Academic assets, life-cycle, and entrepreneurship: a longitudinal study of Estonian academic workers

Abstract

This study aimed to find out how academic assets are interconnected with firm creation by academic staff at different academic life-cycle stages. The applied theoretical setting integrated resource-based and life-cycle explanations of academic entrepreneurship. A longitudinal whole population dataset of Estonian academic workers was applied, with a dependent variable reflecting firm creation, and independent variables representing different academic assets. The logistic regression results indicated the varying importance of different academic assets at different academic career stages, while divergence also exists with respect to academic discipline. The results enable postulating several theoretical propositions, accompanied by practical implications for technology transfer at universities.