IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v113y2016ipbp240-247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interdisciplinarity in ferment: The role of knowledge networks and department affiliation

Author

Listed:
  • Ribeiro, Filipa M.

Abstract

This paper examines the relation between department affiliation and interdisciplinarity in terms of knowledge creation. While the claims made for the benefits or limitations of interdisciplinarity are diverse, they have been largely related to modes of academic governance or to the bare nature of disciplines. Less is known on the precise role of social networks in fostering or hindering interdisciplinarity within intraorganizational contexts. Thus, to explore the influence of network structure, tie strength and nodal properties in interdisciplinarity within higher education institutions, we study the structure and dynamics of academic's personal knowledge networks. It is used a mixed methods approach combining the delineation of personal networks with the ties' content analysis regarding a conceptual model specifically developed for this study. Personal network data were collected and semi-structured interviews were held with 32 academic staff members of the academic and research system in Catalonia, Spain. Findings suggest that belonging to a department decreases interdisciplinarity and that institutional constraints are more significant than the strength of the ties. Researcher's network centrality and strength of ties are positively related to interdisciplinarity. Structural holes control for certain organizational rewards and individual attributes but are not directly linked to interdisciplinarity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ribeiro, Filipa M., 2016. "Interdisciplinarity in ferment: The role of knowledge networks and department affiliation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 240-247.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:113:y:2016:i:pb:p:240-247
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2015.07.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162515002309
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.07.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernanda Morillo & María Bordons & Isabel Gómez, 2003. "Interdisciplinarity in science: A tentative typology of disciplines and research areas," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 54(13), pages 1237-1249, November.
    2. Rossini, Frederick A. & Porter, Alan L., 1979. "Frameworks for integrating interdisciplinary research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 70-79, January.
    3. Carol L. Colbeck, 1998. "Merging in a Seamless Blend," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(6), pages 647-671, November.
    4. Hugo Horta & T Austin Lacy, 2011. "How does size matter for science? Exploring the effects of research unit size on academics' scientific productivity and information exchange behaviors," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(6), pages 449-460, July.
    5. Su, Xuhong, 2014. "Academic scientists’ affiliation with university research centers: Selection dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 382-390.
    6. Scott E. Page, 2007. "Prologue to The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies," Introductory Chapters, in: The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Princeton University Press.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1095 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Machado de CAMPOS, Silvia Regina & Henriques, Roberto & Yanaze, Mitsuru Higuchi, 2019. "Knowledge discovery through higher education census data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    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. Dellaportas, Steven & Xu, Lina & Yang, Zhiqiang, 2022. "The level of cross-disciplinarity in cross-disciplinary accounting research: analysis and suggestions for improvement," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Núria Bautista-Puig & Jorge Mañana-Rodríguez & Antonio Eleazar Serrano-López, 2021. "Role taxonomy of green and sustainable science and technology journals: exportation, importation, specialization and interdisciplinarity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 3871-3892, May.
    3. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C. & Lu, Yuan & Huang, Wei, 2015. "Does Diversity Impair Human Development? A Multi-Level Test of the Diversity Debit Hypothesis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 166-188.
    4. Dindo, Pietro & Massari, Filippo, 2020. "The wisdom of the crowd in dynamic economies," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(4), November.
    5. Aga, B.K. & Tesfay, G.B., 2018. "How Should Rural Financial Cooperatives Be Best Organized? Evidence from Ethiopia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277735, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Andreas Bjurström & Merritt Polk, 2011. "Climate change and interdisciplinarity: a co-citation analysis of IPCC Third Assessment Report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 525-550, June.
    7. Seongkyoon Jeong & Jong-Chan Kim & Jae Young Choi, 2015. "Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 841-871, September.
    8. Corrado Battisti, 2018. "Preparing students for the operational environmental career: an integrated project-based road map for academic programs," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 573-583, December.
    9. Boateng, Agyenim & Du, Min & Bi, XiaoGang & Lodorfos, George, 2019. "Cultural distance and value creation of cross-border M&A: The moderating role of acquirer characteristics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 285-295.
    10. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    11. Jacques Poot & Bridget Daldy & Matthew Roskruge, 2013. "Perception of workplace discrimination among immigrants and native born New Zealanders," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 16(1), pages 137-154.
    12. Meijun Liu & Sijie Yang & Yi Bu & Ning Zhang, 2023. "Female early-career scientists have conducted less interdisciplinary research in the past six decades: evidence from doctoral theses," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Flavia Costa, 2012. "Identifying interdisciplinarity through the disciplinary classification of coauthors of scientific publications," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(11), pages 2206-2222, November.
    14. Kayse Lee Maass & Vera Mann Hey Lo & Anna Weiss & Mark S. Daskin, 2015. "Maximizing Diversity in the Engineering Global Leadership Cultural Families," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 45(4), pages 293-304, August.
    15. Rafols, Ismael & Leydesdorff, Loet & O’Hare, Alice & Nightingale, Paul & Stirling, Andy, 2012. "How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: A comparison between Innovation Studies and Business & Management," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1262-1282.
    16. Matthias Weber, 2016. "The Effects of Listing Authors in Alphabetical Order: A survey of the Empirical Evidence," Bank of Lithuania Occasional Paper Series 12, Bank of Lithuania.
    17. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    18. Heng, Kimkong & Hamid, M. Obaidul & Khan, Asaduzzaman, 2022. "Academics’ conceptions of research and the research-teaching nexus: Insights from Cambodia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Janet MacFall & Joanna Lelekacs & Todd LeVasseur & Steve Moore & Jennifer Walker, 2015. "Toward resilient food systems through increased agricultural diversity and local sourcing in the Carolinas," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(4), pages 608-622, December.
    20. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2015. "Cultural Diversity: A Matter of Measurement," IZA Discussion Papers 8782, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:eee:tefoso:v:113:y:2016:i:pb:p:240-247. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    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.