Implementing the Triple Helix Model: Means-Ends Decoupling at the State Level?

Abstract

The Triple Helix is a global model originating in developed economies but less developed countries have also made attempts to implement it into their national contexts. Meanwhile, the national context can be characterised by meansends decoupling at the state level which implies that policies and practices of the state are disconnected from its core goal of creating public welfare. It refers to the oligarchic economies in which the state is captured by exploitative, rent-seeking oligarchies in business and politics. Ukraine is an example of such a country. Thus, the research question is: how did means-ends decoupling at the state level affect the implementation of the Triple Helix model in Ukraine? To answer this question, we employed both rational choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism. The data emanate from interviews with the senior managers of four universities and science parks established within them. The findings reveal that means-ends decoupling at the state level, caused by the rent-seeking behaviour of business and political oligarchies, led to the implementation of the Triple Helix model in Ukraine also reflecting a case of means-ends decoupling. The greater the institutional complexity experienced by the science park and the more the senior managers of the university and the science park maintain a logic of confidence in practices that deviate from the Triple Helix model, the greater rent-seeking and means-ends decoupling at the organisational level. Both rent-seeking and means-ends

The Influence of Personal and Organizational Factors on Researchers’ Attitudes towards Sustainable Research Productivity in Saudi Universities

“…The academic programmes offered by academic institutions help to build human capital and research activities [1]. According to Hladchenko [2], knowledge is the most important component for a nation to progress. Three main factors assist a nation's economy.…”

The self‐concept of Ukrainian doctoral students: Means–ends decoupling at the state level

“…The same refers to the requirements for candidate of science, for instance, PhD students to pass exams in a foreign language, philosophy and their specialism before they are allowed to defend their theses. Meanwhile, as there is no contract research, doctoral research is driven by the curiosity of the researchers, rather than by the needs of the economy or society (Hladchenko & Pinheiro, ). Such a situation would be fine if doctoral research took place at the forefront of international research, but we shall see from the interview findings (below) that PhD students do not see their work like that.…”

“…The self‐concept of individuals reflects the content and organisation of society (Gecas, ). However, society may suffer from means–ends decoupling at the state level, which implies that the policies and practices of the state are disconnected from its core goal of creating public welfare (Hladchenko & Pinheiro, ; Hladchenko, Westerheijden, & de Boer, ). Such means–ends decoupling occurs, for instance, in oligarchic economies, in which the state is captured by exploitative, rent‐seeking oligarchies in business and politics (Guriev & Sonin, ).…”

Global education models in national contexts: the establishment of research universities in Ukraine

“…The enactment of the global model of the research university, however, turned into means-ends decoupling at the state level because the means applied by the Ukrainian state under its declared aim to make several universities more research-oriented led neither to the development of the Ukrainian science sector nor to the development of a knowledge economy. As a consequence, the new research universities confronted a high degree of institutional complexity (Hladchenko, Westerheijden & de Boer, 2018;Hladchenko & Pinheiro, 2019).…”

“…Hladchenko, M., & Pinheiro, R. (2019). Implementing the Triple Helix Model: Meansends decoupling at the state level?…”