Knowledge transfer profiles of public research organisations: the role of fields of knowledge specialisation

While public research organisations (PROs) are increasingly expected to transfer knowledge to businesses and other stakeholders, their engagement in knowledge transfer (KT) activities is still under-researched. Better understanding of PROs' KT engagement, including how it is shaped by PROs'...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Torre García, Eva Maria de la, Ghorbankhani, Maryam, Rossi, Federica, Sagarra Garcia, Martí
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/186294
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/186294
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gestió del coneixement
Recerca industrial
Escala multidimensional
Knowledge management
Industrial research
Multidimensional scaling
Descripción
Sumario:While public research organisations (PROs) are increasingly expected to transfer knowledge to businesses and other stakeholders, their engagement in knowledge transfer (KT) activities is still under-researched. Better understanding of PROs' KT engagement, including how it is shaped by PROs' organisational characteristics, could lead to better tailored policies in support to PROs' effort to transfer knowledge. We develop a conceptual framework linking PROs' specialisation in different fields of knowledge to their profiles of KT engagement and validate it empirically using a six-year panel data set of 33 PROs in the UK. We use multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis techniques to identify three distinct KT profiles, which are stable over time, and strongly associated with the PROs' knowledge field specialisation. We argue that these profiles may depend on the different market readiness and user specificity of knowledge outputs arising from different fields of knowledge and derive implications for theory, policy, and practice.