European universities seeking entrepreneurial paths: the moderating effect of contextual variables on the entrepreneurial orientation-performance relationship

This study explores the relationship between the entrepreneurial orientation of university departments and their entrepreneurial performance, in terms of academic entrepreneurship (spin-offs) and knowledge transfer (patents) outcomes. Moreover, we investigate how internal and external contextual variables interact in this relation. Using survey data from 294 heads of university departments in four different European countries (Italy, Spain, UK and Portugal), we found that entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to the number of spin-offs generated and that this relation is positively moderated by the departments' age and size, as well as the country GDP per capita and R&D expenditure. Surprisingly, entrepreneurial orientation is negatively associated with the number of patents. We further explore the moderating role of contextual variables, discussing our results. •Universities' entrepreneurial behaviour is more related to spin-offs than patents.•Universities' entrepreneurial performance depends on the context characteristics.•It is not possible to generalize the role of context variables.•European universities are not “really” entrepreneurial yet.