How management team composition affects academic spin offs' entrepreneurial orientation: the mediating role of conflict
This research has been designed with the purpose of analysing the influence of both the composition of academic spin offs' management teams and the potential conflict emerged within such teams on the degree of entrepreneurial orientation exhibited by academic spin offs. To this end, we have used the upper echelon theory as theoretical background and have analysed the impact of the proportion of non academic managers within management teams, the heterogeneity of such teams with respect to the age and main educational area of their managers, as well as the potential mediating role of the conflict emerged. Drawing on a database of 167 Spanish academic spin offs, results show, on the one hand, that the presence of non academic managers within management teams is a key factor in the academic spin offs' exhibitions of higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation and, on the other hand, that conflict fully mediates the relationship between management teams' age heterogeneity and entrepreneurial orientation.