The social identity of academic entrepreneurs: Its effect on role conflict and spinoff outcomes

Academics engaged in the process of spinoff formation do not fully embrace their entrepreneurial role identity and experience role conflict. This is a nontrivial problem because it affects strategic decision-making and a number of important spinoff processes and outcomes. However, the antecedents of this problem are not well understood. We examine the influence of academic entrepreneurs¿ social identity as founders on their adoption of an entrepreneurial role identity, the degree of experienced role conflict, and strategic decisions made in the context of the spinoff formation process. We are conducting an in-depth exploratory analysis of 51 active academic entrepreneurs involved in the formation of 45 spinoffs associated with 21 universities. Using an inductive methodological approach we analyze data collected through semi-structured interviews, surveys and secondary sources.