Spin-off Versus Start-up Intentions: A Tale of Two Passions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand how individuals’ “passion orchestra” is related to entrepreneurial intentions. We study our research question in academia, where research scientists are increasingly required to simultaneously engage in traditional research and commercialization activities. Drawing on role identity theory and passion literature, we propose a model that links two types of passion relevant in this context, namely entrepreneurial and scientific passion, to spin-off versus start-up intentions. While spin-off intentions refer to intentions to found a firm based upon research results, start-up intentions denote intentions to establish a company independently of scientific output produced within a university. Using a sample of 2,038 research scientists from 20 universities in 5 European countries, our findings reveal that higher levels of entrepreneurial passion are solely associated with stronger start-up intentions. Further, scientific passion is positively associated with research scientists’ intentions to create a spin-off, but negatively with their propensity to establish a start-up. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and affective commitment towards the university mediate these effects. Finally, scientific passion moderates the entrepreneurial passion-intentions relationship such that it strengthens spin-off intentions, but weakens start-up intentions. Our results have relevant implications for both academics and practitioners, including government agencies and technology transfer offices.