FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF STARTUPS LINKED TO UNIVERSITIES: EVIDENCE FROM DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63878/jalt2003Keywords:
University Related Start-Ups, Financial Performance, Innovation Ability, Developing Economies, University-Industry Cooperation, Entrepreneurial Orientation.Abstract
The start-ups that are linked to the universities have come out as driving forces of innovation, technology transfer, and socio-economic development in developing economies. In spite of the growing international awareness, the dynamics of their financial performance has not been researched properly in the situations where the institutional capacity, the system of governance and financial ecosystems are still being developed. The proposed research problem is the financial performance of university startups in developing economies based on the mediating effect of innovation capability and moderating effect of university-industry collaboration. The study is based on a positivist paradigm, which is quantitative and cross-sectional, whereby the primary data in the form of 420 founders and financial officers of university-linked startups in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria is gathered. The correlations between the entrepreneurial orientation and university support mechanisms and innovation capability and financial performance are examined using the SPSS and the PROCESS macro models of correlation, regression, and mediation-moderation analysis. Findings indicate that there are strong and positive relationships existing between the entrepreneurial orientation and financial performance, with the capacity to innovate mediating some of the relationships. Also, the interaction term of the university industry collaboration reinforces the beneficial effect of innovation capability on financial performance, which proves the significance of institutional support and embeddedness of networks. The results apply resource-based and knowledge spillover theories into the university-based startup ecosystem to emerging settings. Practical implications highlight the importance of the universities in developing economies to institutionalise entrepreneurial policies, give organised financial advisory mechanisms, and evolve collaborative mechanisms that could raise the capacity to commercialise. The paper comes to the conclusion that sustainable financial performance of university-related startups involves coordinated convergence of academic knowledge systems, entrepreneurial intent, and market-driven innovation policy, thus establishing the path to inclusive growth and socio-economic development.
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