The impact of personality, competence, and activities of academic entrepreneurs on technology transfer success

This empirical study, based on a national survey of more than 200 independent German technology transfer centres (TTC) of the Steinbeis-Foundation, assesses the degree of success which technology providers have in transferring technology to industry, taking into account the differing entrepreneurial behaviour of the centres' directors. The authors conceptualise entrepreneurial behaviour as promoting opportunities, building capabilities, and accomplishing objectives. TTCs act as demand driven developers of technologies and implementers of new technology applications. The results of an LISREL analysis show that entrepreneurial behaviour of a TTC director has a strong direct impact on the organisation's effectiveness. The study also reveals that directors of TTCs who perform entrepreneurial activities foster the organisations' network competence. The network competence is conceptualised as a TTC's processes of developing and utilising relationships with important external partners, e.g. technology recipients, research institutes, and governmental agencies. Furthermore, directors acting as entrepreneurs shape incentive systems that encourage R&D personnel to seek transfer opportunities and to collaborate with industrial enterprises. The network competence of TTCs and transfer-oriented incentive systems were found to have a significant influence on organisational effectiveness. Finally, our study reveals that the willingness to take risks, willingness to accept responsibility, need for achievement, and management competence are powerful predictors of TTC directors' entrepreneurial activities. Based on these findings, this study discusses several theoretical and practical management implications.