scholarly journals Nascent academic entrepreneurs and identity work at the boundaries of professional domains

Author(s):  
Elina I Mäkinen ◽  
Terhi Esko

Higher education institutions promote academic entrepreneurship through organizational arrangements such as innovation programs, incubators, and accelerators aimed at implementing the third mission of the university. While research has examined how these multi-professional arrangements support entrepreneurial efforts, less is known about their individual level implications which emerge as researchers are exposed to different professional values and practices. This article draws on a longitudinal qualitative study on an innovation program to investigate through what kinds of identity processes nascent academic entrepreneurs construct their professional identities and how as part of these processes they position themselves in relation to different professional domains. The analysis demonstrates three identity construction processes (hybridization, rejecting hybridization, and transitioning) and their associated identity work tactics (compartmentalizing, protecting, and reframing) at the boundaries of professional domains. Our contribution is in demonstrating how nascent academic entrepreneurs’ identity construction processes are influenced by internally and externally oriented identity work and their interactive dynamics. Moreover, the findings advance our understanding of how individuals can purposefully mould the fluidity of domain boundaries through identity work by making boundaries bridgeable, impermeable, or permeable. These findings have value for those developing organizational arrangements for the promotion of academic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial identities.

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Brennan ◽  
Anthony P. Wall ◽  
Pauric McGowan

PurposeThe aim of the paper was to investigate entrepreneurship in a university setting and in particular amongst university managers, established academic entrepreneurs and nascent academic entrepreneurs. The purpose was to better understand the enablers and barriers to entrepreneurship taking place.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative, sense‐making methodology was used involving a single case method and a purposeful sampling approach. A three‐stage design strategy consisted of: identification of key themes by questioning university policy makers, managers and academic entrepreneurs; development of a questionnaire to profile academic entrepreneurs; and use of the questionnaire to assess preferences amongst nascent academic entrepreneursFindingsFour types of academic entrepreneur (hero, maverick, broker and prospector) were identified based on different approaches by individual academics to the use/production of discipline knowledge and the nature of their relationship with the host university.Research limitations/implicationsThe single case research is perceived as a limitation. Future studies will involve refining the level of analysis in terms of different disciplines and institutions.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that interventions to promote entrepreneurship within universities ought to consider different strategies in order to take account of preferences amongst nascent entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThe paper looks at entrepreneurship in universities from a corporate perspective rather than from an individual perspective. The powerful influence of the university organisational setting is therefore recognised in terms of the creation of enablers and barriers to academic entrepreneurship taking place.


Although many universities have established Technology Transfer Office (TTO), there is no consensus in the literature that TTO has been successful in promoting academic entrepreneurship. Inhomogeneity of TTO services across different universities results in an inconsistent relationship between TTO formation and the rate of technology transfer activities. The TTO efficiency has been mostly researched based on the objective measures. However, far too little attention has been paid to explore the perception of academic entrepreneurs on the degree to which TTO has been efficient in greasing the wheels of their technology transfer pursuit. This paper aims to conceptualize TTO efficiency as a formative construct and to validate the proposed measurement model using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The empirical results confirmed the absence of collinearity while validity was established using a modified multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) matrix analysis. Furthermore, the indicators’ weights revealed which constituent services provided by TTO benefit academic entrepreneurs the most. This study contributes new insights into academic entrepreneurs' perception towards the effectiveness of TTO services that further pave a way for the university to prioritize improvement measures


Author(s):  
Fang Zhao

The aim of this paper is to explore issues associated with the commercialization of university research through an empirical study of the development of research commercialization in Australian public-funded universities. Extensive interviews were conducted with academic entrepreneurs and commercialization managers from 19 universities in Australia (hence more than 50% of Australian public universities were involved in the study). The paper identified and discussed the key issues raised in the study and proposed a series of recommendations to enhance the overall performance of university research commercialization.


Author(s):  
Md. Razib Alam ◽  
Bonwoo Koo ◽  
Brian Paul Cozzarin

Abstract Our objective is to study Canada’s patenting activity over time in aggregate terms by destination country, by assignee and destination country, and by diversification by country of destination. We collect bibliographic patent data from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We identify 19,957 matched Canada–US patents, 34,032 Canada-only patents, and 43,656 US-only patents from 1980 to 2014. Telecommunications dominates in terms of International Patent Classification technologies for US-only and Canada–US patents. At the firm level, the greatest number of matched Canada–US patents were granted in the field of telecommunications, at the university level in pharmaceuticals, at the government level in control and instrumentation technology, and at the individual level in civil engineering. We use entropy to quantify technological diversification and find that diversification indices decline over time for Canada and the USA; however, all US indices decline at a faster rate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Cecilia Navia Antezana ◽  
Gabriela Czarny Krischkautzky ◽  
Gisela Salinas Sánchez

Experiences of young indigenous people who study in an educational program from the National Pedagogical University of Mexico City are analyzed in this work. It puts into question some effects produced by ethnic branded programs, recognizing the contradictions and discriminations that the carrying subjects of these have, with the objective of contribute to the contemporary debate on the modes of self-recognition of indigenous youth in higher education and to stress deeply rooted conceptions such as ethnic identity, which continues to orient education policies in our context. From a qualitative and interpretative perspective, using the technique of focal group, were recognized areas such as linkages and trust with teachers, and how it contributes to the repositioning of subjects, their identity processes and Emancipatory roads. At the same time, it recognizes the present discriminations in the university, which are reinforced in some cases by the essentialist ways of understanding the indigenous presence, and some effects are discussed that produce the affirmative actions, which reflects confronting and contradictory situations in the processes of inhabiting the university from the indigenous student’s side.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 612-633
Author(s):  
Ruby Latif ◽  
Wendy Cukier ◽  
Suzanne Gagnon ◽  
Radia Chraibi

AbstractThis article examines how identities are constructed and performed by a sample of Muslim women in the Canadian workplace. This research will provide new insights on how Muslim women disclose or ‘perform’ their identities in different contexts. This study will build upon previous research on identity construction of ethnic minorities in the workplace and intersectionality and the workplace experiences of Muslim women by conducting interviews with 23 professional Muslim women in Canada. The findings have important implications for understanding Muslim women’s identity work in broader contexts of discrimination, as well as accommodation and inclusion in organizations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 163-184
Author(s):  
Shose Kessi

This chapter explores how hegemonic representations of racialization are reproduced and/or resisted through stories told by a group of Black students located in a historically White university in South Africa, the University of Cape Town (UCT). The stories were collected through a photovoice project with 36 students from five different faculties at UCT over a period of three years, from 2013 to 2015.The photographs and written stories produced by the participants challenged and resisted the common social representations of Black underachievement and backwardness that prevail in higher education discourse. The students’ narratives, in the context of a transforming institution, shifted the terms of engagement in conversations about race and opened up spaces for meaningful dialogue and action toward social change. Their narratives not only constructed alternative frames of reference that provided positive resources for identity construction, but also conscientized and empowered them to influence the direction of the academic project.


Author(s):  
Consuelo De Luna Habito ◽  
Susan Janette G. Ealdama

Recognizing the important contribution of the indigenous people's (IP) youth towards the sustainable development and conservation of the internationally recognized Ifugao rice terraces (IRT) of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines Open University implemented a youth capacity building and exchange program among IP youth from Hungduan, Kiangan, Banaue and Mayaoyao rice terraces in the Ifugao province. The study conducted focus group discussions that included identity construction with physical co-presence and utilization of new communication technologies (NCTs) through the strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results of an appreciative inquiry approach (SOAR). Beliefs, ethnicity and values were three key identity construction factors. Need, talent, passion, and conscience were also included among the dimensions of identity construction. These findings were subsequently used in the design and construction of training course modules customized for IP youth from the IRT using the blended-mode of learning and practical activities such as video logs and memes in NCTs.


F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Nathan L. Vanderford ◽  
Elizabeth Marcinkowski

The commercialization of university-based research occurs to varying degrees between academic institutions. Previous studies have found that multiple barriers can impede the effectiveness and efficiency by which academic research is commercialized. This case study was designed to better understand the impediments to research commercialization at the University of Kentucky via a survey and interview with three successful academic entrepreneurs. The study also garnered insight from the individuals as to how the commercialization process could be improved. Issues with commercialization infrastructure; a lack of emphasis, at the university level, on the importance of research commercialization; a void in an entrepreneurial culture on campus; inhibitory commercialization policies; and a lack of business and commercialization knowledge among faculty were highlighted as the most significant barriers. The research subjects also suggested that commercialization activity may generally increase if a number of factors were mitigated. Such insight can be communicated to the administrative leadership of the commercialization process at the University of Kentucky. Long term, improving university-based research commercialization will allow academic researchers to be more active and successful entrepreneurs such that intellectual property will progress more freely to the marketplace for the benefit of inventors, universities and society.


Author(s):  
Signe Hedeboe Frederiksen ◽  
Karin Berglund

Entrepreneurship education (EE) theory and practice show increasing interest in the concept of identity work as integral to entrepreneurial learning. EE offers various approaches to guiding students towards entrepreneurial identities, but critics note that these meet neoliberal manifestations of the entrepreneurial self, leaving little room for alternative identities to be cultivated in EE. Concerned with this critique, we aim to contribute to the EE literature through a detailed investigation of the identity work practices enacted in a case of EE, which explicitly seeks to facilitate the entrepreneurial identity construction of students. Through an in-depth analysis of teacher–student interactions, we identify three practices: setting new rules to activate the entrepreneurial self, playing by the rules by figuring the script and bending the rules protecting the self. Our analysis highlights the significance of resistance and notions of authenticity, which leads us to rethink the meaning and conditions of entrepreneurial identity work in EE.


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