The Impact of Skills, Working Time Allocation and Peer Effects on the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Scientists

Petra Moog (), Arndt Werner, Stefan Houweling () and Uschi Backes-Gellner
Additional contact information
Petra Moog: University of Siegen
Arndt Werner: Institute for SME Research Bonn (IfM Bonn)
Stefan Houweling: University of Siegen

No 325, Working Papers from University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW)

Abstract: Little is currently known about the effects of skill composition on academic entrepreneurship. Therefore, in this paper, following Lazear's (2005) jack-of-all-trades approach, we study how the composition of a scientist's skills affects his or her intention to become an entrepreneur. Extending Lazear, we examine how the effect of balanced skills is moderated by a balance in working time and peer effects. Using unique data collected from 480 life sciences researchers in Switzerland and Germany, we provide first evidence that scientists with more diverse and balanced skills are more likely to have higher entrepreneurial intentions, but only if they also balance their working time and are in contact with entrepreneurial peers. Therefore, to encourage the entrepreneurial intentions of life scientists, it must be ensured that scientists are exposed to several types of work experience, have balanced working time allocations across different activities, and work with entrepreneurial peers; e.g., collaborating with colleagues or academic scientists who have started new ventures in the past.

Keywords: Jack-of-all-Trades; Skills; Entrepreneurial Intentions; Academic Entrepreneurship; Peer Effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 M13 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2012-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-ppm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://repec.business.uzh.ch/RePEc/zrh/wpaper/325_IBW_full.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The impact of skills, working time allocation and peer effects on the entrepreneurial intentions of scientists (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zrh:wpaper:325

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