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University–industry (UI) collaborations are now a crucial issue as universities explore innovative means to secure industry funding for research and improve the employability content of existing curricula. This paper explores the dynamics of the antecedents of UI collaborations in management education. It further investigates the moderating variables (motivation, national policy and institutional factors) that are likely to influence the positive relationship between the antecedents of collaboration and the intention to collaborate.

A quantitative survey sent to 300 participants in academia and industry in Ghana achieved an 83% response rate. The data was analysed using bivariate and multivariate techniques.

The results revealed a positive relationship between knowledge sharing, trust, communication and motivation for UI collaborations. Motivation did not have a moderating effect on the positive relationship between any of the five independent variables and UI collaborations. Institutional factors were found to moderate the positive relationship between knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Policy to encourage UI collaborations should build on reputational and intrinsic rather than purely financial motivations as academics are motivated by a complex mix of monetary and non-monetary factors.

This paper highlights the need for an intricate alignment of the interests of academia and practitioners to encourage UI collaboration efforts.