Ratzinger Daniel, Amess Kevin, Greenman Andrew, Mosey Simon
1Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
2Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
J Technol Transf. 2018;43(3):760-778. doi: 10.1007/s10961-017-9627-3. Epub 2017 Oct 3.
This paper builds on human capital theory to assess the importance of formal education among graduate entrepreneurs. Using a sample of 4953 digital start-ups the paper evaluates the impact of start-up founding teams' higher education on the probability of securing equity investment and subsequent exit for investors. The main findings are: (1), teams with a founder that has a technical education are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and to exit, but the impact of technical education declines with higher level degrees, (2) teams with a founder that has doctoral level business education are less likely to remain self-financed and have a higher probability of securing equity investment, while undergraduate and postgraduate business education have no significant effect, and (3) teams with a founder that has an undergraduate general education (arts and humanities) are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and exit while postgraduate and doctoral general education have no significant effect on securing equity investment and exit. The findings enhance our understanding of factors that influence digital start-ups achieving equity milestones by showing the heterogeneous influence of different types of higher education, and therefore human capital, on new ventures achieving equity milestones. The results suggest that researchers and policy-makers should extend their consideration of universities entrepreneurial activity to include the development of human capital.
本文基于人力资本理论，评估正规教育在研究生创业者中的重要性。该论文以4953家数字初创企业为样本，评估初创企业创始团队的高等教育对获得股权投资以及投资者后续退出可能性的影响。主要研究结果如下：（1）有技术教育背景创始人的团队较少可能保持自筹资金，更有可能获得股权投资并实现退出，但技术教育的影响会随着学位水平的提高而下降；（2）有博士水平商业教育背景创始人的团队较少可能保持自筹资金，获得股权投资的概率更高，而本科和研究生商业教育则没有显著影响；（3）有本科通识教育（人文艺术）背景创始人的团队较少可能保持自筹资金，更有可能获得股权投资并实现退出，而研究生和博士通识教育对获得股权投资和退出没有显著影响。这些发现通过展示不同类型高等教育（即人力资本）对新企业实现股权里程碑的异质性影响，增强了我们对影响数字初创企业实现股权里程碑因素的理解。结果表明，研究人员和政策制定者应将对大学创业活动的考虑范围扩大到包括人力资本的发展。
