Reconciling Resource-Based View and Competency-Based View of Start-Up Formation in Universities

Abstract

Given the industrial and economic importance of start-up formation in universities, researchers have adopted a variety of theoretical approaches, including embeddedness theory, ecosystem theory, resource-based view (RBV), and competency-based view (CBV). Despite the benefits of diversity, elucidating the conceptual coherence among different theories is urgent to advance our understanding of academic entrepreneurship. Although both embeddedness and ecosystem theory stress the environmental importance of students' start-ups, the RBV and CBV studies have emphasized the different dimensions of the ecosystem components without considering coherence and interactions between them. The goal of this research is to reconcile the RBV and CBV by not only comparing their relative strengths but also elucidating their reciprocal interactions in an analytical framework. Based on a national survey data of 136 universities in South Korea, this research first investigates the positive impact of the RBV variables on the venture creation, such as university technological assets, incubator administration, and venture funds, and the CBV variables, including entrepreneurship education programs and student clubs. Second, by comparing the relative influence, this research shows that the effects of the CBV variables on start-up formation are stronger than that of the RBV variables. Third, the analyses of interaction effect show that the incubator administration strengthens the positive impact of education programs on the start-up formation, while the venture funds substitute the effect of education programs on academic entrepreneurship.