IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i16p6455-d397278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technopreneurial Intentions among Bulgarian STEM Students: The Role of University

Author

Listed:
  • Desislava Yordanova

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 125 Tzarigradsko Shosse Blvd., blok 3, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria)

  • José António Filipe

    (Departamento de Matemática, ISTA–Escola de Tecnologias e Arquitectura, Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Information Sciences, Technologies and Architecture Research Center (ISTAR-IUL), Business Research Unit-IUL (BRU-IUL), 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Manuel Pacheco Coelho

    (SOCIUS, ISEG/University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

Entrepreneurship, innovation and technology are essential to the economic development of societies. Universities are increasingly involved in creating an internal favourable environment supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. In our work, we aimed to study the role of university for the development of technopreneurial intentions in a sample of Bulgarian STEM (STEM refers to any subjects that fall under the disciplines of science, technology, engineering or mathematics.) students exhibiting entrepreneurial intentions. The empirical findings of the study are in line with previous empirical evidence about the role of university support for entrepreneurial intentions among students; results also show that students in universities with better research in their scientific field of study are more likely to exhibit technopreneurial intention. Determinants of entrepreneurial intentions identified in the literature such as entrepreneurial role models, perceived support from social networks, willingness to take risks and gender may not be relevant specifically for technopreneurial intentions. The results of the study have important practical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Desislava Yordanova & José António Filipe & Manuel Pacheco Coelho, 2020. "Technopreneurial Intentions among Bulgarian STEM Students: The Role of University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6455-:d:397278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6455/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6455/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas A. Carey & David J. Flanagan & Timothy B. Palmer, 2010. "An Examination Of University Student Entrepreneurial Intentions By Type Of Venture," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(04), pages 503-517.
    2. Bosma, Niels & Hessels, Jolanda & Schutjens, Veronique & Praag, Mirjam Van & Verheul, Ingrid, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and role models," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 410-424.
    3. Ratinho, Tiago & Harms, Rainer & Walsh, Steven, 2015. "Structuring the Technology Entrepreneurship publication landscape: Making sense out of chaos," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 168-175.
    4. Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara, 2016. "University support and the creation of technology and non-technology academic spin-offs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 345-362, August.
    5. José Alberto Martínez-González & Urszula Kobylinska & Francisco J. García-Rodríguez & Lukasz Nazarko, 2019. "Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention among Young People: Model and Regional Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-29, December.
    6. Alain Fayolle & Heinz Klandt, 2006. "International entrepreneurship education : Issues and newness," Post-Print hal-02298070, HAL.
    7. Davide Hahn & Tommaso Minola & Giulio Bosio & Lucio Cassia, 2020. "The impact of entrepreneurship education on university students’ entrepreneurial skills: a family embeddedness perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 257-282, June.
    8. Phan, Phillip H. & Foo, Maw Der, 2004. "Technological entrepreneurship in emerging regions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 1-5, January.
    9. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    10. Norris Krueger, 1993. "The Impact of Prior Entrepreneurial Exposure on Perceptions of New Venture Feasibility and Desirability," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 18(1), pages 5-21, October.
    11. Frank T. Rothaermel & Shanti D. Agung & Lin Jiang, 2007. "University entrepreneurship: a taxonomy of the literature," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(4), pages 691-791, August.
    12. Nicole E. Peterman & Jessica Kennedy, 2003. "Enterprise Education: Influencing Students’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(2), pages 129-144, March.
    13. Garud, Raghu & Karnoe, Peter, 2003. "Bricolage versus breakthrough: distributed and embedded agency in technology entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 277-300, February.
    14. Ana Iolanda Vodă & Nelu Florea, 2019. "Impact of Personality Traits and Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Intentions of Business and Engineering Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-34, February.
    15. Fayolle, Alain & Liñán, Francisco, 2014. "The future of research on entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 663-666.
    16. Van Looy, Bart & Landoni, Paolo & Callaert, Julie & van Pottelsberghe, Bruno & Sapsalis, Eleftherios & Debackere, Koenraad, 2011. "Entrepreneurial effectiveness of European universities: An empirical assessment of antecedents and trade-offs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 553-564, May.
    17. Desislava Yordanova & José António Filipe, 2019. "Towards Entrepreneurial Universities: Barriers, Facilitators, and Best Practices in Bulgarian and Portuguese Universities," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(4), pages 213-227.
    18. Maribel Guerrero & David Urbano & Alain Fayolle & Magnus Klofsten & Sarfraz Mian, 2016. "Entrepreneurial universities : emerging models in the new social and economic landscape," Post-Print hal-02313440, HAL.
    19. Mike Wright & Donald S. Siegel & Philippe Mustar, 2017. "An emerging ecosystem for student start-ups," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 909-922, August.
    20. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E., 2005. "Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1191-1202, October.
    22. Jeroen Kraaijenbrink & Ger Bos & Aard Groen, 2010. "What do students think of the entrepreneurial support given by their universities?," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(1), pages 110-125.
    23. Shiri M Breznitz & Qiantao Zhang, 2019. "Fostering the growth of student start-ups from university accelerators: an entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(4), pages 855-873.
    24. repec:use:tkiwps:332 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Francisco Linan & Alain Fayolle, 2015. "A systematic literature review on entrepreneurial intentions : citation, thematic analyses, and research agenda," Post-Print hal-02313298, HAL.
    26. Matthias Filser & Sascha Kraus & Norat Roig-Tierno & Norbert Kailer & Ulrike Fischer, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as Catalyst for Sustainable Development: Opening the Black Box," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-18, August.
    27. Lee, Soo Hoon & Wong, Poh Kam, 2004. "An exploratory study of technopreneurial intentions: a career anchor perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 7-28, January.
    28. Sara Amoroso & David B. Audretsch & Albert N. Link, 2018. "Sources of knowledge used by entrepreneurial firms in the European high-tech sector," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 55-70, March.
    29. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    30. Maribel Guerrero & David Urbano & Alain Fayolle & Magnus Klofsten & Sarfraz Mian, 2016. "Entrepreneurial universities: emerging models in the new social and economic landscape," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 551-563, October.
    31. Alexei Tkachev & Lars Kolvereid, 1999. "Self-employment intentions among Russian students," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 269-280, July.
    32. Maresch, Daniela & Harms, Rainer & Kailer, Norbert & Wimmer-Wurm, Birgit, 2016. "The impact of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial intention of students in science and engineering versus business studies university programs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 172-179.
    33. Shane, Scott & Venkataraman, S., 2003. "Guest editors' introduction to the special issue on technology entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 181-184, February.
    34. Berna Beyhan & Derya Findik, 2018. "Student and graduate entrepreneurship: ambidextrous universities create more nascent entrepreneurs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 1346-1374, October.
    35. Alain Fayolle & Heinz Klandt, 2006. "International entrepreneurship education," Post-Print hal-01892779, HAL.
    36. Etzkowitz, Henry & Webster, Andrew & Gebhardt, Christiane & Terra, Branca Regina Cantisano, 2000. "The future of the university and the university of the future: evolution of ivory tower to entrepreneurial paradigm," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 313-330, February.
    37. Gans, Joshua S. & Stern, Scott, 2003. "The product market and the market for "ideas": commercialization strategies for technology entrepreneurs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 333-350, February.
    38. Michael Fritsch & Ronney Aamoucke, 2013. "Regional public research, higher education, and innovative start-ups: an empirical investigation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 865-885, December.
    39. Tommaso Minola & Davide Donina & Michele Meoli, 2016. "Students climbing the entrepreneurial ladder: Does university internationalization pay off?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 565-587, October.
    40. Grigorios Asimakopoulos & Virginia Hernández & Javier Peña Miguel, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Intention of Engineering Students: The Role of Social Norms and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-17, August.
    41. Simon Mosey & Maribel Guerrero & Andrew Greenman, 2017. "Technology entrepreneurship research opportunities: insights from across Europe," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 1-9, February.
    42. David B. Audretsch & Nikolaus Seitz & Katherine Margaret Rouch, 2018. "Tolerance and innovation: the role of institutional and social trust," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 71-92, March.
    43. Pathak, Saurav & Xavier-Oliveira, Emanuel & Laplume, André O., 2013. "Influence of intellectual property, foreign investment, and technological adoption on technology entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2090-2101.
    44. Åstebro, Thomas & Bazzazian, Navid & Braguinsky, Serguey, 2012. "Startups by recent university graduates and their faculty: Implications for university entrepreneurship policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 663-677.
    45. Rasmussen, Einar & Mosey, Simon & Wright, Mike, 2014. "The influence of university departments on the evolution of entrepreneurial competencies in spin-off ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 92-106.
    46. Ana Colovic & Olivier Lamotte, 2015. "Technological Environment and Technology Entrepreneurship: A Cross-Country Analysis," Post-Print hal-02907083, HAL.
    47. Mosey, Simon, 2016. "Teaching and research opportunities in technology entrepreneurship," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 57, pages 43-44.
    48. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Erik Lehmann & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2015. "The emergence of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 1-18, January.
    49. Lars Kolvereid, 1996. "Organizational Employment versus Self-Employment: Reasons for Career Choice Intentions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 20(3), pages 23-31, April.
    50. May Portuguez Castro & Carlos Ross Scheede & Marcela Georgina Gómez Zermeño, 2019. "The Impact of Higher Education on Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    51. KruegerJR, Norris F. & Reilly, Michael D. & Carsrud, Alan L., 2000. "Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 411-432.
    52. Di Gregorio, Dante & Shane, Scott, 2003. "Why do some universities generate more start-ups than others?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 209-227, February.
    53. Martin, Bruce C. & McNally, Jeffrey J. & Kay, Michael J., 2013. "Examining the formation of human capital in entrepreneurship: A meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 211-224.
    54. Hall, Jeremy K. & Daneke, Gregory A. & Lenox, Michael J., 2010. "Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: Past contributions and future directions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 439-448, September.
    55. Natália Barbosa & Ana Paula Faria, 2018. "The effect of entrepreneurial origin on firms’ performance - The case of Portuguese academic spinoffs," GEE Papers 0095, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Feb 2018.
    56. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2019. "The creation of high-tech ventures in entrepreneurial ecosystems: exploring the interactions among university knowledge, cooperative banks, and individual attitudes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 523-543, February.
    57. Souitaris, Vangelis & Zerbinati, Stefania & Al-Laham, Andreas, 2007. "Do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 566-591, July.
    58. Nawata, Kazumitsu, 1994. "Estimation of sample selection bias models by the maximum likelihood estimator and Heckman's two-step estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 33-40, May.
    59. Natália Barbosa & Ana Paula Faria, 2020. "The effect of entrepreneurial origin on firms’ performance: the case of Portuguese academic spinoffs," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(1), pages 25-42.
    60. Tae Jun Bae & Shanshan Qian & Chao Miao & James O. Fiet, 2014. "The Relationship between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Meta–Analytic Review," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(2), pages 217-254, March.
    61. Alain Fayolle & H. Klandt, 2006. "International Entrepreneurship Education. Issues and Newness," Post-Print halshs-00132999, HAL.
    62. Maribel Guerrero & David Urbano & Alain Fayolle & Magnus Klofsten & Sarfraz Mian, 2016. "Entrepreneurial universities : emerging models in the new social and economic landscape," Post-Print hal-01988263, HAL.
    63. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Massimo Colombo & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2014. "The impact of local and external university knowledge on the creation of knowledge-intensive firms: evidence from the Italian case," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 261-287, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. António Abreu, 2021. "Innovation Ecosystems: A Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-3, February.
    2. Raquel Ferreras-Garcia & Jordi Sales-Zaguirre & Enric Serradell-López, 2021. "Sustainable Innovation in Higher Education: The Impact of Gender on Innovation Competences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giuliano Sansone & Daniele Battaglia & Paolo Landoni & Emilio Paolucci, 2021. "Academic spinoffs: the role of entrepreneurship education," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 369-399, March.
    2. Desislava Yordanova & Jose António Filipe, 2018. "Desirability of Technology Entrepreneurship among Bulgarian STEM Students: The Role of Entrepreneurship Education," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 446-462.
    3. Colombo, Massimo G. & Piva, Evila, 2020. "Start-ups launched by recent STEM university graduates: The impact of university education on entrepreneurial entry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    4. Meoli, Azzurra & Fini, Riccardo & Sobrero, Maurizio & Wiklund, Johan, 2020. "How entrepreneurial intentions influence entrepreneurial career choices: The moderating influence of social context," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    5. Lizette Huezo-Ponce & Virginia Fernández-Pérez & Lázaro Rodríguez-Ariza, 2021. "Emotional competencies and entrepreneurship: modeling universities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1497-1519, September.
    6. Desislava Yordanova, 2020. "Perceptions Of University Entrepreneurship Support Among Bulgarian Science And Engineering Students," Yearbook of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski - Bulgaria, vol. 18(1), pages 145-157, July.
    7. Gina Santos & Carla Susana Marques & João Ferreira, 2021. "The Influence of Embeddedness on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy: A Gender Perspective in the Agri-Food Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-29, August.
    8. Genshu Lu & Yaping Song & Bingchao Pan, 2021. "How University Entrepreneurship Support Affects College Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions: An Empirical Analysis from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-25, March.
    9. Shirokova, Galina & Osiyevskyy, Oleksiy & Bogatyreva, Karina, 2016. "Exploring the intention–behavior link in student entrepreneurship: Moderating effects of individual and environmental characteristics," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 386-399.
    10. Maximilian Goethner & Michael Wyrwich, 2020. "Cross-faculty proximity and academic entrepreneurship: the role of business schools," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1016-1062, August.
    11. Attila Lajos Makai & Tibor DH{o}ry, 2023. "Perceived university support and environment as a factor of entrepreneurial intention: Evidence from Western Transdanubia Region," Papers 2306.09678, arXiv.org.
    12. Francesco Ceresia, 2018. "The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Fostering Entrepreneurial Intentions and Performances: A Review of 30 Years of Research," Revista Equidad y Desarrollo, Universidad de la Salle, issue 31, pages 47-66, June.
    13. Dirk Dohse & Sascha G. Walter, 2010. "The role of entrepreneurship education and regional context in forming entrepreneurial intentions," Working Papers 2010/18, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    14. Muscio, Alessandro & Ramaciotti, Laura, 2019. "How does academia influence Ph.D. entrepreneurship? New insights on the entrepreneurial university," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 82, pages 16-24.
    15. Laspita, Stavroula & Sitaridis, Ioannis & Kitsios, Fotis & Sarri, Katerina, 2023. "Founder or employee? The effect of social factors and the role of entrepreneurship education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    16. Dirk Dohse & Sascha G. Walter, 2010. "The role of entrepreneurship education and regional context in forming entrepreneurial intentions," Working Papers 2010/18, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    17. Anca-Otilia Dodescu & Elena-Aurelia Botezat & Alexandru Constăngioară & Ioana-Crina Pop-Cohuţ, 2021. "A Partial Least-Square Mediation Analysis of the Contribution of Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship Education to Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-26, August.
    18. Rajib Roy & Fatima Akhtar & Niladri Das, 2017. "Entrepreneurial intention among science & technology students in India: extending the theory of planned behavior," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 1013-1041, December.
    19. Natalya Radko & Maksim Belitski & Yelena Kalyuzhnova, 2023. "Conceptualising the entrepreneurial university: the stakeholder approach," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 955-1044, June.
    20. Prokop, Daniel, 2021. "University entrepreneurial ecosystems and spinoff companies: Configurations, developments and outcomes," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6455-:d:397278. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.