Do Academic and Private Entrepreneurs differ? An empirical analysis of the Micro-Foundation of Entrepreneurial Orientation


Autoria(s): Fini, Riccardo
Contribuinte(s)

Grimaldi, Rosa

Marzocchi, Gian Luca

Sobrero, Maurizio

Data(s)

04/06/2008

Resumo

This Doctoral Thesis focuses on the study of individual behaviours as a result of organizational affiliation. The objective is to assess the Entrepreneurial Orientation of individuals proving the existence of a set of antecedents to that measure returning a structural model of its micro-foundation. Relying on the developed measurement model, I address the issue whether some Entrepreneurs experience different behaviours as a result of their academic affiliation, comparing a sample of ‘Academic Entrepreneurs’ to a control sample of ‘Private Entrepreneurs’ affiliated to a matched sample of Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Building on the Theory of the Planned Behaviour, proposed by Ajzen (1991), I present a model of causal antecedents of Entrepreneurial Orientation on constructs extensively used and validated, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, in sociological and psychological studies. I focus my investigation on five major domains: (a) Situationally Specific Motivation, (b) Personal Traits and Characteristics, (c) Individual Skills, (d) Perception of the Business Environment and (e) Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions. I rely on a sample of 200 Entrepreneurs, affiliated to a matched sample of 72 Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Firms are matched by Industry, Year of Establishment and Localization and they are all located in the Emilia Romagna region, in northern Italy. I’ve gathered data by face to face interviews and used a Structural Equation Modeling technique (Lisrel 8.80, Joreskog, K., & Sorbom, D. 2006) to perform the empirical analysis. The results show that Entrepreneurial Orientation is a multi-dimensional micro-founded construct which can be better represented by a Second-Order Model. The t-tests on the latent means reveal that the Academic Entrepreneurs differ in terms of: Risk taking, Passion, Procedural and Organizational Skills, Perception of the Government, Context and University Supports. The Structural models also reveal that the main differences between the two groups lay in the predicting power of Technical Skills, Perceived Context Support and Perceived University Support in explaining the Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions.

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/1158/1/Fini_Riccardo_Tesi.pdf

urn:nbn:it:unibo-1124

Fini, Riccardo (2008) Do Academic and Private Entrepreneurs differ? An empirical analysis of the Micro-Foundation of Entrepreneurial Orientation, [Dissertation thesis], Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna. Dottorato di ricerca in Direzione aziendale <http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/view/dottorati/DOT219/>, 20 Ciclo. DOI 10.6092/unibo/amsdottorato/1158.

Idioma(s)

en

Publicador

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna

Relação

http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/1158/

Direitos

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Palavras-Chave #SECS-P/08 Economia e gestione delle imprese
Tipo

Tesi di dottorato

NonPeerReviewed