Entrepreneurial educators as academic intrapreneurs

Abstract

This research investigates the entrepreneurial behaviour of academics. Nowadays, universities are expected to be organisations with open boundaries, allowing for the cooperation and interdependency among different actors in the society. Against this background, this research focuses on the engagement of academics on entrepreneurial activities with external actors, such as business, so as to introduce novelties in teaching to create value for the university.While these academics might not be interested in leaving the university and taking on the role of a business owner, they are willing to champion ideas and introduce novelties to the university in order to create new value. These academics represent “intrapreneurial actors” within the university. In this contribution, the concept of academic intrapreneurship is introduced first, then the focus shifts to explaining how new value is created through academic intrapreneurship within the context of education, highlighting the importance of networking for academics; finally, it turns the attention to the question of how it can be encouraged in academic settings.