Entrepreneurial academics: a taxonomy with Latent Profile Analysis
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 31 May 2019
Issue publication date: 22 November 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The need for dynamic and innovative skills and the importance of resources and individuals in pursuit of new opportunities prove to be extremely vital for the higher education institutions (HEI). The purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy of academics from HEI, based on their individual entrepreneurial orientation (EO).
Design/methodology/approach
The population in study was composed of teachers and researchers from worldwide HEI. The data collection was conducted through a questionnaire sent by an e-mail and the authors used the I-ENTRE-U scale to identify entrepreneurial-oriented teachers and researchers from HEI. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify profiles of researchers with similar values in four EO dimensions.
Findings
The study allowed the authors to identify five profiles of researchers: downers, achievers, followers, defenders and rebels.
Research limitations/implications
The results can be an important starting point for other researchers and practitioners hoping to evaluate academics’ EO in a higher education sector. The taxonomy also allows wider predictions about the behaviour of the profile members of profiles and relates it with other variables such as performance. Further contributions may be added by extending the data gathering from different geographical areas and/or different academic contexts, such that future studies could apply other LPA techniques and compare the results.
Originality/value
Only few studies have focussed on individual EO of scientists/academics, considering different national and regional contexts. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that develops a taxonomy of academics from HEI, based on their individual EO.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank NECE – Research Unit for Business Sciences funded by the Multiannual Funding Programme of R&D Centres of FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under the project “UID/GES/04630/2013” and Research Unit for Inland Development (UDI-IPG), Instituto Politécnico da Guarda, Guarda, Portugal.
Citation
Rodrigues, R.G., Ferreira, J.J.M. and Felgueira, T. (2019), "Entrepreneurial academics: a taxonomy with Latent Profile Analysis", Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 12, pp. 3346-3363. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-10-2018-1157
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited