Examining the differences between the motivations of traditional and entrepreneurial scientists

In recent decades, the rise of the entrepreneurial university and the need for commercialization of university knowledge has gained significant attention, thus posing major challenges for higher education institutions. The adequacy of commercialization requirements causes problems not only for institutions but also for individual researchers as well. Although an increasing number of scholars are focusing on researchers’ motivation in academic entrepreneurship, there is still a lack of surveys that investigate the motivational differences by specific group of academics. In this study, our aim is to investigate motivational differences among specific groups of researchers at 20 Hungarian higher education institutions. We distinguished academics into two segments: entrepreneurial scientists plan to commercialize their research results at a spin-off company, while traditional scientists show no interest in this. Our results suggest that there are differences and significant relationships with entrepreneurial intention in the case of direct control over the commercialization process, securing jobs for young researchers at one’s spin-off company, and the desire to demonstrate the practical relevance of one’s research to family/friends. With regard to previous experience, managerial experience gained at companies may play also an important role.