization of the university's role in society and contribution to regional development through industry–university partnerships' outcomes. Therefore, university managers should recognize the IC benefits/challenges behind industry–university partnerships.Social implicationsFor policymakers, the study indirectly shows the role of subsidies for generating/reinforcing intellectual capital outcomes within subsidized industry–university partnerships. The bright side allows evaluating the cost-benefit of this government intervention and the returns to priority industries. The dark side allows for understanding the need for implementing mechanisms to control opportunistic behaviours within subsidized partnerships. Accordingly, policymakers should understand the IC opportunity-costs related to industry–university partnerships for achieving the subsidies' aims.Originality/valueThis study contributes to three ongoing academic debates in innovation and management fields. The first debate about how intellectual capital dynamic is stimulated and transferred through the collaborative behaviour within industry–university partnerships in emerging economies. The second debate is about the “dark side” of partnerships stimulated by public programmes in emerging economies. The third debate is about the effectiveness of subsidies on intellectual capital activities/outcomes.

Growing importance has been attached to the concept of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) as productive structures that encompass complex sets of interaction driving economic agents’ competitive capabilities. Drawing from biomimetism, the EE approach dedicates attention to unraveling the mechanisms through which socioeconomic environments organize to introduce new knowledge and innovations in markets. Yet, while challenges associated with identifying the spatial scale of natural ecosystems have long been part of discussions in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology, and in economic geography, the geographic reach of EE remains largely uncharted in literature. Importantly, from a biomimetic standpoint, we know that ecosystems’ boundaries must be defined according to their formative processes, rather than reflect predefined political or administrative boundaries. In this study, we try to shed some light on these topics, underscoring the analytical and methodological challenges associated with the spatiality of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Thinking about entrepreneurial ecosystems as fixed analytical units attached to administrative boundaries will likely cause an inadequate analytical understanding of how entrepreneurship-oriented relationships are distributed in space.

The National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT) was established in 1970 by the Mexican government. CONACYT was formed to promote the scientific development and technological modernization of Mexico through developing high-level human resources, encouraging research projects, and disseminating scientific/technological information. In 2009, CONACYT launched the Innovation Stimulus Program (PEI) to foster enterprises’ innovation activities and to encourage collaboration on innovation activities among firms and between firms and public research institutes and higher education institutions. Based on an analysis of project data from the PEI program over the years 2009 through 2014, we found that large firms are more innovative than small firms. And, firms that are more innovative are those that had prior funded research, collaborated with universities in the funded research project, added new employees during the research project, and faced larger markets for their innovations. Plain English Summary Only a few studies have systematically compared publicly supported innovative behavior between groups of large and small firms within developing countries, and absent from this list is an analysis of Mexico. In this paper, we study research projects funded through Mexico’s Innovation Stimulus Program, and we find that large firms are more innovative than small firms. We also find that firms with previously funded research, that collaborated with universities in the funded research project, that added new employees during the research project, and that faced larger markets for their innovations are more innovative. Thus, the findings in this paper might provide an initial indication about those firms that will have a greater innovation-related response to the public funding to support their research.

This study analyses the influence of environmental and individual conditions on the quality and the speed of entrepreneurial re-entries in emerging economies after a business failure. We propose a conceptual framework supported by the institutional economic theory to study the influence of environmental conditions; and human and social capital to study the influence of individuals’ skills, experiences, and relationships. A retrospective multiple case study analysis was designed to test our conceptual model by capturing longitudinal information on occurred events, trajectory, and determinants of twenty re-entrepreneurs. Our results show that the entrepreneurial experience and type of venture influence the accelerating effect of re-entrepreneurship, as well as how environmental conditions moderate the quality and speed of entrepreneurial re-entries. We provoke a discussion and implications for multiple actors involved in the re-entry of entrepreneurs after a business failure.

The academic debate in migrant entrepreneurship has mainly focused on movements from emerging economies into developed economies. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that the highest impact is generated by migrants in/from emerging economies. To extend this academic discussion in the Latin-American context, this study investigates why migrants are more entrepreneurial than natives. By adopting the human capital and the institutional approach, we theorize that individual and environmental conditions produce selection/discrimination effects in the host labour market. Consequently, these effects influence migrants’ decision to become entrepreneurs. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 13,368 adults between the ages of 18–64 based across the 16 Chilean regions. Our results showed that being a high-skilled migrant in a dynamic emerging economy is not a guarantee of success in the labour market, but it is a determinant of international and necessity-driven entrepreneurship. Several implications and a provocative discussion emerged from these findings.

Este trabajo tuvo como objetivos i). Determinar la densidad de semillas en el suelo de Bouteloa gracilis y Panicum obtusum que son consumidas por aves focales de pastizal colectadas en Cuchillas de la Zarca, Durango y Janos, Chihuahua, ii). Estimar su contenido energético, y iii). Cuantificar su potencial energético. Muestras de semillas fueron consideradas para lograr esos objetivos. Las variables se analizaron mediante la prueba de Kruskal-Wallis. El contenido calórico de semillas colectadas en Cuchillas de la Zarca, Durango (3 650.3 Kcal∙kg MS-1) fue significativamente mayor que el de las colectadas en Janos, Chihuahua (3 520.8 Kcal∙kg MS-1). Los individuos de la especie Ammodramus savannarum prefieren visitar sitios con mayor densidad de semilla y potencial energético que los de la especie Centronyx bairdii. Variables no incluidas en el presente estudio, como la precipitación pluvial y la estructura de la vegetación, deben ser consideradas en estudios futuros.

PurposeThe authors propose a theoretical basis for understanding the role of ecosystem intermediaries in the configuration of social entrepreneurship identities in social purpose organisations (SPOs) and their business model innovations (BMIs).Design/methodology/approachAdopting a retrospective multiple-case study, the authors offer insights into the paths/elements that determine the building of 44 social entrepreneurship identities in the context of an emerging economy (Mexico).FindingsThe study sheds light on the role of intermediaries in the configuration of the entrepreneurial identities of Mexican SPOs and BMIs, as well as several externalities generated during the process of capturing the social and economic value, especially when social innovations are focussed on solving societal, economic and ecological social problems.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation is related to the analysis of intermediaries within the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, which needs more conceptual and empirical evidence. The second limitation is that the analysis focussed only on intervened SPOs, as the authors did not control for non-intervened SPOs. Thus, this allows for future in-depth analysis of intermediary efficiency in a focus group (intervened SPOs) and a control group (non-intervened SPOs).Practical implicationsThe study also provides insights for Mexican SPOs on how a social entrepreneurship identity helps to capture the value creation of social innovations within an innovation ecosystem. Indeed, it is strongly aligned with the United Nations' Social Development Goals.Originality/valueThe study enhances the discussion about how intermediaries could encourage social entrepreneurial identity, as well as how intermediary intervention could facilitate the design and implementation of BMIs in the innovation ecosystem.

Ongoing academic debates demand a better understanding of the effect of workforce diversity (not only top managers) on unexplored outcomes (not only financial performance). We proposed/tested a conceptual model that theorizes the moderate role of workforce demographics corporate venturing drivers by adopting different theoretical approaches. Using a sample of 17217 employees across 20 countries, our findings highlight that women and migrant workers contribute to corporate venturing by identifying business opportunities (exploration experiences) and taking advantage of intellectual capital (human capital and social capital). Several implications for leaders who manage a diversified workforce emerge from this study.

PurposeThis article is the editorial for the special issue on “Entrepreneurial Families in Business Across Generations, Contexts and Cultures”. We aim to develop a road map that can help academics and practitioners navigate the findings of the articles contained in this special issue. We also suggest future lines of research around the topic of entrepreneurial families in business.Design/methodology/approachWe develop a conceptual model for interpreting and understanding entrepreneurial families in business across contexts and time.FindingsOur conceptual model highlights the importance of context and time when conducting research on entrepreneurial families in business.Practical implicationsThe findings in this special issue will be of relevance for decision makers who tailor policies that embrace different economic and social actors, including entrepreneurial families.Originality/valueThis editorial and the articles that make up this special issue contribute to family business research by contextualising the phenomenon of entrepreneurial families in business. We propose a new holistic perspective to incorporate context and time in the study of entrepreneurial families that own, govern and manage family firms over time.

Purpose Frugal innovation has gained prominence based on its potential contribution to sustainable development and the new opportunities that it offers to low-income customers. This paper aims to analyse the strategic knowledge transfer practices implemented by an entrepreneurial university for fostering frugal innovations within an emerging economy. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a case study methodological approach. The selected case was the University of Campinas (Unicamp), one of the leading universities in Brazil in terms of research quality and technology transfer. The study built upon 14 interviews with key informants and secondary sources of data (official and public documents). Findings The findings highlight the multidimensional dynamics of frugal innovations arising from university–industry relationships. Key dimensions considered include the internal capabilities of universities to foster frugal innovations and connect them to markets, the surrounding innovation ecosystems in which the university is embedded and the overarching institutional framework. Research limitations/implications The analysis of strategic management practices for frugal innovation requires an evolutionary perspective, but the findings lacked sufficient longitudinal information for a formal evaluation. Also, as our empirical analysis is based on an in-depth case study of one university, further validation in other contexts would be necessary. Practical implications This study offers new insights regarding the effectiveness of university-business collaboration partnerships for developing frugal innovations in emerging economies. Policymakers should promote societal programs enhancing the active participation of all agents involved in the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. University managers should understand the challenges and the opportunities behind the adoption of an inclusive and societal orientation. Social implications By adopting frugal innovation practices, universities can enhance their contribution of meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Originality/value The literature on frugal innovation has emphasized the importance of networking between different types of firms, NGOs and governments, but the role of universities in frugal innovation remains mostly unexplored. This study addresses this gap by exploring how entrepreneurial universities participate in frugal innovations to meet societal challenges.

PurposeThis paper provides insights about how graduates' career patterns (i.e. academic entrepreneur, self-employed or paid employed) are influenced by entrepreneurial university ecosystems (i.e. incubators and entrepreneurship education programs).Design/methodology/approachBy adopting Douglas and Shepherd's utility-maximising function, the influence of one entrepreneurial university ecosystem on graduates' career choices was tested using a sample of 11,512 graduates from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) in Mexico.FindingsOur results show the critical role of entrepreneurial universities ecosystems in facilitating employability options as academic entrepreneurship for ITESM's graduates. The study shows some insights about how graduates' risk aversion and work effort are positively influenced by the university business incubator and entrepreneurship education programs, respectively.Practical implicationsDiverse implications for stakeholders have emerged from our results. These implications are associated with potential benefits of implementing programmes oriented to engage academic entrepreneurship within Latin American universities.Originality/valueEntrepreneurial universities provide a range of employability alternatives for their students, such as to be self-employed, academic entrepreneurs or paid employees. In this scenario, entrepreneurial universities have configured entrepreneurial ecosystems (educational programmes, business incubators and other infrastructures) to support potential entrepreneurs (students, academics, staff and alumni). Despite the relevance of the environmental conditions on individuals' occupational choices, few studies have explored the role of the entrepreneurial university ecosystems on graduates' employability. In this vein, our study contributes to some academic discussions: (1) the role of context on career choice models (Ilougaet al., 2014; Sieger and Monsen, 2015), (2) the role of incubators and entrepreneurship education on fostering academic entrepreneurship on the graduates' community (Nabiet al., 2017; Goodet al., 2019; Guerrero and Urbano, 2019a) and (3) the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial university ecosystems on graduates' employability (Herreraet al., 2018; Wrightet al., 2017).

Latin-American countries are characterised by societal problems like violence, crime, corruption, the informality that influence any entrepreneurial activity developed by individuals/organisations. Social innovations literature confront “wicked problems” with strong interdependencies among different systems/actors. Yet, little is known about how firms use innovation to hedge against economic, political or societal uncertainties (i.e., violence, social movements, democratisation, pandemic). By translating social innovation and institutional theory approaches, this study analyses the influence of formal institutions (government programs and actions) and informal institutions (corruption, extortion and informal trade) on the development/implementation of enterprises’ technological initiatives for protecting/preventing of victimisation. By using data from 5525 establishments interviewed in the 2012/2014 National Victimisation Survey of the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), our findings shows that formal conditions (government programs) and informal conditions (corruption, extortion and informal trade) are associated with an increment in the number of enterprises’ social innovations. Our findings also contribute to the debate about institutional conditions, social innovations, and the role of ecosystems’ actors in developing economies. A provoking discussion and implications for researchers, managers and policymakers emerge from this study.

This study investigates how geographical proximity with innovation ecosystems’ agents contribute to Schumpeterian firms’ innovation performance. By adopting the knowledge spillover theory, we propose and test a conceptual model using a firm-level data that merged information from multiple sources resulting in 3,074 observations during the period of 2002–2014. Our results contribute to the literature by extending three academic discussions: (a) the achievement of Schumpeterian firms’ innovation performance based on geographical proximity to innovation ecosystems’ agents, (b) the role of firm size, and (c) discussion on mechanisms of knowledge spillover for firm performance. We develop theoretical insights and managerial implications for Schumpeterian firms.

The low utilization of incubator resources has been subject to much academic attention within entrepreneurship research. This study explores how entrepreneurs’ overconfidence impacts the utilization of incubator resources and influences incubation performance. Based on interviews with 8 incubators and questionnaires from 184 entrepreneurs, the findings show a negative relationship between entrepreneurs’ overconfidence and the incubation performance of start-ups. This finding emerges in the context of incubation management through the fully mediating role of entrepreneurial learning. As a moderator, the contract control of the incubator weakens the negative relationship between entrepreneurs’ overconfidence and entrepreneurial learning. The microcosm of the incubator context allows the researchers to examine the internal agent interaction. This paper explores the related literature, presents the research study, discusses the findings and provides avenues for future scholarly research on this topic.

This study explores the emergence of a new entrepreneurship phenomenon (digital social entrepreneurship) as a result of the collaboration among many agents (N-Helix), given the government’s limited capacity to respond to the stakeholders’ needs satisfaction related to an exogenous event (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Our theory development is based on three ongoing academic debates related to (a) the unrepresentativeness of the stakeholder theory in entrepreneurship research; (b) the emergence of digital social entrepreneurship (DSE) as a bridge between stakeholders’ needs, socio-economic actors, and digital-social initiatives; and (c) the role of N-Helix collaborations to facilitate the emergence of global knowledge-intensive initiatives and the rapid adoptions of open innovations. Our results support our assumptions about the positive mediation effect of DSE in the relationship between N-Helix collaborations and stakeholders’ satisfaction. Notably, results show how pandemic has intensified these relationships and how DSE in N-Helix collaborations can generate social impacts globally. Some implications for policy-makers have emerged from our results that should be considered during/post-COVID-19 pandemic.

University-Industry collaboration (UIC) literature is largely documented with Western European or NorthAmerican evidence, where universities are rich in resources and have well-developed R&D infrastructure. Likewise, our knowledge remains limited about UIC in emerging countries, where research resources and R&D are scarce. In this article, we address the research question "What are the individual micro-processes involved in UICs with social impact in emerging economies" and argue that uncovering the individual micro-processes involved in university-industry joint undertakings contribute to understanding how entrepreneurial universities promote social impact in emerging economies. The ideas presented in this paper are based on exploratory qualitative research consisting of 33 semi-structured interviews, eight focus groups, and six participatory observations in Bolivia and Colombia. Our findings suggest that UICs in emerging economies are driven by the need to solve major social challenges and are often a consequence of the individual micro-processes of low subjective norm, pro-social behavior, deontic justice, social identity, entrepreneurial culture, and championing of social welfare.