The roles of entrepreneurial university and regional conditions for graduate entrepreneurship: a configurational approach

This study conceptualizes graduate entrepreneurship as a spatial phenomenon. Specifically, we explore how combinations of university-related (knowledge exchange intensity and entrepreneurship support) as well as regional conditions (economic prosperity and entrepreneurial culture) might explain the presence or absence of high graduate entrepreneurship as possible (or likely) explanations based on a configurational approach. We applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to a dataset using HE-BCIS (Higher Education-Business Community Interaction Survey) survey and the UK’s ONS (Office for National Statistics) data for England covering a five-year period, combined with map-based analysis to identify distinct pathways that explain the presence or absence of graduate entrepreneurship across different regions. Findings demonstrate that university-related and regional conditions can complement each other in different ways to explain high levels of graduate entrepreneurship, but absence of one can also suppress the effect of the other, resulting in the absence of high graduate entrepreneurship.