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1 – 10 of over 1000Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes, Bruno Fischer, Sergio Salles-Filho, Dirk Meissner and Marina Dabic
Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial firms (KIE) strongly rely on scientific and strategic research and development (R&D) capabilities to achieve higher performance levels. Hence…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial firms (KIE) strongly rely on scientific and strategic research and development (R&D) capabilities to achieve higher performance levels. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effects of scientific capabilities and strategic R&D on KIE performance; and how the constituent elements of these dimensions can be configured to generate conditions for high performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ empirical setting involves companies that submitted projects to the Innovative Research in Small Businesses (PIPE) program in Brazil. The authors then run partial least square structural equation modeling to verify how scientific and strategic R&D capabilities influence the performance construct. Second, the authors apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify configurations that are equifinal in terms of generating superior performance.
Findings
Findings indicate a strong association between scientific capabilities and KIE performance. The configurational approach outlines the existence of multiple paths to success, but human capital stands as a core condition throughout estimations.
Practical implications
The authors’ assessment has implications for how KIE firms are managed according to their organizational profiles and trajectories. Also, it advances the authors’ comprehension on how entrepreneurship policies can better target these distinct profiles.
Originality/value
The authors’ analysis provides new evidence on the inherent complexity behind the generation of high performance in KIE when addressing their portfolios of knowledge-related capabilities. More than that, the authors were able to identify the existence of heterogeneous profiles that can equally lead to higher levels of performance.
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André Cherubini Alves, Bruno Fischer, Paola Rücker Schaeffer and Sérgio Queiroz
The purpose of this paper is to analyze this phenomenon and identify its determinants using data from Brazilian higher education institutions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze this phenomenon and identify its determinants using data from Brazilian higher education institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a data set comprehending 2,230 university students from 70 different institutions across the country, the authors develop five Probit models to assess impacts related to individual traits and systemic conditions on five dependent dimensions: entrepreneurial activity, potential entrepreneurs, high-impact entrepreneurship, serial entrepreneurship and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
Findings
The lack of significance in many of the variables included in estimations suggests that student entrepreneurship seems to be a rather random phenomenon in Brazil.
Research limitations/implications
Findings pose challenges for student entrepreneurship, as targets for intervention are not clear.
Originality/value
Over the past decades, universities have been receiving an increasing demand to go beyond their role of producing science and technology to explore its knowledge potential to produce novel commercial applications. However, while there is a growing interest in ways to foster scientific academic entrepreneurship, universities also serve as a positive environment for student entrepreneurship training, knowledge sharing, testing ideas and learning. So far, the importance of student entrepreneurship has received far less attention than it likely deserves.
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Ranulph Glanville has argued that ambitions of strict control are misplaced in epistemic processes such as learning and designing. Among other reasons, he has presented…
Abstract
Purpose
Ranulph Glanville has argued that ambitions of strict control are misplaced in epistemic processes such as learning and designing. Among other reasons, he has presented quantitative arguments for this ethical position. As a part of these arguments, Glanville claimed that strict control even of modest systems transcends the computational limits of our planet. The purpose of this paper is to review the related discourse and to examine the soundness of this claim.
Design/methodology/approach
Related literature is reviewed and pertinent lines of reasoning are illustrated and critically examined using examples and straightforward language.
Findings
The claim that even modest epistemic processes transcend the computational means of our planet is challenged. The recommendation to assume out-of-control postures in epistemic processes, however, is maintained on ethical rather than on quantitative grounds.
Research limitations/implications
The presented reasoning is limited in as far as it is ultimately based on an ethical standpoint.
Originality/value
This paper summarizes an important cybernetic discourse and dispels the notion therein that epistemic processes necessarily involve computational demands of astronomical proportions. Furthermore, this paper presents a rare discussion of Glanville’s Corollary of Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety.
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Anne Kathleen Lopes da Rocha, Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes and Bruno Fischer
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the microfoundations of student entrepreneurship, a cornerstone of innovation ecosystems. To this end, this paper assesses how perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the microfoundations of student entrepreneurship, a cornerstone of innovation ecosystems. To this end, this paper assesses how perceived university support for entrepreneurship influences entrepreneurial characteristics and intentions in students enrolled at Amazonas and São Paulo State Universities.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach based on multivariate data analysis using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was applied to a sample of 420 respondents.
Findings
Results indicate that the university environment positively influences entrepreneurial behavior and intention in students. Nonetheless, further integration between academia and external dimensions of the ecosystems is necessary to drive more intense entrepreneurial activity in students. The educational contexts of Amazonas and São Paulo present significant differences in the relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial intention with a stronger influence found for Amazonas. This finding suggests a relative lack of propensity of students from São Paulo to engage in entrepreneurial venturing.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations involve the use of non-probabilistic sampling procedures and students’ heterogeneity in terms of academic seniority.
Practical implications
This research offers guidance for policies targeting the generation of entrepreneurial activity in universities embedded in developing countries’ innovation ecosystems and facing distinct levels of socioeconomic development.
Originality/value
This research presents a novel analysis of the microfoundations driving student entrepreneurship within different educational contexts in a developing country. Results highlight the necessary conditions for universities to foster entrepreneurial activity and, incidentally, feed innovation ecosystems with entrepreneurial talent.
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Gerhard Fischer, Johan Lundin and Ola J. Lindberg
The main argument behind this paper is learning in the digital age should not be restricted to creating digital infrastructures for supporting current forms of learning nor taking…
Abstract
Purpose
The main argument behind this paper is learning in the digital age should not be restricted to creating digital infrastructures for supporting current forms of learning nor taking schools in their current form as God-given, natural entities, but changing current forms of education by developing new frameworks and socio-technical environments for making learning an integral part of life. The authors provide a framework for this argumentation as well as a call-to-action for research on the co-evolution of learning, media, and learning organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper theoretically and argumentatively explores the core assumption that the digitalization of society results in challenges and opportunities for learning and education based on fundamental transformations (Collins and Halverson, 2009; Fischer et al., 2020).
Findings
The digital age greatly enhances the opportunities and supports the necessity for “making learning a part of life”. But while the growth of technology is certain, the inevitability of any particular future is not. The impact of schooling goes beyond that new information about computers, the Internet, and social media are integrated into the schools of today. The transformation of schools needs to be informed by an understanding of the impact of mindset formation that will determine people's approach to learning for the rest of their lives. The authors’ framework is focused on moving “beyond gift-wrapping” by not only fixing and existing systems but to change them and not only reforming but transforming them.
Originality/value
It is the authors’ hope that this article will be of interest to many stakeholders (including learners, teachers, curriculum designers, technology experts, parents, and politicians) and provide a foundation for an ongoing debate and informed actions for “Making Learning a Part of Life” in the digital age.
Maytheewat Aramrattana, Jiali Fu and Selpi
This paper aims to explore whether drivers would adapt their behavior when they drive among automated vehicles (AVs) compared to driving among manually driven vehicles…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore whether drivers would adapt their behavior when they drive among automated vehicles (AVs) compared to driving among manually driven vehicles (MVs).Understanding behavioral adaptation of drivers when they encounter AVs is crucial for assessing impacts of AVs in mixed-traffic situations. Here, mixed-traffic situations refer to situations where AVs share the roads with existing nonautomated vehicles such as conventional MVs.
Design/methodology/approach
A driving simulator study is designed to explore whether such behavioral adaptations exist. Two different driving scenarios were explored on a three-lane highway: driving on the main highway and merging from an on-ramp. For this study, 18 research participants were recruited.
Findings
Behavioral adaptation can be observed in terms of car-following speed, car-following time gap, number of lane change and overall driving speed. The adaptations are dependent on the driving scenario and whether the surrounding traffic was AVs or MVs. Although significant differences in behavior were found in more than 90% of the research participants, they adapted their behavior differently, and thus, magnitude of the behavioral adaptation remains unclear.
Originality/value
The observed behavioral adaptations in this paper were dependent on the driving scenario rather than the time gap between surrounding vehicles. This finding differs from previous studies, which have shown that drivers tend to adapt their behaviors with respect to the surrounding vehicles. Furthermore, the surrounding vehicles in this study are more “free flow'” compared to previous studies with a fixed formation such as platoons. Nevertheless, long-term observations are required to further support this claim.
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Edson Sadao Iizuka, Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes and Melissa Galdino de Souza
There is no consensus on the most effective way to foster entrepreneurship in educational institutions, and educational policies on entrepreneurial activity differ significantly…
Abstract
Purpose
There is no consensus on the most effective way to foster entrepreneurship in educational institutions, and educational policies on entrepreneurial activity differ significantly amidst organizations and contexts. Thus, the objective of this research is to analyze influence of the college environment and entrepreneurial characteristics on the entrepreneurial intention of Brazilian high school/technical students.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical research used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a sample of 384 students of technical courses, such as Administration, Systems Development, Chemistry, Secretariat, among others.
Findings
The proposed model was validated, and the hypotheses were confirmed, proving suitable for high school/technical education. Assessing the high school environment with this model can help determine each organization's strengths and weaknesses and, indeed, the impacts on the ecosystems in which it operates. The results of the multi-group analysis indicate differences concerning the courses as well.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations involve non-probabilistic sampling procedures and the collection having been carried out with a single cross-section.
Practical implications
For managers and teachers, this article presents indicators to qualify the activities of the educational environment, considering teaching activities, extracurricular activities, fairs, actions of teachers and students, among other initiatives.
Social implications
The article contributes to high school managers, particularly in technical schools, so that they understand the factors that influence the profile and entrepreneurial intention of students; in other words, something that can impact the lives of thousands of students, teachers and the community itself.
Originality/value
This research presents a novel analysis of the antecedents that drive student entrepreneurship in an underexplored educational context in a developing country. The results show the necessary conditions for technical schools to foster entrepreneurial activity, feeding innovation ecosystems with entrepreneurial talent.
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