“I am an Engaged Scholar”: A Typology of IS Researchers’ Engagement in Research with Industry

Abstract

This paper addresses the topic of University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) in the academic discipline of Information Systems. The term UIC is used to describe the active engagement of an industry partner in a joint research project with academics. The objectives and motivations of UIC have been discussed widely and controversially in the literature. In our study, we were particularly interested in the factors that influence the setup of research projects. We started with an online survey in which we explore the influence of country of origin. The findings encouraged us to theorize about existing types of research engagements (which we define as UIC archetypes) related to the personality and the surrounding value system of the researcher. From the literature and our findings we developed an a priori framework of UIC archetypes which was then tested and refined using data from interviews with "successful" researchers. The findings show the characteristics (personality traits) and the influencing factors that shape the UIC archetypes. It will be interesting to see if the findings are meaningful to our readers and whether they can identify themselves from these UIC archetypes.

University-Industry Collaboration. An Exploration of An Entrepreneurial University in Mexico

“…In their study Shubert et al, (2014) suggest that some personality characteristics influence and shape the university-industry collaboration.…”

An Institutional Framework to Explain the University: Industry Technology Transfer in a Public University of Mexico

“…As reported by Shubert et al (2014) the university-industry collaboration is used to describe the active commitment of an industry member on a research project with academics. By Lizardi & Velázquez (2010) in its origins, the technology transfer is a linkage process that relates the driving of an idea with the delivery channel towards the intermediate or final user.…”

“…Finally, at the core of technology transfer is every academic motivated by a combination of personal and institutional incentives. Some personality traits and factors influence and shape the type of university-industry relationship (Shubert et al, 2014).…”

“…The research conducted by Rivera et al (2011) include the researcher characteristics as a variable; and is integrated by the education degree, the Researchers National System membership, funding, types of research, institution type, linkages and results. Shubert et al (2014) proposed a group of factors to characterize the researchers profile in the information systems field, who are actively seeking the university-industry linkage; those factors are the following: organization size and type, funding source, industry members' number, university members' number, commitment, main result.…”

“Impact Engineering” or Social Responsibility?

“…As a researcher in business information systems, engaging with practitioners in the research process is a necessity not only to gain access to empirical data, but also to deepen one's understanding of the issues and solutions. The European IS community has a long tradition of conducting university-industry collaboration (UIC), which may take manifold forms and may support different research goals (Schubert et al 2014). However, setting up these collaborations is not trivial.…”