Examining the role of strategic choice in the effectiveness of university technology transfer

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that the effectiveness of university technology transfer activity could potentially be determined by strategic choices made by University senior management teams. Existing research on university technology transfer effectiveness is largely underpinned by contingency theory, whereby the effectiveness of the activity is contingent upon environmental and organizational characteristics. Therefore, current theorizing largely overlooks managerial agency in analysis, when it is considered it is often presented merely as the mission of the technology transfer office. Here we draw explicitly on Strategic Choice Theory, which foregrounds managerial agency, to provide a complementary analysis of the role that managerial agency plays in determining the effectiveness of university technology transfer. Data from the HE-BCI Survey is used to conduct empirical analysis on the technology transfer effectiveness of 115 UK universities. Our findings demonstrate that strategic choices are a critical variable in determining the effectiveness of university technology transfer. They also demonstrate that the provision of incentives to staff to engage in technology transfer is appropriate in enhancing a strategic pursuit of technology transfer effectiveness. We find evidence of decreasing returns to scale in terms of the size of technology transfer offices and technology transfer effectiveness and we also find that the higher the degree of centralization of strategy making the lower the effectiveness of university technology transfer.