Effective Factors on the Academic Entrepreneurship in the University of Payam Noor: A Model Design and Analysis

Academic entrepreneurship (AE) is considered as one of the new university missions after research and educational ones. The concept of AE is accompanied by commercializing knowledge and producing wealth. AE is a university response to the economic needs in the society. One of the most interesting topics to researchers is AE. On the basis of the three-aspect model of effective variables on AE (structural, content and contextual) a conceptual framework and model was designed, and hypotheses and questions were formulated to find appropriate theoretical responses to above problems.In this study, the survey research and descriptive-correlative methods were applied and the statistical population covered all Payam noor (PN) academic centers throughout the country established in 2005. Mail questionnaires were distributed among 260 university academic centers and then variables and criteria were analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis and correlative tests. Twenty-five hypotheses were tested. Except for one structural, two contextual and four background hypotheses, all research hypotheses were statistically confirmed. Along with the findings of the AE at PNU centers, all data collected were analyzed and tested by using LISREL and SPSS statistical software packages. A conceptual model of study was tested and finalized and refined on the basis of research findings. At the end of this study, findings were concluded and recommendations were presented to PNU with respect to staff and policymakers.