Different academic entrepreneurs, different support measures: Classifying academic entrepreneurs with their motivations

This study investigates entrepreneurial motivations of Japanese academic entrepreneurs. Motivations of starting new business are one of the key factors of achieving success in start-ups, and understanding academic entrepreneurs' motivations is critical to provide effective support. One hundred and forty-four Japanese academic entrepreneurs were extracted from a university start-up database, and asked to complete a questionnaire of an entrepreneurial motivation scale with 20 questions. A hierarchal cluster analysis was conducted on the subscale scores of 71 valid respondents, and four types were identified: financial rewards, research expansion, independent research, and low motivations. Because the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations varies from type to type, we insist that different support measures should be provided for different types of academic entrepreneurs.