Conceptualizing the Distinctiveness of Academic Spin-Offs: A Socioemotional Wealth Perspective

Despite the acknowledged existence of noneconomic motives behind academics’ decision to start an academic spin-off (ASOs), existing research is silent on how such motives permeate the ASO to further influence the decision-making of these organizations. Building on socioemotional wealth, a perspective borrowed from family business research, we develop a theoretical model of noneconomic goals and post-founding decision-making in ASOs. By emphasizing and examining noneconomic endowments of ASOs, our contribution provides a more complete understanding of why ASOs show different behaviors and outcomes compared to other high technology-based firms and a direction to address contradictory findings in the literature.