Title: The influence of academic staff's personal and professional characteristics on the decision to cooperate with industry

Authors: Mário Franco; Heiko Haase; António Fernandes

Addresses: Department of Management and Economics, NECE - Research Unit in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Estrada do Sineiro 6200-209, Covilhã, Portugal ' Department of Business Administration, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Applied Sciences Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ' Department of Economics and Management, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia - Apartado 134, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal

Abstract: University-industry cooperation is important for economic development, particularly at the regional level. Despite this relevance, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the underlying factors that drive the transfer of knowledge and technology. Therefore, this research aims to identify factors related to academic staff's personal and professional characteristics that influence the decision to cooperate with industry. To attain this objective, we built up a unique dataset of academic staff, based on a survey of the total population of a higher education institution in Portugal. Based on a logistic regression, the results reveal that variables such as gender, age and the school influence academic staff's propensity to cooperate with the business sector. We present theoretical and practical implications for academics, policy-makers and practitioners.

Keywords: university-industry cooperation; knowledge transfer; technology transfer; academic staff; Portugal; industrial collaboration; personal characteristics; professional characteristics; higher education; gender; age; universities.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2014.060770

European Journal of International Management, 2014 Vol.8 No.3, pp.293 - 309

Received: 10 Oct 2012
Accepted: 10 Oct 2012

Published online: 14 Oct 2014 *

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