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What do we know about what academics do
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Holmén, Magnus Ljungberg, Daniel |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Abstract | Several bodies of economic literature extensively analyze how academic research and universities contribute to society in terms of research, education and third-mission activities, but do not systematically analyze academic activities per se, beyond a focus on (measurable) societal interaction and outcomes. This paper proposes the usefulness of studying novel academic activities from an opportunity perspective. An opportunity framework is constructed and applied to the literature in leading journals to investigate how the activities and role of academics are studied from the perspective of how opportunities are identified and exploited, and the sources and targets of these opportunities. A main part of the literature focuses on narrowly selected exploitation activities, such as patenting and firm creation, as well as characterizing university-industry interaction. At the same time surprisingly little seems to be known about what academics do and why they do it, as the literature has not analyzed academic activities. Specifically, the literature analyzes university output as if it produces for product markets, rather than analyzing the role and nature of academics as specialized service providers across a range of activities. The paper argues that this is a serious shortcoming, because it contradicts recent theorizing on opportunities and it can hamper our understanding of universities and academics as dynamic actors. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://imit.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2010_232.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
