What drives solo and team startups at European universities?

The interactive role of entrepreneurial climate, gender, and entrepreneurship course participation

verfasst von
Heiko Bergmann, Christian Hundt, Martin Obschonka, Rolf Sternberg
Abstract

Student entrepreneurship can take the form of solo or team efforts. While a positive and supportive university context is likely to increase entrepreneurial activities in general, it is unclear whether this effect is equally strong on both forms of entrepreneurship and for all types of students. Focusing on students embedded in universities, we study the entrepreneurial climate of universities and its combined effects with gender and entrepreneurship education on solo and team entrepreneurship. Drawing from organizational theory and team formation literature, we hypothesize that a positive entrepreneurial climate stimulates both, solo and team entrepreneurship. Yet, we argue that this effect is contingent on individuals’ intrinsic preferences for independence or growth which may differ by gender and entrepreneurship course participation. We test our hypotheses by means of a multilevel and longitudinal research design, using a large international dataset on student entrepreneurs (GUESSS). We find that a positive entrepreneurial climate indeed fosters solo and team startups of students, with gender and entrepreneurship education having an interactive effect. Our results suggest that a positive climate leads to more solo startups of women and more team startups of men. We contribute to a better understanding of student entrepreneurship and, specifically, the formation of solo and team startups. Our results elucidate the hitherto overlooked person-context dynamics and help explain why a supportive university context can unintentionally widen the gender gap in team startups.

Organisationseinheit(en)
Institut für Wirtschafts- und Kulturgeographie
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität St. Gallen (HSG)
Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei
Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Studies in higher education
Band
49
Seiten
1269-1289
Anzahl der Seiten
21
ISSN
0307-5079
Publikationsdatum
2024
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Ausbildung bzw. Denomination
Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung
SDG 5 – Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter
Elektronische Version(en)
https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2263477 (Zugang: Offen)