Entrepreneurship and Human Capital: Evidence of Patenting Activity from the Academic Sector

Abstract

This paper presents empirical evidence of the relationship between faculty entrepreneurial activity—quantified in terms of the propensity of U.S. university faculty to work directly with industry on research activities that lead to patents—and human capital, measured in terms of faculty tenure and age. Patenting reflects a unique dimension of faculty entrepreneurship, namely, collaborative activity that results in joint intellectual property. We find that faculty with tenure are more likely to engage in such activity, thus providing suggestive evidence of an externality associated with permanent employment. We also find that older faculty are more likely to engage with industry, to a point, holding tenure constant. Tenure and age proxy, respectively, what we call the “accumulated advantage” of faculty and their absorptive capacity. Because faculty patenting with industry involved both parties, our findings reflect that such faculty experience and expertise are important to industry to enter into a patenting relationship. Finally, we find that male faculty are more likely to patent with industry than female faculty.