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This paper aims to argue that innovation system foresight (ISF) can significantly contribute to the third mission of universities by creating an active dialogue between universities, industry and society.

This paper’s approach is conceptual. The authors analyse the third mission and relevant literature on innovation systems and foresight to explain how and why foresight contributes to the third mission.

The authors propose that foresight contributes to the third mission of universities, particularly to the research and development and innovation dimensions through the development of joint understanding of the agendas and future needs of stakeholders. In addition, foresight enables education to be designed to address identified needs.

The findings are both conceptual and exploratory in nature. Thus, the argument needs further examination through a broader study on foresight in the university–industry context and/or longitudinal research on the outcomes and impact of foresight in this context.

The findings highlight the importance of understanding the systemic nature of innovation and its role in economic development. Universities must understand their role within the larger innovation system to fulfil the potential of economic development and by extension, their third mission.

The paper outlines a novel approach of using ISF to promote university–industry partnerships and the growth of innovation systems. The paper also contributes to the discussion of the third mission by outlining that mission in practical terms.

Using the quality evaluation approach, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of intellectual capital (IC) to the development of the third mission in Italian universities, defining the impact of these activities in the regional context. This research aims to verify if the mandatory reporting on quality discloses the contribution of IC to value creation, enhancing the universities’ awareness about IC management and third mission development.

The convergence between IC framework and quality evaluation approach is tested through an empirical research on a sample of 71 Italian universities funded by the government. Statistical analyses use data collected for the period 2004-2014 during the national assessment for research activity and third mission performance. The impact of third mission on the university ecosystem is verified using the indexes related to the territorial development rates.

This research found significant IC disclosure in the quality evaluation model and it highlights the possible integration between the IC measures and the quality evaluation indicators. The research findings show also a positive impact of third mission activities in the university ecosystem and the relevant role of structural capital and relational capital in the development of third mission. These findings encourage a collegial discussion in the university governance and among academics, stimulating a strategic behavior in the whole system

The paper focuses the attention on research activity and third mission, considering the final results provided by an external stakeholder of university. Further research must include the role of teaching activity and the opinion of universities’ managers, researchers and administrative staff.

Following the neo-institutional sociology perspective, this research analyses for the first time the convergence between the solid experience of quality assessment and the immature IC culture in Italian universities. This analysis explores the value created by intangible activities in the university ecosystem, with a longitudinal perspective, contributing to the fourth stage of the IC literature.

Over the past few decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) have become key players in regional economic development and knowledge transfer, which has led to a third mission for HEIs and the entrepreneurial university. The purpose of this paper is to assess the challenges of HEIs in fulfilling the third mission for economic development and the changing role of being an entrepreneurial university, and the changes that need to be implemented to fulfill this new mission.

The authors have drawn on current literature to examine academic entrepreneurism and the entrepreneurial university, and how universities are fulfilling their third mission.

The findings from our review of the literature demonstrated the varied economic and social benefit of universities conducting external third mission/entrepreneurial activities in the community, as well as how the changing role and expectations of universities to become more entrepreneurial, has not only changed the expectations and role of university administrators, faculty and staff but also the business community which they serve. The review also showed the varied challenges for universities in fulfilling the third mission of economic development.

Although ample literature and cases about universities’ third mission of economic development and the new entrepreneurial university (especially with research universities) were available, literature or research was limited on the specific challenges and obstacles faced by administrators, faculty and departments in fulfilling this mission, and few studies recommended changes that needed to be implemented in HEIs to support this new mission.

The paper supports the potential role that HEIs play in implementing economic development in their communities or region. The paper also highlights some of the necessary resources and policy changes that policymakers and university administrators need to implement to reward and recognize faculty in conducting outreach activities as part of the university’s third mission.

The findings from this study highlight the challenges and barriers for faculty, staff and HEIs in fulfilling the third mission and becoming an entrepreneurial university.

This paper aims to inquire about the types of measurements used by international university rankings and their connection to the higher education institutions’ (HEIs) third mission activities, namely, the contribution to society.

The paper is based on a review of literature and content analysis of nine international rankings.

This empirical study corroborates that rankings focus on teaching and research activities but rarely measure the HEIs’ connection to practice.

As the measurements used by international university rankings are claimed to have a huge impact on the structuring of the academic environment, this paper shows that international rankings fail to measure the HEIs’ success in developing third mission activities.

The paper analyses the emerging role of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) universities in contemporary society via third- and fourth-mission activities. In particular, the paper investigates the potential contributions that SSH universities can offer in developing and enhancing capacities, supporting the changing conception of innovation coherently through a Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) approach.

The case study presents multiple third- and fourth-mission activities carried out by the University of Macerata (Italy). The activities are framed according to the roles universities could have in supporting S3.

Within third- and fourth-mission activities, SSH universities can play different and broader roles (generative, absorptive, collaborative and leadership), which could support regions in designing and implementing S3.

The paper shows the important contributions that SSH universities can make in their regions, both to support S3 and enhance the transition to sustainable development.

The article emphasises SSH universities’ multiple contributions to sustainable development and to innovation in the knowledge society/economy framework.

This case study captures SSH universities’ contributions to S3 and the wider innovation paradigm, by highlighting their transformational effect on regional economies.

The objective of sustainability assurance (SA) is to give credibility to nonfinancial information (Cheng et al., 2015). In France, certain companies are subject by regulation to the implementation of SA in particular with the transposition of European Directive 2014/95/EU into national law. SA mission is a process by which an independent third-party organization (ITO) assures companies' nonfinancial information. Although this assignment is mostly performed by professional accountants, other providers can perform this assignment (Cohen and Simnett, 2015). In this research, the authors are interested in strategies for legitimizing the SA missions of independent third-party bodies. Assurance providers use their website to promote their missions. How do independent third-party bodies legitimize their assurance mission in a regulatory context relating to European Directive 2014/95/EU?

The authors carried out a discursive analysis of the promotion of SA missions on independent third-party body websites. A content analysis was performed on the collected textual data.

The results highlight different strategies for promoting the implementation of assurance missions aimed at legitimizing their new skills. Nevertheless, it appears that the providers make very little reference to the quality of nonfinancial information as the objective of SA missions.

The research made it possible to study the promotion of SA through the websites of ITOs. Nevertheless, it would have been interesting to be able to question the ITOs to study their perceptions on their new SA missions.

The research enriches the literature on SA, particularly in a regulatory context relating to European Directive 2014/95/EU. It sheds light on the different strategies put in place by the providers appointed by regulations. From a managerial point of view, the study may allow ITOs to adapt their communication to promote extra-financial missions relating to the European Directive and thus to attract new clients. Finally at the institutional and regulatory level, this research highlights the need to put in place a precise framework relating to extra-financial assurance missions. This may also encourage countries not subject to the verification obligation to introduce such an obligation into their national law.

This is the first study to examine the promotion of SA practice by providers. In addition, very few studies have looked at this practice in a regulatory context and in particular within the framework of the European directive.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a university that uses a collective intelligence approach for managing its intellectual capital (IC). Specifically, the authors investigate how one of Europe’s oldest business schools, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), manages IC through stakeholder engagement to achieve academia’s third mission so contributing to social and economic development.

Data are collected through semi-structured interviews and Ca’ Foscari University’s strategic plan. Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework is used to analyse the data. Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000, pp. 19-20) critical management tasks – insight, critique and transformative redefinition – are adopted to frame and discuss the results.

On the assumption that a university is a collective intelligence system, the findings demonstrate that IC management needs to change to incorporate an ecosystem perspective, reflecting the fourth stage of IC research. The IC management at the university incorporates its core goal (what), the collective involvement of internal and external stakeholders to achieve the goal (who), the motivations behind the achievement of the goal (why) and, finally, the processes activated inside the university (how) and indicators to assess value creation.

A new perspective for managing IC in universities that adopts a collective intelligence approach is further developed. Contributions to the fourth stage of IC research – IC in an ecosystem – are highlighted that expand the concept of IC value creation beyond universities into wider society.

Two key consequences of this case study are that more stakeholders have become involved in IC management and that IC management requires critical rethinking, given the universities’ evolving role.

This paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains of the literature: IC management and collective intelligence in the university setting.

The importance of relational capital for the university has grown enormously in recent years. In fact, relational capital allows universities to promote and emphasize the effectiveness of the third mission. The purpose of this paper is to propose a case study involving an Italian university that recently set up a new research observatory, and, thanks to its success, succeeded in enhancing its relational capital.

The authors adopted an action research approach to analyze the case study. Consistently, the authors followed the analysis, diagnosis, and intervention phases. First, the authors focused on the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the process through which the university created relational capital, and finally, the authors proposed solutions to improve the process.

This case study shows that the creation of relation capital for the host university was the result of a process of transfer and transformation of the individual relationships of the observatory’s promoters.

This paper contributes to filling a significant gap in the literature on relational capital and universities and provides useful insights into how these organizations can encourage its creation. It also allows scholars, managers, and politicians involved in higher education to gain a greater understanding of this relevant topic.

At present, Higher Education Institutions around the world are developing and implementing university social responsibility(USR) as part of their strategy. They do so because they seek to assure the quality of higher education systems, as well as to positively impact their surrounding environment. This chapter aims to analyze the university’s role in the process of building social responsibility in line with efforts to adequately fulfill its three missions of teaching, research, and linking with society. The case study herein refers to the Universidad Panamericana (UP), a private university in Mexico with humanistic and Christian roots, which recently celebrated its 50th year. The analysis demonstrates the UP’s significant efforts to build a social responsibility system and its achievement of significant social impact through programs that support the community, healthcare, and people with disabilities. However, management of USR should be done at an institutional level and across the board.

The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need to redefine a mission statement, to develop a clearer definition and show its advantages and limitations.

The paper shows the literature's lack of agreement on the definition of the mission statement and whether it should be defined as a stand‐alone statement or as a broader model. It then demonstrates the discrepancy between these definitions and the actual mission statements of exemplary organizations. This is followed by proposing a new definition of a mission, demonstrating how it is rooted in good practice, and presenting its benefits and limitations.

There are found to be widely varied definitions and models of the mission statement. These are typically complex (composed of many parts) and are not reflected in the mission statements of many exemplary organizations. The need is clear for a more focused definition.

The basic argument is mainly built on conceptual discussions and unsystematic evidence. Therefore, there is a need for more empirical studies to substantiate that argument. The paper discusses the research implications of the proposed definition.

The proposed definition of the mission statement may prove helpful both conceptually and practically. This definition focuses the attention of practitioners on purpose and commitment independent from other related concepts. The paper shows the impact of the proposed definition on the process, participants, and outcome of developing a mission statement.

The paper offers a focused definition of mission statement and shows its relevance to both theory and practice.