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1 Introduction
As the process of academic entrepreneurship becomes increasing professionalised and academics are explicitly encouraged to market their research knowledge ([104] OECD, 2003), entrepreneurial activities within European universities have received heightened attention ([73] Klofsten and Jones-Evans, 2000). Technology transfer from academic institutions is a source of wealth creation and job opportunities ([128] Steffenson et al. , 2000) and a direct way of obtaining economic dividends from a nation's investment in higher education and research ([93] Mian and Plosila, 1998). Since the early studies of [113] Roberts (1968) and [32] Cooper (1971), only a limited number of studies have addressed the phenomenon of technology transfer resulting from academic research, although the question has been re-opened in the past decade ([98] Mowery and Shane, 2002; [122] Shane and Stuart, 2002). With respect to entrepreneurial activities by academics, however, research is still at an early stage and our knowledge about the determinant factors in this area remains very limited ([118] Rothaermel et al. , 2007). Caution is needed; it cannot simply be assumed that general models of entrepreneurship also apply to the specific domain of academics' activity in this field without actually testing such assumptions ([43] Fini and Lacetera, 2010). In this regard, criticism has been aimed at the lack of research into the entrepreneurial mindset of academic scientists ([14] Audretsch and Kayalar-Erdem, 2005), a call that concurs with a general call among psychologists for more research into entrepreneurship ([63] Hisrich et al. , 2007), in conjunction with traditional economic approaches ([50] Goethner et al. , 2011).
Accordingly, the present study seeks to integrate both economic and psychological perspectives into a single conceptual framework of academics' transition to entrepreneurship (in our case as expressed by academic entrepreneurial intention (AEI). AEI is defined as a conscious state of mind directing attention, experience and, if appropriate, action toward entrepreneurial behaviour ([21] Bird, 1988). This is regarded as one of the most direct precursors of entrepreneurial activity ([75] Kolvereid and Isaksen, 2006; [127] Souitaris et al. , 2007).
With respect to economic factors, we perform an in-depth examination of social networks in the view that these can be crucial to being able to access the resources needed to drive forward new ventures ([28] Cantzler and Leijon, 2007). We also analyse...