Defining Technopreneurs’ Commercialization Research Process in the Emerging Thai Economy: Research for Constructing Grounded Theory

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) define sources of meaning in technopreneurs’ commercialization research process, 2) establish the common features of technopreneurs’ commercialization research process, and 3) construct a grounded theory of technopreneurs’ sources of meaning and commercialization research process. The study employed a qualitative ground theory approach to explain the phenomena and develop theoretical conclusions. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with 15 technopreneurs using theoretical sampling. The interviews used open-ended questions, and the resulting data were analysed via analytic induction to define concepts and construct the grounded theory. The results indicated that technopreneurs elicited sources of meaning through the commercialization research process, which were categorized into three features of idea development with passion, integrated business model development, and innovative and technological business networking. The commercialization research process includes eight stages: 1) business opportunity assessment, 2) technopreneurial mindset and passion development, 3) technology assessment and exploitation, 4) co-research and application to new product development, 5) technopreneurship incubation and business networking, 6) business planning for innovation commercialization, 7) continuous product improvement, and 8) sustainable technopreneurship and development. Finally, this research constructed theoretical conclusions, discussing and suggesting approaches for improving technopreneurs’ commercialization research process and future research directions.