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The influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the performance of academic research groups: the mediating role of knowledge sharing

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Abstract

The objective of this research is to explore how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) contributes to explaining the performance of academic research groups through knowledge sharing. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 87 research groups (284 researchers) at a Spanish University. The relationships established were tested using 3SLS simultaneous equation models. We provide evidence in the present paper that the entrepreneurial orientation of research groups has a negative direct influence on performance, measured by the number of ISI articles published, if no knowledge sharing takes place between the group members. These results stress the importance of knowledge sharing in research groups in order to ensure that entrepreneurial group strategies (risky, proactive and innovative) are positive within an academic context.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the financial support received through the Research Project of the Ministry of Education and Science, ECO2010-201139 ECON. Thanks are also due to the editors and two anonymous referees for their valuable assistance in improving the manuscript. Any errors or omissions remain the responsibility of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Esther Hormiga

  2. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Petra de Saá-Pérez, Nieves L. Díaz-Díaz, José Luis Ballesteros-Rodríguez & Inmaculada Aguiar-Diaz

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  1. Esther Hormiga
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  2. Petra de Saá-Pérez
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  3. Nieves L. Díaz-Díaz
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Correspondence to Esther Hormiga.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Tables 6 and 7.

Table 6 Confirmatory factor analysis for the entrepreneurial orientation scale
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Table 7 Confirmatory factor analysis for sharing knowledge
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Appendix 2

See Table 8.

Table 8 Definition of variables
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Hormiga, E., de Saá-Pérez, P., Díaz-Díaz, N.L. et al. The influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the performance of academic research groups: the mediating role of knowledge sharing. J Technol Transf 42, 10–32 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-015-9463-2

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