From independent inventor to inventor entrepreneur: an application of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship

This study builds on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to examine the factors that influence the decision of latent entrepreneurs to move from opportunity recognition to opportunity exploitation and emergent entrepreneurship. Using data on independent inventors from 1975 to 2010, we examine how social, geographic, and industry knowledge spillovers influence the likelihood of technological entrepreneurship. We find that social and geographic knowledge spillovers promote independent inventors’ transition to entrepreneurship, while industry knowledge spillovers may result in deterrents that inhibit their hazard of forming a new venture.