The becoming of an entrepreneurial university of applied sciences: adjusting concept and process concurrently

Purpose
In this empirical case study, we address how the process of becoming an entrepreneurial university unfolds over time in a higher education institution. We apply a process perspective to analyse the transition and transformation of a Danish university of applied sciences into an entrepreneurial university with multiple strategic initiatives over more than a decade. The overall guiding research question is twofold. How do practices of entrepreneurship education transform over time as higher education institutions respond to multiple institutional pressures of becoming an entrepreneurial university, and why do they evolve in this way?

Design/methodology/approach
A process perspective guides the methodology to understand the temporal becoming process. By applying an in-depth qualitative case study of document analysis and follow-up qualitative interviews, we map out the development of events over time at multiple levels. The process aims to illustrate the diverse strategic initiatives taken at the organization’s macro- and meso-levels and to discuss how these initiatives transform into micro-level educational activities and practices throughout the organization.

Findings
We show how the institution enacts the new entrepreneurial role from its initial flat abstract conceptualization and how it transforms curricular and extracurricular educational practices through processes of replication, absorption, and exploration. To some degree, the transformation is accompanied by attention to scholarly developments within the field of entrepreneurship education, as well as within the context of multiple strategic initiatives with a variety of political and societal stakeholders.

Originality
This article contributes to the scholarly discussion of entrepreneurial universities by analysing how the effort to transform applied science universities has a diverse trajectory understood and interpreted in terms of an adjustment process that concurrently interprets the ambiguous concept of the entrepreneurial university, as well as its managerial application.

Practical implications
Research has failed to provide a sustainable explanation for the development of an entrepreneurial university of applied sciences. The current study assist management in planning and executing this process.