Academic Scientists and Entrepreneurship: Differences Across Academic Fields

Abstract

This study examines the roles of institutional pressures of industry and science in determining the likelihood of academic scientists starting new technology startups. The findings complement the conventional wisdom that stresses a positive association between academic scientists’ research appliedness and entrepreneurial entry. In the presence of low institutional pressure from industry (i.e., in the field of electrical engineering and computer science), this study confirms the conventional wisdom and found the positive association between academic scientist’s research appliedness and entrepreneurial entry. Interestingly, in the presence of high institutional pressure from industry (i.e., in the field of life sciences), the degree to which academic scientists’ research is applied is negatively related to entrepreneurial entry. This study thus highlights the interplay of institutional pressures of science and industry in explaining entrepreneurial entry across academic disciplines. Implications for the technology transfer and entrepreneurship literature are discussed.