Processes of practice in the realm of theory: Unveiling the dynamics of academic intrapreneurship

Abstract

Although universities typically focus on academic activities, it has become common for several entrepreneurial activities to also occur within university walls. This article aims to unveil how university-based entrepreneurship - or ‘academic intrapreneurship’ - develops dynamically over time. Building on a qualitative case study of a European university, we show how academic intrapreneurship advances through two interconnected processes: a process of academic exploration, and a process of entrepreneurial exploitation. We lay bare how these processes are underpinned by contrasting institutional logics and how navigating them requires academics to handle four specific logic conflicts: (i) a conflict of motivation; (ii) a conflict of organization; (iii) a conflict of orientation; and (iv) a conflict of dissemination. These observations result in three key contributions. First, while academic intrapreneurship is often considered in a static capacity, our study shows that it is decidedly time-dependent. Second, by illustrating how these dynamics draw on the reconciliation of conflicting logics, this article exhibits how academic intrapreneurship finds itself paradoxically driven by the contradictions resting at its core. Finally, to navigate intrapreneurial dynamics successfully, this paper suggests that individuals, universities, and policy makers must all actively balance the modalities of both an academic and an entrepreneurial logic within their institutional practices.