Assessing differences between university and federal laboratory postdoctoral scientists in technology transfer |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, U.S.;2. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, U.S.;3. W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, U.S.;1. School of Sociology and Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;2. Department of Philosophy, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway;3. School of Information and Communication Studies and Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;1. School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia;2. RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia;3. Lattice Analytics Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia;1. Department of Economy, Management and Territory, University of Foggia, via da Zara 11, Foggia 71121, Italy;2. Department of Business and Economics, University of Naples Parthenope, Via Generale Parisi 13, Napoli 80132, Italy;1. University of Passau, Faculty of Business, Economics, and Information Systems, Innstrasse 27, 94032 Passau, Germany;2. Coventry University London, University House, 109-117 Middlesex Street, London E1 7JF, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | While there are numerous studies of university technology transfer, there have been relatively few studies of technology transfer at federal labs. Moreover, studies of university technology transfer have focused on faculty, not post-doctoral scientists. They have also ignored identity and sensemaking theories in organizational behavior, which are relevant in the context of technology transfer. We fill these gaps by examining differences between university post-doctoral scientists and federal lab post-doctoral scientists, in terms of how they engage in technology transfer. Our qualitative analysis is based on extensive interviews of post-doctoral scientists and their supervisors/principal investigators (PIs) at two major research universities and four large federal labs. We find that federal lab scientists are more influenced by mission-driven research and their sense of public service, as compared to university scientists who are motivated more by curiosity-driven research. These motivational differences may constitute significant barriers to technology transfer in federal labs. As compared to their university counterparts, federal lab scientists appear to experience more cognitive dissonance in pursuing commercialization of their research and have more sophisticated resolution strategies for dealing with such dissonance. We also find that PIs at federal labs are not highly incentivized to engage in technology transfer. We discuss additional research needs, as well as the managerial and training implications of our findings. |
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