Reflections on entrepreneurial university - How university actors make meaning of entrepreneurship in the university context (Presentation at the 25th Nordic Academy of Management Conference 2019)

Abstract

<p>This study is a work in progress that is based on my on-going PhD research on entrepreneurial university. It investigates entrepreneurship in the changing university context, and builds on a gap in the research field by illustrating how entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial university phenomenon are understood and constructed from within the university in the pressure faced by the higher education sector to transition towards being more enterprising and societally engaging. The analysis draws from the qualitative, interpretative research paradigm, with a focus on language practices in constructing understanding about the entrepreneurial university. The preliminary observations of the study revealed the following thematic issues in the meaning-making of an entrepreneurial university: 1) a conceptual cacophony of entrepreneurship, 2) inconsistency between the perceived official and experienced versions of the entrepreneurial university, 3) ambiguity of ownership and agenda of the entrepreneurial university, and 4) a loosely defined target audience of the entrepreneurial university.</p>