Entrepreneurial higher education institutions: Development of the research and future directions

Abstract

Entrepreneurial higher education institutions (HEIs) have gained significant traction, both in theory and practice. The concept has evolved from academic entrepreneurship, which gained prominence in the 1990s, into a more comprehensive notion at institutional level and has been an influencing factor for governmental decisions and the region's economic development. This study seeks to present an overview of the evolution of entrepreneurial HEI research and provide a description of the structures characterizing it. This paper presents an in-depth examination and analysis of the current state of research and published literature related to entrepreneurial HEIs. A descriptive bibliometric analysis coupled with content analysis is presented, incorporating citations included in Scopus' multi-disciplinary database over the last 25 years. Two software packages—VOS viewer and Bibliometrix R were employed to probe the research questions and create visualizations of the bibliometric networks. Thematic mapping of the multifaceted research field is illustrated and emerging trends of are identified. Findings suggest that the research on entrepreneurial HEI has been pioneered by USA followed by UK and other European countries. Moreover, the research seems to be fragmented and more focused on only entrepreneurial universities. Future research needs to consider colleges and smaller institutions alongside larger universities. Also, further steps need to be undertaken to encourage and enable cross-border international collaboration, so as to draw learning together from different national and regional contexts.