The role of creativity in the context of academic entrepreneurship

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the role of creativity in the context of academic entrepreneurship. To move beyond prior research, we aim to explain the relationship between academics' perceptions of university departments being entrepreneurially oriented and their engagement in entrepreneurial academic activity by including a third variable, a mediator, namely the individual's creative self‐efficacy. Based on structural equation modelling, the results of this study reveal that it is not enough just to be entrepreneurially oriented for one's university department to engage in entrepreneurial academic activity, but academics have to believe and be confident in their own ability to be creative. Indeed, this study indicates the importance of encouraging creativity and innovation for creative potential to be realized as creative output resulting in the academics' engagement in entrepreneurial activities. Based on our analysis of two samples of academics from two European countries, the research implications are discussed.