Publication on the impact of an entrepreneurial university climate

The article addresses how solo and team start-ups are influenced by the entrepreneurial climate at universities and its interactions with gender and entrepreneurial education. The results suggest that the entrepreneurial climate affects women and men differently, leading to more solo start-ups by women and more team start-ups by men. One possible explanation is that a positive climate encourages women more strongly to start a rather small (solo) business that they can manage themselves and over which they retain control, while men are more strongly motivated by a positive climate to aim for a business with growth potential that requires more resources and thus usually co-founders, even if they have to give up some control to do so. Another result shows that the compulsory attendance of an entrepreneurship seminar reduces the beneficial impact of a positive university climate because it makes many of the initially motivated students realize that founding a company does not correspond to their actual wishes and abilities. This is particularly true for solo start-ups.

Bergmann H, Hundt C, Obschonka M, Sternberg R (2023), What drives solo and team startups at European universities? The interactive role of entrepreneurial climate, gender, and entrepreneurship course participation. In: Studies of Higher Education. Online first.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2263477