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Encouraging entrepreneurship in university labs: Research activities, research outputs, and early doctorate careers

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  • Michael Roach

Abstract

This paper investigates how the encouragement of entrepreneurship within university research labs relates with research activities, research outputs, and early doctorate careers. Utilizing a panel survey of 6,840 science & engineering doctoral students at 39 R1 research universities, this study shows that entrepreneurship is widely encouraged across university research labs, ranging from 54% in biomedical engineering to 18% in particle physics, while only a small share of labs openly discourage entrepreneurship, from approximately 3% in engineering to approximately 12% in the life sciences. Within fields, there is no difference between labs that encourage entrepreneurship and those that do not with respect to basic research activity and the number of publications. At the same time, labs that encourage entrepreneurship are significantly more likely to report invention disclosures, particularly in engineering where such labs are 41% more likely to disclose inventions. With respect to career pathways, PhDs students in labs that encourage entrepreneurship do not differ from other PhDs in their interest in academic careers, but they are 87% more likely to be interested in careers in entrepreneurship and 44% more likely to work in a startup after graduation. These results persist even when accounting for individuals’ pre-PhD interest in entrepreneurship and the encouragement of other non-academic industry careers.

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  • Michael Roach, 2017. "Encouraging entrepreneurship in university labs: Research activities, research outputs, and early doctorate careers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0170444
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170444
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Muscio, Alessandro & Vallanti, Giovanna, 2024. "The gender gap in PhD entrepreneurship: Why balancing employment in academia really matters," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    2. Michael Roach & Henry Sauermann & John Skrentny, 2019. "Are Foreign STEM PhDs More Entrepreneurial? Entrepreneurial Characteristics, Preferences, and Employment Outcomes of Native and Foreign Science and Engineering PhD Students," NBER Chapters, in: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, pages 207-228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ouellette, Lisa Larrimore & Tutt, Andrew, 2020. "How do patent incentives affect university researchers?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Oualid Abidi & Khalil Nimer & Ahmed Bani-Mustafa & Sam Toglaw, 2022. "Relationship between faculty characteristics and their entrepreneurial orientation in higher education institutions in Kuwait," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Christopher S. Hayter & Bruno Fischer & Einar Rasmussen, 2022. "Becoming an academic entrepreneur: how scientists develop an entrepreneurial identity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1469-1487, December.
    6. Alessandro Muscio & Giovanna Vallanti, 2022. "The gender gap in Ph.D. entrepreneurship: How do students perceive the academic environment?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-15, April.

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