Guest editorial

Citation

Robinson, S. (2010), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 16 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr.2010.16016faa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Volume 16, Issue 6

This special issue addresses the theme of university-to-business knowledge transfer or knowledge exchange in the UK context. There has been much public and policy interest in this area over the past ten years and the pressure on universities to engage with businesses and enterprises has increased considerably. A whole range of policy documents (DTI Innovation Report, 2003; Lambert, 2003; Sainsbury, 2007; DIUS, 2008) have aimed to stimulate knowledge exchange in public sector organisations, for example, “Innovation Nation” (DIUS, 2008) attempted to create the conditions to enable higher education institutions (HEIs) to connect more closely with business through more efficient decision making and increased performance. Certainly across universities much outreach work is taking place, engaging in different forms of third mission activity with industry, with small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with NGOs and with community groups (UPBEAT, 2008). Much of this activity has been supported and stimulated by the Higher Education Innovation Fund aimed at funding opportunities to encourage and support knowledge networks between HEI and industry.

What then is the role of HEIs and individuals working within them in supporting innovation and knowledge transfer and exchange outside the university?

With the support systems and infrastructure now largely in place, it is therefore timely to explore and debate the role and purpose of HEIs in relation to such activities.

Questions posed by this special issue include: to what extent are these initiatives taking root within universities and engendering genuine knowledge exchange and transfer and making real differences to both universities and receiving institutions or individuals? How are institutions and individuals within them adapting to these changes and rising to the challenge?

There have certainly been many success stories that have been recorded and systematically evaluated (UPBEAT, 2008). Empirical research has, however, highlighted cases where initiatives have had limited impact and faced cultural and organisational barriers (Jones et al., 2008) and has also identified problems, tensions and contradictions within and between KT organisations (Francis-Smythe, 2008; Lockett et al., 2008). Problems can indeed occur at all levels of the organisations involved, for example, in the translation of policy into practice, in the design and implementation of projects or initiatives, in terms of issues relating to timescales for delivery and timescales of need, as well as around the challenges of how to evaluate the impact and success of these new initiatives.

There are also issues concerning the expectations, skills and orientations of the individuals involved in this type of activity, including issues of perceptions and prevailing stereotypes of the “other”. The role of social processes and interaction between social actors in the knowledge transfer process, therefore, cannot be underestimated. The people involved in these processes come from wide-ranging backgrounds, including knowledge transfer professionals, academics, brokers and intermediaries, small business owners and so on, each with their own perspectives, expectations and objectives (Lockett et al., 2008, 2009). There are also issues of different organisational cultures. An additional question to consider, therefore, is how do the individuals involved in such initiatives overcome barriers and work across boundaries to make a success of knowledge transfer initiatives?

This special issue attempts to explore such questions by bringing together four papers initially presented at the ENGAGE HEI Conference at Birmingham City University Business School, 20 and 21 May 2009.

These papers explore the questions posed above through the testimonies of those directly involved in KT processes, while addressing and building on issues identified in pervious work in this area. The four papers that make up this special issue make distinctive individual contributions to an understanding of the social processes involved in knowledge transfer and exchange. A brief outline of each paper is now given.

Paper 1: Knowledge transfer: de-constructing the entrepreneurial academic

This interesting paper by Ann Bicknell, Jan Francis-Smythe and Jane Arthur uses fascinating interview extracts (“you’re a mole or a mutt […]”), cleverly to explore what motivates full-time academics to become involved in knowledge transfer activities (KTAs) (“pull factors”). Using a case study approach and qualitative interviews, the authors draw on a sample of 15 academics from the English Midlands involved in the traditional roles of teaching and research but who have also chosen to engage in KTAs.

The paper makes an interesting contribution in developing the concept of the “academic intrapreneur”, whose role is conceptually and practically different from that of the traditional academic. The identification of this specific role has implications for recruitment in terms of temperament, skills and previous experience of individuals and thus it challenges the dominant role of the traditional research/teaching academic.

The focus in this paper is on the individual rather than the organisation although the individual’s relationship to the organisation as illustrated through the use of the concept of the “psychological contract”, which is a useful addition here. The paper highlights that the time is right in terms of economic and operational imperatives to develop this (fairly new) university role.

An example of the development of such a role in practice is given by the second paper.

Paper 2: The story of a university knowledge exchange actor-network told through the sociology of translation: a case study

This innovative and well-crafted paper by Sue Smith, Mary Rose and Ellie Hamilton tells, through the eyes of those most closely involved, the story of the evolution of knowledge transfer and exchange activity during a ten-year period in one department of a North West of England university.

The authors employ a case study approach and use actor network theory as a theoretical and analytical framework. The data are drawn from one extensive qualitative interview (with one of the coauthors) and the paper is written by three of the leaders of knowledge exchange activity from the department concerned. The paper has the freshness and intimacy of an auto-ethnography and thus makes compelling reading. However, it is also rigorous in its methodological and analytical approach, using the “sociology of translation”, consisting of four stages: problematisation, enrolment, interessement and mobilisation of allies, to develop the story of knowledge exchange actor network.

The paper makes a strong in-depth substantive contribution to understanding the issues and processes involved in knowledge transfer and exchange in one institution and, as a unique contribution, develops a robust analytical and methodological framework. In this paper, the human voices are strong and compelling and illustrative of the social processes identified in the other papers in this special issue. However, a unique factor here is the importance placed on the non-human actors identified in the paper, namely “white papers”, “physical buildings”, “pots of funding” and indeed the research assessment exercise itself.

Finally, this paper poses some interesting methodological and ethical issues with regards to the role of the researcher, respondents, research ethics and issues of “researching from within”, an issue also relevant to the next paper.

Paper 3: HEI engagement with SMEs: developing social capital

In the third paper in this issue, by Ian Gordon and Sarah Jack, the focus moves from those delivering knowledge transfer on behalf of universities (as in the two previous papers), to the experience of participants taking part in a university-facilitated knowledge transfer activity, namely a leadership development programme designed for SME owner-managers (LEAD). This paper demonstrates the impact of such an initiative on entrepreneurship and on the development of the SME sector in the North West of England. The research focus is on the possible benefits of social capital developed through the networks built during this programme. The authors trace five owner managers, drawing on existing evaluation material conducted while they were on the programme and semi-structured interviews conducted several years after the end of the programme. The paper makes a substantive contribution in demonstrating the benefits, as perceived by the participants, of the networking and social capital developed during the programme and also provides a good basis for the development of theoretical work in this particular area and context.

Paper 4: Recognising “open innovation” in HEI-industry interaction for knowledge transfer and exchange

The fourth paper, by Lorraine Johnston, Sarah Robinson and Nigel Lockett, draws on and frames both theoretically and empirically many of the emergent themes of the three previous papers. This is a well-informed paper which makes good use of existing literature and policy documents in order to frame interesting empirical data from the different perspectives of those working for universities, for RDAs and for those on the receiving end of university-led knowledge transfer and exchange (e.g. industry and SME representatives). The paper provides a good resource for those seeking to frame and make sense of HEI knowledge exchange data. It identifies seven themes, namely: the importance of network intermediaries; of flexibility, openness and connectivity of network structures; of encouraging network participation; of building trust in relationships through mutual understanding; of active network learning; of strengthening cooperation through capacity building and of culture change. As in the first paper, good use is made of quotes from empirical work and a balanced view is achieved of the trials and tribulations as well as the benefits and enablers of knowledge transfer/knowledge exchange activities.

We believe that the papers in this special issue, taken together, serve to surface and highlight important issues relating to HEI knowledge transfer and exchange, in particular in reference to the role of social processes as both enablers or barriers to knowledge and transfer. As such the perspectives and motivations of multiple social actors, individual and institutional social positioning, the forms of capital valued by individuals and institutions addressed to various degrees in this collection of papers are all fruitful areas for future research in this area in developing an understanding of the importance of the role of social processes in the on going development of HEIs in knowledge transfer and exchange.

Note from the Editor-in-Chief

At the end of this issue, we include “supporting black business: narrative of support provides in London” by Nwonkwo et al. This paper won the best paper award at the ISBE Conference 2009: Business Creation and Development – Stimulating Start-ups Track.

Sarah Robinson, Nigel LockettGuest Editors