The mediating role of knowledge exploration and exploitation for the development of an entrepreneurial university

Abstract

Purpose The modern knowledge-based economy acknowledges the role of the third mission of universities related to the process of knowledge transfer as a driving force to face sustainability issues, in addition to the two traditional missions focusing on research and teaching. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between internal environment, external environment, knowledge exploitation, knowledge exploration and university performance. Design/methodology/approach This study applies confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to test the conceptual model in the Chinese education system. Findings The findings confirm the higher impact of internal environment on both knowledge exploitation and knowledge exploration as compared to external environment. Knowledge exploitation is more strongly related to university performance than knowledge exploration. These results highlight the imperative role of internal university stakeholders in fostering knowledge management strategies. In addition, they encourage academicians, practitioners and policy makers to focus their attention on the impact of knowledge management models, tools and practices in universities to achieve the entrepreneurial development which, in turn, has a positive impact on individual graduates and innovation ecosystems. Originality/value The necessity to develop a more entrepreneurial university, as well as the lack of evidence of their development in emerging countries, highlights the need to investigate how specific factors and knowledge management processes are impacting the universities’ performance. In fact, although previous studies provide an explanation of the impact of internal and external factors on a university’s performance, contributions integrating these concepts with strategic knowledge management processes are still lacking.

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“…Knowledge exploitation and exploration enhanced through the use of digital technologies in order to foster the commercialization process (Audretsch et al 2020), and to generate a positive impact on the entire innovation ecosystem (Centobelli et al 2019).…”

Supplier Development Program Through Knowledge Sharing Effectiveness: A Mentorship Approach

“…This bias occurs mainly because the method itself is the common cause between the dependent and independent variables [40]. In this line, researchers suggested to apply exploratory factor analysis (EFA) considering all the observed variables [38]. CMB is anticipated to presents if EFA's results extraction of single factor including all the observed variables, or if the first extracted factor demonstrates equal to or above 0.50 cumulative variance [40].…”

Strategic knowledge management models and tools for entrepreneurial universities

“…The originality of the paper resides in the discussion about public administrations opportunistic behaviours in emerging economies. Centobelli et al (2019) with the "Managing the mediating role of knowledge exploration and exploitation for the development of an entrepreneurial university" focus on the modern knowledge-based economy. The authors acknowledge the role of the third mission of universities related to the process of knowledge transfer as a driving force to face sustainability issues, in addition to the two traditional missions focussing on research and teaching.…”