Academic research commercialization and knowledge production and diffusion: the moderating effects of entrepreneurial commitment

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the relationship between research commercialization, entrepreneurial commitment, and knowledge production and diffusion in academia. Through a dataset of 229 academic patent inventors, this paper reveals that the effects of research commercialization on publication quantity, application-oriented research, and disclosure delay are moderated by the entrepreneurial commitment of faculty members. This paper concludes that encouraging entrepreneurial commitment of faculty members may possibly drive academics away from their traditional approaches in producing and diffusing knowledge.

A natureza do fenómeno da reputação científica: o caso dos consórcios universidade-indústria

“…As próprias universidades passaram a premiar os investigadores envolvidos em atividades de comercialização da ciência, com base nos ganhos percebidos das atividades de transferência do conhecimento para a indústria. Neste contexto, vários estudos mostram que os cientistas e os seus departamentos passaram a ser sensíveis aos incentivos financeiros, que os motivariam ao desenvolvimento de atividades empreendedoras perante a escassez de recursos públicos para a investigação (Farsi & Talebi, 2009;Yang & Chang, 2009;Goktepe-Hulten & Mahagoonkar, 2010). Sendo que destas atividades resultaria um tipo particular de reputação, assente na relevância empresarial e aplicabilidade da sua pesquisa, bem como na capacidade de atrair financiamento.…”

“…Este último modelo foi sendo visto como uma forma de promover a inovação e o desenvolvimento económico, mas também fez emergir preocupações várias, como vimos já, pelo facto da ciência aplicada poder trazer transformações à cultura e às regras da ciência livre e aberta. E isso foi criando tensões e debates, nomeadamente sobre o contexto industrial de criação, proteção, pesquisa e desenvolvimento do conhecimento (Zhao, 2004;Markman et al, 2008;Farsi & Talebi, 2009;Yang & Chang, 2009).…”

Current Trends in Science and Technology Policy Research: An Examination of Published Works from 2010–2012

“…First, how have changes in funding affected the nature of research results (i.e., basic versus applied research) (Auranen & Nieminen, ; Furman, Murray, & Stern, ; Hessels, Grin, & Smits, ; Parker & Crona, ; Smith, ; Weingart, )? Second, how have these changes affected the behavior of academic scientists (Lam, ; Perkmann, King, & Pavelin, ; Perkmann et al., ; Yang & Chang, )? Third, what institutional factors promote or inhibit university‐industry relationships (Bruneel, D'Este, & Salter, ; Hessels et al., ; Hewitt‐Dundas, ; Shapiro, ; Sá & Litwin, )?…”

“…Rather, academic scientists in her study were still able to maintain a sense of autonomy in defining their research goals. Furthermore, Yang and Chang () also found scientists that operated with an entrepreneurial commitment were more likely to move away from traditional methods for sharing knowledge and enhance the development of applied research.…”

A public research institute that created and led a large industrial group in Japan

“…RIKEN journals in Japanese and foreign languages were also good vehicles to evaluate the performance of researchers. Thus, the entrepreneurial commitment of researchers is strong at RIKEN; and entrepreneurial commitment of researchers is important for research commercialization as Yang and Chang (2009) suggest.…”