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The purpose of this paper is to explore, evaluate and share the motivations and behaviours of student and graduate entrepreneurs (referred to as SGSUs) operating from university incubators. The study aims to understand the behaviours and motivations of SGSUs to build on the existing literature and contribute towards a discussion around support services for university incubation centres.

Empirical evidence is presented from an online survey of 100 SGSUs from a sample of university incubators across the UK. The results were analysed using the data analysis software package SPSS. The results of open‐ended questions were analysed manually.

The current research reveals a series of contrasting engagements towards and within the university incubator space. A better understanding of user expectations and motivations is needed in order to develop better services and support system within which SGSUs can develop.

The outcomes could have practical significance and managerial implications based on a greater understanding and awareness of the needs of SGSUs when allocating scarce resources in order to improve incubator performance, entrepreneurial support and new venture creation funding in HEIs.

The paper provides a unique insight into the needs of SGSUs and identifies the key issues that contribute to their early successes and some of the “known” and “unknown” reasons behind why they may not fulfil their ambitions. The findings present thinking of SGSUs and their outlook to the future challenges and relative entrepreneurial support in context of institutional support.

With practical entrepreneurship capabilities becoming ever more important for all university graduates, whether they are starting their own business or adding value to an organisation by innovating, improving, and problem-solving, what role do business incubators (BIs) play in helping to develop these capabilities for students? This chapter aims to better understand the role of BIs as extra-curricular entrepreneurship activity in universities through a narrative account of business incubation practice in three institutions – two in England and one in Australia. Utilising a practice-led methodology, the study is underpinned by social capital theory and a critical realist ontological perspective on incubation’s mechanisms, processes, and structures. Across these examples, there are common underpinning principles of entrepreneurial learning and socio-economic development. However, there are differences in implementation regarding space for incubation. Where the BI is on campus and closely integrated with extra-curricular entrepreneurship activity, this results in a cohesive graduate startup community and ongoing peer support. With no BI present, the opposite is observed. The chapter argues that without the infrastructure to build and maintain a community of nascent entrepreneurs to benefit from sustained peer learning, there can be negative impacts on the entrepreneurs and a visible gap affecting the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The chapter concludes with a practice note providing practical considerations for university BIs in communicating the significance of the incubator peer group to prospective entrepreneurs to improve realistic expectations and potentially improve their reach to entrepreneurs who may be experiencing isolation during their startup journey.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of proactive personality (PP), entrepreneurship education (EE) and entrepreneurial opportunities (EO) on shaping entrepreneurial intentions (EI) among university students through attitude toward entrepreneurship (ATE) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) according to Ajzen’s (1985) theory of planned behaviour.

The study used questionnaires to collect data from university students enroled in undergraduate programmes. A total of 209 surveys were successfully collected. SPSS and SmartPLS 3.0 software were used to analyse and test nine hypotheses derived from the intentions-centred model.

The results supported seven hypotheses. There were positive relationships between PP and ATE; PP and PBC; EE and ATE; EO and ATE; EO and PBC; ATE and EI; and PBC and EI. However, there were no relationships between EE and PBC, and subjective norms and EI.

This study used a cross-sectional survey and self-report data which hinder conclusively making correlational inferences. In addition, the various developmental stages of students may influence perceptions of EI.

The empirical findings provide new insights for policymakers, educators and academics about the antecedents governing EI. This study also enhances the understanding of the preconditions for EI, which can be utilised by practitioners to encourage and manage graduate entrepreneurship.

This study advances an intentions-based model which suggests a simultaneous presence of the three core factors, PP, EE and EO for an effective formation of EI. By doing so, the study addresses the issue of the scarcity of investigations on the combined effects, thus closing the research gap and bringing new perspective to the antecedents-intentions nexus of graduate entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurship education (EE) interacts with knowledge transfer and entrepreneurial behaviour in a conflict Sub-Saharan African context.

In-depth telephone interviews of 20 participants who benefited from EE knowledge transfer were used to document and analyse the effect of EE on their behaviours as micro-entrepreneurs in a conflict zone.

These participants exhibited rare forms of innovative behaviour, through their business skills, gained from their involvement in EE. In relation to the effect of the conflict on their entrepreneurial behaviours, it emerged that the conflict was not the major barrier to entrepreneurial intentions, it however affected how they made strategic decisions about downsizing, advertising and future business plans. Consequently, these decisions altered at different junctures because of the conflict and, therefore, defined their coping strategies.

The paper advocates a policy shift towards a more collaborative sub-regional approach to tackling the underlying causes of conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa through investment in EE strategies as a spur to economic development. Central to this are a priori assumptions about economically disadvantaged populations and their symbiotic relationship with conflict, a phenomenon frequently exploited by armed groups with deviant agenda. Thus, access to employment opportunities could benefit disadvantaged populations, thereby plays a decisive role in conflict mitigation.

The paper provides empirical analysis integrating EE with knowledge transfer and entrepreneurial behaviour in a conflict Sub-Saharan African context. In this way, novel insights are provided that contribute to current efforts aimed at developing a robust theoretical and conceptual foundation for EE domain.

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternate approach to entrepreneurship pedagogy development through an iterative journey of co-ownership between students, industry partners and academic course teams to enhance student satisfaction and learning outcomes.

Utilising design thinking, the pedagogy evolved over a three-year period (2013-2015) through iterative innovation in the delivery model and assessments, underpinned by notions of classroom community, constructivism, justice and equity, humour and role-play.

The findings strongly validate the integration of notions of justice and equity, constructivism, humour and role-play as learning principles and delivery elements in entrepreneurship pedagogy to enhance student satisfaction and learning outcomes. A critical outcome of this design and delivery process is the reduction of barriers between students and teachers and the impact this has on creating a shared learning journey; a journey that in this case has resulted in meaningful outcomes for all involved.

Further research with longitudinal data is needed to validate the link between design-led entrepreneurship pedagogy and enhanced student learning outcomes as well as implications relating to graduate employability. In global settings, further data collection could also validate whether the findings are culturally neutral or culturally sensitive.

Entrepreneurship educators will benefit from this pedagogical approach in seeking to meet the needs of business start-ups, intrapreneurial capacity-building and potentially, enhancement of graduate employability. The model also offers promise for other learning contexts.

Design thinking has received scant attention in entrepreneurship pedagogy. This case study demonstrates how design thinking can enhance student satisfaction and learning outcomes by integrating notions of constructivism, justice and equity, humour and role-play in entrepreneurship curricula.

This study aims to examine the status of entrepreneurship education (EE) in Malaysia and entrepreneurship education programmes (EEPs) offered by Malaysian public and private higher education institutions (HEIs), against the backdrop of macro-level context of Malaysian government institutions related to entrepreneurship.

This study replicates and extends the research by Maritz et al. (2015, 2019). The study expands a nascent archetype regarding an iterative and systematic open-ended emergent enquiry, together with data collection from Malaysian HEIs.

The findings suggest significant emergence of EE (programmes and research) in Malaysia, despite EEPs being sparsely distributed across HEIs in the bottom half of Table 1. The top ten HEIs (12% of all HEIs in Table 1) accounted for 35% of all EEPs. This study highlights the significant influence of Malaysian government institutions related to entrepreneurship on EE and EEPs.

The findings are subject to the availability and accuracy of information and documents available on official websites of HEIs. This limitation has been mitigated with telephone and email inquiries and other sources of information.

The findings provide critical grounding and inferences on the status of EE and EEPs in Malaysia for researchers, practitioners, HEIs, governments and other stakeholders.

This study is first of its kind on emergent enquiry into the status of EE in Malaysia and EEPs offered by 19 public HEIs and 67 private HEIs in Malaysia. Moreover, this study links macro-level context of the Malaysian government institutions related to entrepreneurship with micro-level context of EE and EEPs.

Despite growing scholarly interest in academic entrepreneurship (AE) few studies have examined its non-commercial aspects and how it contributes to meeting grand societal challenges. One explanation for this may be the continuing focus of AE on intellectual property commercialization. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by uncovering how universities can contribute to promoting non-commercial forms of AE.

This paper uses the human capital theoretical lens to make its argument and applies it to data obtained from exploratory qualitative research (55 semi-structured interviews and nine focus groups) in the developing countries of Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.

Universities can promote different forms of non-commercial AE even in the absence of sophisticated resources for innovation, through the stimulation of the specific human capital of the university community resulting from activities where they help others.

This paper proposes a general framework for advancing theory development in AE and its non-commercial forms, based on data obtained in uncharted territories for AE.

This paper examines and discusses the need for micro-level analyses of academic entrepreneurship and outlines a micro-level research agenda for the study of academic entrepreneurship.

Based on a review of academic literature on academic entrepreneurship, this study focuses on individual actors and suggests some future research agendas.

The authors highlight that more studies dealing with academic entrepreneurship need to take a micro-level perspective, thereby outline several fruitful avenues of research: (1) star scientists and principal investigators, (2) TTO professionals, (3) graduate entrepreneurs, (4) university administrators, (5) policy makers and funders as well as (6) micro-level organisational routines.

This paper derives three main implications for management practice and policy. First, there is a real need to develop the managerial skills, competencies and capabilities of scientists and individuals. Second, policy makers need to ensure the necessary resources to pursue a paradigm shift towards more entrepreneurial thinking and action and create adequate incentives. Third, firms need to offer support and guidance on how to best commercialise and transfer scientific knowledge and ideally complement support structures of universities and research institutes.

This paper provides an organising framework for the study of micro-level academic entrepreneurship and emphasises the need to focus further on individual actors and how their actions, behaviours and approaches contribute to academic entrepreneurship in different institutional, environmental and cultural contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role leader attention plays in the nurture of transformational leadership (TL) behavior, as well as the mechanism by which TL affects innovation ambidexterity, this research empirically studied the relationship between leader attention scope (LAS) and innovation ambidexterity (exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation) through the mediating role of TL. Further, the moderating effect of environmental dynamism (ED) on the relationship between TL and innovation ambidexterity was examined.

Empirical study was adopted by distributing questionnaires to high echelon leaders in mainland China to assess related variables. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships of the variables based on the 188 returned questionnaires.

The results show that LAS had a positive effect on innovation ambidexterity, and the relationship was partially mediated by TL. ED negatively moderated the relationship between TL and innovation ambidexterity.

The results suggest that upper echelon leaders receive more unfamiliar, outward-oriented, and source-diverse information to broaden their attention scope. The broad outlook they get obliges them to engage in TL behavior which is beneficial for innovation ambidexterity.

Based on upper echelons theory, this research reveals the realization mechanism of innovation ambidexterity from the perspectives of leader attention and leadership behavior. This paper avoids the previous research limitation of prevalently employing demographic measurements to substitute for leaders’ psychological processes. The study of LAS also explains the formation mechanism of TL. ED is considered to examine the effectiveness of TL.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a national framework for promoting business excellence (NFPBE) using a quality management assessment framework (QMAF) with information knowledge communication (IKC) as an enabler.

The NFPBE using the plan–do–check–act (PDCA) cycle is developed, re-enforcing key quality management aspects/areas including national quality awards, QMAF summary and national innovation programmes using a meta-analysis.

The operationalising of the NFPBE is enabled and supported by an auditing tool to assess the degree of mentoring provided by universities/research institutions/consulting firms to participating firms whose progress will be assessed by the QMAF. It was emphasised that the success of the framework requires the buy-in of national governments to support the programme through stimulus incentives such as government assistance with the costs of research and development, and cooperative research ventures between universities and companies.

The framework is conceptualised into a process flowchart, which is a blueprint to advancing business excellence in organisations at a national scale. The study is limited to only the conceptualisation of the framework. Therefore, an extended study of the framework implementation/application is required for revealing implementation guidelines.

The national framework has a propensity to enhancing the business excellence of organisations at a national level. Therefore, quality managers and policy makers could use the framework to understand the quality management shortfalls and consider strategies to achieving business excellence.

This research study proposed a blueprint to advancing quality excellence in organisations at a national level, guided by several quality frameworks.