Factors and maturity level of entrepreneurial universities in Spain

Abstract

Purpose

The entrepreneurial university is being widely studied, given its importance as an agent in economic and social development. This paper presents the findings of a study that had a twofold objective. First, it sought to establish a model of maturity for the measurement of the level of academic entrepreneurship in universities. Second, it aimed to apply this maturity model to a sufficiently wide and varied sample of faculties to discover their current level of academic entrepreneurship, as well as their differences by area of knowledge, type of university and autonomous region in Spain.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was designed with items grouped into 14 blocks that defined the entrepreneurial university according to the model previously developed. The questionnaire was answered by 84 deans/directors belonging to different faculties/universities from six Spanish regions.

Findings

The findings showed that the Spanish universities stand out in four areas: internationalisation, use of active methodologies, mission and strategy and management team support. However, the legal and administrative context, the funds for entrepreneurship and the training of staff in entrepreneurship are not sufficiently developed. Significant differences were observed between regions but not by type of university or area of knowledge.

Originality/value

The results provide an innovative model that explains the factors that define the entrepreneurial university, as well as guidelines for universities to move forward in developing stages.

Citation

Errasti, N., Bezanilla, M.-J., García-Olalla, A., Auzmendi, E. and Paños, J. (2018), "Factors and maturity level of entrepreneurial universities in Spain", International Journal of Innovation Science, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 71-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIS-05-2017-0043