Professional and personal social networks: A bridge to entrepreneurship for academics?

Virginia Fernández-Pérez, Patricia Esther Alonso-Galicia, Lázaro Rodríquez-Ariza and María del Mar Fuentes-Fuentes

European Management Journal, 2015, vol. 33, issue 1, 37-47

Abstract: From a cognitive perspective, this study analyses academics' entrepreneurial intentions and how they are affected by the perception of support received through personal and professional social networks (including mentors, business networks and forums). In addition, we examine the mediator role of two relevant cognitive factors: entrepreneurial attitudes and self-efficacy. The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis, on a sample population of 630 Spanish academics. The results obtained highlight the positive roles played by the perceived support of mentors and business and personal networks in promoting academics' interest in new business ventures, and the fact that entrepreneurial attitudes and self-efficacy play significant mediator roles. Analysis of the marginal effects of certain professional networks and of their lesser impact at a psychological level can produce interesting implications and insights, both for the academic world and for policy makers in this area.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial intentions; Academics; Social networks; Entrepreneurial attitudes; Self-efficacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237314000814
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eurman:v:33:y:2015:i:1:p:37-47

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... me/115/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2014.07.003

Access Statistics for this article

European Management Journal is currently edited by Michael Haenlein

More articles in European Management Journal from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().