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“To have and have not”: founders’ human capital and university start-up survival

Author

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  • Giuseppe Criaco
  • Tommaso Minola
  • Pablo Migliorini
  • Christian Serarols-Tarrés

Abstract

In order to preserve innovation, knowledge development and diffusion, as well as the transfer of new technologies, the emergence of University Start-Ups (USU) and their survival as a particular dimension of performance represents a relevant research topic. As USU generally have scarce initial resources, the human capital of their founders is one of their main business assets. Although the survival of such firms is supposed to be heavily dependent on the human capital characteristics of their founders, this has not received enough attention in existing research. In this paper we investigate the contribution of founders’ specific human capital characteristics to the survival of USU, building on Gimeno et al. (Adm Sci Q 42:750–783, 1997 ) threshold model of entrepreneurial exit. We divide USU founders’ specific human capital into three components (entrepreneurship, industry and university) in order to better understand its impact on firm survival. Our theoretical model is empirically tested on a unique sample of Catalan USU through a logistic regression analysis. Coherently with our theoretical reasoning, the results show that industry human capital negatively affect USU survival, while university human capital and entrepreneurship human capital enhance the likelihood of USU survival. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Criaco & Tommaso Minola & Pablo Migliorini & Christian Serarols-Tarrés, 2014. "“To have and have not”: founders’ human capital and university start-up survival," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 567-593, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:39:y:2014:i:4:p:567-593
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-013-9312-0
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; Survival; University start-up; University spin-off; Academic entrepreneurship; Threshold; J24; L25; L26; O30;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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