Title: The importance of team diversity for academic spinoff performance

Authors: Alice Civera; Erik E. Lehmann; Michele Meoli

Addresses: Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo Viale Marconi 5, 24044, Dalmine (BG), Italy ' Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstr. 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany ' Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo Viale Marconi 5, 24044, Dalmine (BG), Italy

Abstract: This study examines how team diversity affects the performance of academic spinoffs. Building on the upper-echelon theory, we argue that different forms of diversity, namely profile diversity, cognitive distance, CEO non-duality, and the presence of a non-academic CEO may positively affect the early performance of academic spinoffs. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 307 Italian academic spinoffs founded between 2010 and 2014. Our results support the positive role of diversity in enhancing growth, but only for innovative academic spinoffs. The presence of a non-academic CEO is the only diversity measure that plays a direct positive role, regardless of company technological features.

Keywords: academic spinoffs; team diversity; disciplinary diversity; institutional diversity; upper echelon theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2022.127438

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2022 Vol.14 No.4/5, pp.472 - 496

Received: 13 Jan 2021
Accepted: 10 Jan 2022
Published online: 05 Dec 2022 *

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