Developing Entrepreneurial Universities: The Use of External Knowledge

Abstract

The entrepreneurial university concept involves redefining the traditional roles of universities beyond teaching and research to adopt the third mission, taking on an entrepreneurial role. Building an entrepreneurial university is a lengthy and complex process. No clear pathway has been identified for universities to be more entrepreneurial (Morrison et al., 2019). As universities seek to develop entrepreneurial capabilities, the need to effectively integrate and leverage external knowledge has become increasingly evident, highlighting a significant gap in the current literature on entrepreneurial universities. Absorptive capacity plays an important role in this context as it refers to an organisation's ability to acquire new external knowledge, assimilate it, transform it and exploit it effectively. Based on the absorptive capacity concept theory. This study will explore how universities develop entrepreneurial capabilities through external knowledge and investigate factors influencing academic entrepreneurial intentions. This study investigates Saudi Arabian universities. A number of Saudi universities are currently in a transition phase as they develop their entrepreneurial capabilities. The present study extends the knowledge of the absorptive capacity concept's utility in the context of higher education. The study creates insights into the process involved in developing entrepreneurial universities in a Saudi Arabian context. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into how university management can encourage academic entrepreneurial intention at their institutions. The findings of this study will be important to the senior management of universities, as well as policymakers in supporting universities towards achieving their third mission of developing entrepreneurial capabilities.