Skip to main content
Log in

Barriers to University Spin-Off Creation in an Emerging Context: An Institutional Theory of Organizations Approach

  • Published:
Minerva Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study contributes elements to the literature for the understanding of those institutional factors of organizations that promote the creation of spin-offs in universities. Institutional barriers to spin-off creation within universities are addressed from a qualitative perspective. The study was carried out in Colombia, a country with low levels of innovation and entrepreneurship. Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to identify experts. Participants were selected in accordance with their extensive experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, or technology transfer. The sample size was decided by saturation criteria, and 15 interviews were selected with this method. The semi-structured interview was chosen for information collection, and a thematic analysis was employed for data interpretation. Several aspects which permit suggestions for the future spin-off research agenda were identified: perceptions of the university, teaching focus, academic cultures that reward publication as a means of knowledge transfer, restrictions for public university spin-offs in developing countries, few economic and non-economic incentives for entrepreneurship, trust as a determining cultural characteristic, and limitations to the understanding of the spin-off concept that affect their creation. These results may be extrapolated to Latin America and other developing regions with similar entrepreneurial ecosystems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Seen at https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016, consulted on November 21, 2017

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Héctor Mauricio Serna-Gomez.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Calderón-Hernández, G., Jiménez-Zapata, Y.A. & Serna-Gomez, H.M. Barriers to University Spin-Off Creation in an Emerging Context: An Institutional Theory of Organizations Approach. Minerva 58, 625–650 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-020-09407-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-020-09407-4

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation