IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ing/wpaper/201203.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does academic consulting require any research? Examining the relationship between research funding and academic consulting

Author

Listed:
  • D'Este,Pablo
  • Rentocchini,Francesco
  • Manjarrés-Henríquez,Liney
  • Grimaldi,Rosa

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between the sources of funding for research activities and the engagement of scientists in one specific type of knowledge transfer: academic consulting. By relying on a sample of 2603 individual faculty, from five Spanish universities, who have been recipients of publicly funded grants or have been principal investigators in activities contracted by external agents over the period 1999-2004, we find a positive effect of research funding on the amount of consulting contracts obtained by academic scientists. We also find that both networking and signalling effects are present and contribute to explain the amount of consulting activity acquired by academic scientists. By offering evidence of a positive correlation between the volume of academic consulting and different types of extramural research funding, our paper shows that: a) consulting is largely a function of strong involvement in research, knowledge-generation activities; b) the positive connection is particularly strong for the social sciences, where the type of knowledge transferred is more likely to be conceptual and symbolic than instrumental.

Suggested Citation

  • D'Este,Pablo & Rentocchini,Francesco & Manjarrés-Henríquez,Liney & Grimaldi,Rosa, 2012. "Does academic consulting require any research? Examining the relationship between research funding and academic consulting," INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) Working Paper Series 201203, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), revised 21 May 2012.
  • Handle: RePEc:ing:wpaper:201203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.ingenio.upv.es/sites/default/files/working-paper/does_academic_consulting_require_any_research.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gabriela Dutrénit & Valeria Arza, 2010. "Channels and benefits of interactions between public research organisations and industry: comparing four Latin American countries," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(7), pages 541-553, August.
    2. Bozeman, Barry & Gaughan, Monica, 2007. "Impacts of grants and contracts on academic researchers' interactions with industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 694-707, June.
    3. D'Este, P. & Patel, P., 2007. "University-industry linkages in the UK: What are the factors underlying the variety of interactions with industry?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1295-1313, November.
    4. Bruneel, Johan & D'Este, Pablo & Salter, Ammon, 2010. "Investigating the factors that diminish the barriers to university-industry collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 858-868, September.
    5. Ajay Agrawal & Rebecca Henderson, 2002. "Putting Patents in Context: Exploring Knowledge Transfer from MIT," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 44-60, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Are consulting and research substitues or complements?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-06-22 19:50:00

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D'Este, Pablo & Rentocchini, Francesco & Grimaldi, Rosa & Manjarrés-Henríquez, Liney, 2013. "The relationship between research funding and academic consulting: An empirical investigation in the Spanish context," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(8), pages 1535-1545.
    2. Victoria Galan-Muros & Todd Davey, 2019. "The UBC ecosystem: putting together a comprehensive framework for university-business cooperation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1311-1346, August.
    3. Perkmann, Markus & Tartari, Valentina & McKelvey, Maureen & Autio, Erkko & Broström, Anders & D’Este, Pablo & Fini, Riccardo & Geuna, Aldo & Grimaldi, Rosa & Hughes, Alan & Krabel, Stefan & Kitson, Mi, 2013. "Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 423-442.
    4. Rentocchini, Francesco & D'Este, Pablo & Manjarrés-Henríquez, Liney & Grimaldi, Rosa, 2014. "The relationship between academic consulting and research performance: Evidence from five Spanish universities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 70-83.
    5. Michele O’Dwyer & Raffaele Filieri & Lisa O’Malley, 2023. "Establishing successful university–industry collaborations: barriers and enablers deconstructed," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 900-931, June.
    6. Perkmann, Markus & King, Zella & Pavelin, Stephen, 2011. "Engaging excellence? Effects of faculty quality on university engagement with industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 539-552, May.
    7. He, Vivianna Fang & von Krogh, Georg & Sirén, Charlotta & Gersdorf, Thomas, 2021. "Asymmetries between partners and the success of university-industry research collaborations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(10).
    8. Isabel Maria Bodas Freitas & Aldo Geuna & Federica Rossi, 2011. "University–Industry Interactions: The Unresolved Puzzle," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. R. Núñez-Sánchez & A. Barge-Gil & A. Modrego-Rico, 2012. "Performance of knowledge interactions between public research centres and industrial firms in Spain: a project-level analysis," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 330-354, June.
    10. Noni Zaharia, 2017. "University-Industry Knowledge Transfer: Channels of Sport Research Interaction," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 1-1, August.
    11. Yindan Ye & Thomas Crispeels, 2022. "The role of former collaborations in strengthening interorganizational links: evidence from the evolution of the Chinese innovation network," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 1343-1372, October.
    12. Hugo Confraria & Fernando Vargas, 2019. "Scientific systems in Latin America: performance, networks, and collaborations with industry," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 874-915, June.
    13. Alexandre Dias & Beatriz Selan, 2023. "How does university-industry collaboration relate to research resources and technical-scientific activities? An analysis at the laboratory level," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 392-415, February.
    14. Barletta, Florencia & Yoguel, Gabriel & Pereira, Mariano & Rodríguez, Sergio, 2017. "Exploring scientific productivity and transfer activities: Evidence from Argentinean ICT research groups," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1361-1369.
    15. Yuandi Wang & Die Hu & Weiping Li & Yiwei Li & Qiang Li, 2015. "Collaboration strategies and effects on university research: evidence from Chinese universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(2), pages 725-749, May.
    16. Alejandro Bengoa & Amaia Maseda & Txomin Iturralde & Gloria Aparicio, 2021. "A bibliometric review of the technology transfer literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 1514-1550, October.
    17. Kasia Zalewska-Kurek & Klaudia Egedova & Peter A. Th. M. Geurts & Hans E. Roosendaal, 2018. "Knowledge transfer activities of scientists in nanotechnology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 139-158, February.
    18. Glenda Kruss & Mariette Visser, 2017. "Putting university–industry interaction into perspective: a differentiated view from inside South African universities," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 884-908, August.
    19. Abreu, Maria & Grinevich, Vadim, 2013. "The nature of academic entrepreneurship in the UK: Widening the focus on entrepreneurial activities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 408-422.
    20. Alice Bertoletti & Geraint Johnes, 2021. "Efficiency in university-industry collaboration: an analysis of UK higher education institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7679-7714, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ing:wpaper:201203. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ester Planells (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ingenes.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.