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Scholars across a range of academic fields continue to rely on Robert K. Merton's scientific norms to frame analyses of the privatization of research in the life sciences. I revisit constructivist criticisms of the Mertonian approach and then develop an empirically grounded interpretation of academic entrepreneurship. Focusing on the case of an early biotech entrepreneur, I investigate how scientists and university administrators managed intellectual property issues and conflicts of interest and commitment during the 'biotech revolution' of the late 1970s and early 1980s. This story shows that many contemporary studies -both supportive and critical of privatization -misunderstand or misrepresent the ethical dimensions of faculty participation in commerce.

The author presents an historical account of scientific work conducted at a commercial biotech firm in San Diego called Hybritech. It tells of disruptions in research programs following the acquisition of the company by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly in 1986. The story centers on responses to an organizational challenge that research managers and scientists in any setting, academic or industrial, must confront—how to create and sustain an organizational culture that is conducive to creativity and innovation. The case provides an occasion for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of two leading theoretical accounts of innovation in social studies of science and technology—sociological network analysis and actor-network theory.

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