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1. Extracurricular College Activities Fostering Students’ Innovation Self-efficacy.

   Dungs, C. ; Sheppard, S. ; Chen, H. ( January 2017 , Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Eduation)

   This study examines the relationship between participation in extracurricular college activities and its possible impact on students’ career interests in entrepreneurship and innovation. This work draws from the Engineering Majors Survey (EMS), focusing on innovation self-efficacy and how it may be impacted by participation in various extracurricular college activities. The term self-efficacy as developed by Albert Bandura is defined as “people’s judgment of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances” (Bandura, 1986, p.391). Innovation self-efficacy is a variable consisting of six items that correspond to Dyer’s five discovery skills seen as important for innovative behavior. In order to investigate the relationship between participation in certain activities and innovation self-efficacy, the 20 activities identified in the EMS survey were grouped thematically according to their relevance to entrepreneurship-related topics. Students were divided into two groups using K-means cluster analysis according to their innovation selfefficacy (ISE.6) score. Cluster one (C1) contained the students with higher ISE.6 scores, Cluster two (C2) included the students with lower innovation self-efficacy scores. This preliminary research focused on descriptive analyses while also looking at different background characteristics such as gender, academic status and underrepresented minority status (URM). The results show that students in C1 (high ISE.6) have significantly greater interest in starting an organization (78.1%) in comparison to C2 students (21.9%) (X²=81.11, p=.000, Cramer’s V= .124). At the same time, male students reported significantly higher ISE.6 scores (M=66.70, SD=17.53) than female students (M=66.70, SD=17.53) t(5192)=-5.220 p=.000 and stronger intentions to start an organization than female students (15% and 6.1 % respectively). Cluster affiliation representing innovation self-efficacy as well as gender seems to play a role when looking at career interest in entrepreneurship. According to Social Cognitive Career Theory, self-efficacy is influenced by learning experiences. In this work activities referring to hands-on activities in entrepreneurship and innovation are highly correlated with ISE.6 (r=.206, p=.000), followed by non-hands-on exposure to entrepreneurship and innovation. At the same time, students in C1 participated almost twice as often in hands-on activities in entrepreneurship and innovation (28.6%) as compared to students in C2 (15.2%). Interestingly in C1, there were no gender differences in participation in hands-on activities in entrepreneurship and innovation. Overall, female students (M=4.66, SD=2.5) participated in significantly more activities than male students (M=3.9, SD=2.64), t(5192)=9.65 p=.000. All in all, these results reveal interesting insights into the potential benefits of taking part in innovation and entrepreneurship-related activities and their impact on students’ innovation self-efficacy and interests in corresponding careers. 

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2. To entrepreneur or not to entrepreneur? How identity discrepancies influence enthusiasm for academic entrepreneurship

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-023-09994-w  

   Pattnaik, Shashwatashish ; Mmbaga, Nick ; White, T_Daniel ; Reger, Rhonda_K ( February 2023 , The Journal of Technology Transfer)

   Recognizing the commercial potential of university-based inventions and discoveries, legislators and administrators have called upon academic scientists to become academic entrepreneurs. Yet, few academic scientists appear enthusiastic about taking on entrepreneurial activities. The intrinsic reasons underlying the lack of enthusiasm are poorly understood. We extend the research by applying self-discrepancy theory to explore the role of future-oriented self and other guides on enthusiasm for academic entrepreneurship. Integrating self-discrepancy theory with social identity theory, we also examine the moderating effects of scientist identification and academic entrepreneur social identification. We test our model on a sample of National Science Foundation (NSF) funded academic scientists who participated in the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) entrepreneurship training program. We find academic scientists’ self-guides influence their enthusiasm for academic entrepreneurship, while interestingly, their other-guides do not. Additionally, we find that higher identification with a scientist identity enhances the positive effect of the self-guide on entrepreneurial enthusiasm while higher identification with an academic entrepreneur identity attenuates the positive effect. Our paper contributes to the academic entrepreneurship literature by developing and testing a framework that integrates self-discrepancy theory with social identity theory for a nuanced understanding of academic scientists’ thought processes regarding engagement in entrepreneurial activities. Our study has implications for research policy by suggesting a way that universities can identify candidates for academic entrepreneurship activities.

    

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3. Exploring the Relationship between Mindfulness and Innovation in Engineering Students.

   Rieken, B. ; Schar, M. ; Shapiro, S. ; Gilmartin, S. ; Sheppard, S. ( January 2017 , Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, June 25-28. Columbus, OH.)

   An open, receptive, and curious (mindful) mindset is often cited as important in innovation. Yet, engineering education typically focuses on narrow analytical training at the expense of fostering expansive thinking. To specifically explore the relationship between a mindful attitude (open, receptive, curious) and innovation, we examined the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and innovation self-efficacy in a sample of 1,460 engineering students and recent graduates who completed the Engineering Majors Survey. Using social cognitive theory to frame our analysis, we found that a mindful attitude is correlated with innovation self-efficacy and that students with a highly mindful attitude tend to participate in learning experiences related to design and innovation. These results lay the groundwork for how mindfulness may promote foundational skills for successful entrepreneurship such as innovation, learning, and motivation. 

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4. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN POLICY, PRACTICE, AND ACADEMIA: Unleashing Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Societal Benefit

   https://doi.org/DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32704.33284  

   Robinson, Jeffrey A. ; Dougherty, Deborah ( January 2014 , NSF Workshop)

   This report presents the findings of a workshop on social innovation funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SMA-1240596. The workshop took place August 27-28, 2013 at Rutgers Business School in Newark, New Jersey. The workshop that explored the intersection of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences and social policy and entrepreneurship. The goal was to develop a research agenda in social innovation and establish collaborative arrangements to build bridges between knowledge creators and practitioners. A research agenda is presented and recommendations are made for future work in social innovation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation 

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5. Gender and innovation through an intersectional lens: Re‐imagining academic entrepreneurship in the United States

   https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12964  

   Mickey, Ethel_L ; Smith‐Doerr, Laurel ( February 2022 , Sociology Compass)

   How to study inequality in innovation? Often, the focus has been gender gaps in patenting. Yet much is missing from our understanding of gendered inequality in innovation with this focus. This review discusses how gender and innovation are intertwined in durable academic inequalities and have implications for who is served by innovation. It summarizes research on gender and race gaps in academic entrepreneurship (including patenting), reasons for those longstanding inequities, and concludes with discussing why innovation gaps matter, including the need to think critically about academic commercialization. And while literature exists on gender gaps in academic entrepreneurship and race gaps in patenting, intersectional analyses of innovation are missing. Black feminist theorists have taught us that gender and race are overlapping and inseparable systems of oppression. We cannot accurately understand inequality in innovation without intersectionality, so this is a serious gap in current research. Intersectional research on gender and innovation is needed across epistemic approaches and methods. From understanding discrimination in academic entrepreneurship to bringing together critical analyses of racial capitalism and academic capitalism, there is much work to do.

    

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