Proposing a framework to support intrapreneurial behaviour for improved performance: A case of Botswana's large tertiary education institutions

Abstract

This study aims to establish ample supporting empirical evidence for encouraging intrapreneurial behaviour in large tertiary education institutions in Botswana. Through this evidence, the study seeks to establish intrapreneurship as a strategic approach that can help large tertiary educational institutions enhance performance. Despite the Government of Botswana's investment of considerable resources in the development of human resources, there continue to be several challenges in the tertiary education institutions, which are regarded as a vital sub-sector of the economy. These include the mismatch between the supply and demand of skills in the economy, the insufficient development of human resources and the lack of specialised skills, the declining performance of students, the low levels of productivity among the labour force and very little collaboration between the institutions and the industry. The various interpretations of the importance of support for intrapreneurial behaviour enabling tertiary education institutions to seize opportunities and manage the challenges have to be studied. These interpretations provide in-depth insight into the nature of the support for and the organisational outcomes of intrapreneurial behaviour among academics in the purposively sampled tertiary education institutions. This will assist the researcher in developing a framework for supporting intrapreneurial behaviour for improved performance in tertiary education institutions. The methodology approach that will be followed in this study is the qualitative research method. Semi-structured interviews will be used to collect the data, and the manual qualitative data analysis process will be applied. Research limitations of this study included the very few prior research studies on the intrapreneurial phenomenon, especially in academia, where Botswana is concerned. This presented a limitation in laying a foundation for understanding the context of the research problem under investigation. Hence, literature on the support for intrapreneurial behaviour in other African universities, in countries such as South Africa and Nigeria, provided a reliable and adequate reference point. The findings of this study will contribute to the literature on the nature and importance of the entrepreneurial university and academic entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship and how to define and support intrapreneurial behaviour in universities to enhance performance. Furthermore, this study will clarify the pathways for applying the entrepreneurial university model. The nature of the intrapreneurial behaviour in the universities and top management's support for it has produced explicit results in innovation, strategic business renewal, organisational performance and productivity, and this study will provide this empirical evidence. The participants' lived experiences in their respective universities have been analysed to ascertain top management's deliberate efforts to facilitate and promote the academics' entrepreneurial initiatives. Most of the participants reported the existence of university support for process improvement, initiatives, business development, revenue generation and the enabling of industry engagement guided by developed policies and strategies. Further, the behavioural traits of high and low-performing intrapreneurial academics in the context of each participating university were provided. Finally, apart from the internal environmental factors, the external environmental factors that influence and impact intrapreneurial behaviour, the hindrances and challenges faced in the support for intrapreneurial behaviour, and the participants' advice and recommendations to overcome these have been recorded to answer this study's primary and secondary objectives. Further research is recommended on the micro-foundations of the Entrepreneurial University and its faculty members' engagement in the third mission.