Drivers and implications of entrepreneurial orientation for academic spin-offs

This paper has been designed with a dual goal. On the one hand, the paper aims to examine the role of management teams, industry agents, and university agents as providers of a series of key resources and capabilities for academic spin-offs (ASOs) to develop a strategic entrepreneurial orientation (EO). On the other hand, the paper also examines the influence of EO on ASO performance. To this end, an extensive review was conducted based on Resource Based View (RBV), EO, and ASO literature. The assumptions of these frameworks were explored in an empirical study involving 107 Spanish ASOs backed by the Spanish Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). The findings from multilevel linear regression suggest that the presence of non-academic managers within ASO management teams, the achievement of external funding through VC firms, and the TTO efficacy exert a positive influence on the exhibition of higher levels of EO by ASOs. Regarding the relationship between the EO and the performance exhibited by ASOs, the results of multiple regression analysis reveal that ASO performance is strongly and positively influenced by the level of EO exhibited by the firm. The contributions of the paper expand the traditional focus of EO research and attend to the demands of both EO and ASO research, thereby offering a contextualized analysis of both the factors that enhance the EO of ASOs as well as the impact of EO on ASO performance.