Leveraging social capital in university-industry knowledge transfer strategies: a comparative positioning framework

Jeandri Robertson, Ian P McCarthy and Leyland Pitt

Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 2019, vol. 17, issue 4, 461-472

Abstract: University-industry partnerships emphasise the transformation of knowledge into products and processes which can be commercially exploited. This paper presents a framework for understanding how social capital in university-industry partnerships affect knowledge transfer strategies, which impacts on collaborative innovation developments. University-industry partnerships in three different countries, all from regions at varying stages of development, are compared using the proposed framework. These include a developed region (Canada), a transition region (Malta), and a developing region (South Africa). Structural, relational and cognitive social capital dimensions are mapped against the knowledge transfer strategy that the university-industry partnership employed: leveraging existing knowledge or appropriating new knowledge. Exploring the comparative presence of social capital in knowledge transfer strategies assists in better understanding how university-industry partnerships can position themselves to facilitate innovation. The paper proposes a link between social capital and knowledge transfer strategy by illustrating how it impacts the competitive positioning of the university-industry partners involved.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/14778238.2019.1589396

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