Institutional leadership and their influence on frontline management when implementing academic entrepreneurial initiatives

Public higher education institutions (HE institutions) have had to increasingly diversify their financial portfolios due of ongoing reductions in public funding allocations. One-way public HE institutions are diversifying their financial portfolios is by increasingly investing in academic entrepreneurial initiatives implemented by their internal academic stakeholders; faculty, staff and/or students. This qualitative case study incorporating components of action research was aimed to understand how institutional leadership influences frontline management (faculty and/or staff) when implementing academic entrepreneurial initiatives. The theoretical framework used for this research study is the Influencer Model. This research study took place within a large public research university, with the case bounded in a large academic department that has services pertaining to academia, and community services related to their land-grant agricultural and extension missions. Keywords: academic entrepreneurship, influence, public higher education budget reductions, leadership, managemen