The role of the university as a regional determinant of technological entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First is to analyse the role of the university as a contextual determinant of technological entrepreneurship. Second is to study how a set of regional factors can shape the effect of universities on technological entrepreneurship. A comparative analysis between South-American and high-income countries is carried out using panel data methodology for a sample of 70 countries participating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) during the period 2006–2017. The results show a positive influence of the university on the technological entrepreneurship through its role as a supplier of talented human capital. Additionally, the findings indicate that this impact is shaped by other country's factors. Thus, in countries with a high proportion of employees with advanced studies, the presence of entrepreneurship using new technologies increases the positive effect of highly qualified human capital on technological entrepreneurship. In contrast, such a positive influence is lower when the number of days required to start a business, the necessity-driven entrepreneurship or the percentage of employment in the country’s service sector increase.

KEYWORDS:

• University
• technological entrepreneurship
• higher education
• university-business relationship
• Latin America

JEL CLASSIFICATIONS:

• L26
• M13
• O32
• I23
• I25

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Percentage of the adult population aged 18–64 who have created a business or owned and operated a business up to 3.5 years old, including self-employment.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by postdoctoral grants from the Autonomous Government of the Xunta de Galicia (Spain) and by the FGV EAESP (Brazil) as the institution promoting the postdoctoral programme.

Notes on contributors

Guillermo Andrés Zapata-Huamaní

Guillermo Andrés Zapata-Huamaní Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). PhD in Economics and Business from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Degree in Administration from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru). He currently participates in research projects and contracts as a member of the research groups Valuation of Applied Financial Valuation (VALFINAP) and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) – Galicia. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of economics and business, entrepreneurship and innovation, and corporate and family finance.

Sara Fernández-López

Sara Fernández-López joined the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Galicia/Spain) as Associate Professor in 2006, after 11 years of working as a lecturer and researcher. Her research interests are in two main areas: household finance and technology entrepreneurship. She has around 60 internationally refereed papers.

Tales Andreassi

Tales Andreassi Degree in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo (1989), Master in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo (1994), Master in Science and Technology Policy Studies from SPRU, University of Sussex (1998), PhD in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo (1999) and visiting researcher at Simon Fraser University, Canada (2000). Professor and Vice-Director of the FGV-EAESP. At the same institution, he was Vice-coordinator of the Academic Master/Doctorate (2009), His main areas of interest are: entrepreneurship, technological innovation and strategy.