IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i10p5426-d553335.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Transfer of Knowledge in Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Jesús López

    (Escola Politécnica Superior, University of A Coruña, 15471 Ferrol, Spain)

  • Dolores Pereira

    (Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

Spanish researchers’ recent evaluations regarding the transfer of knowledge have shown that activities that could help close the gender gap in STEM areas are penalized upon evaluation. The results were very disappointing and, upon inspection, could lead readers to reach certain conclusions: first, Spanish researchers transfer research to society in a mediocre way; second, female researchers are even less capable of transferring knowledge in a profitable, beneficial way; and third, activities without a high economic impact for either society or research institutions are not promoted and do not boost the prestige of researchers in this research area. With the help of an ad hoc questionnaire responded to by 513 researchers (both male and female), we examined the causes of the low scores received by female researchers and whether transfer of knowledge activities focused on promoting STEM among female students end up penalizing the female researchers dedicated to those activities. This issue is compounded by the problem of the low visibility of female role models for young female students. The conscientious analysis of the results of the questionnaire may help to improve the fairness of future application rounds, avoiding subsequent disastrous results and encouraging researchers and administrators to work toward fostering an equal society, even if no economic value is directly derived from female-led research.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Jesús López & Dolores Pereira, 2021. "The Value of Transfer of Knowledge in Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5426-:d:553335
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5426/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5426/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Palmén, Rachel & Arroyo, Lidia & Müller, Jörg & Reidl, Sybille & Caprile, Maria & Unger, Maximillian, 2020. "Integrating the gender dimension in teaching, research content & knowledge and technology transfer: Validating the EFFORTI evaluation framework through three case studies in Europe," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Peter van den Besselaar & Ulf Sandström, 2017. "Vicious circles of gender bias, lower positions, and lower performance: Gender differences in scholarly productivity and impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Xaro Benavent & Esther de Ves & Anabel Forte & Carmen Botella-Mascarell & Emilia López-Iñesta & Silvia Rueda & Sandra Roger & Joaquin Perez & Cristina Portalés & Esther Dura & Daniel Garcia-Costa & Pa, 2020. "Girls4STEM: Gender Diversity in STEM for a Sustainable Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Renaud Redien-Collot, 2009. "Female Entrepreneurs' Authority: Is The Creative Aspect Of Authority A Masculine Fiction In Managerial And Entrepreneurial Paradigms?," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(04), pages 419-441.
    5. Klofsten, Magnus & Jones-Evans, Dylan, 2000. "Comparing Academic Entrepreneurship in Europe--The Case of Sweden and Ireland," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 299-309, June.
    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. Yongchao Ma & Ying Teng & Zhongzhun Deng & Li Liu & Yi Zhang, 2023. "Does writing style affect gender differences in the research performance of articles?: An empirical study of BERT-based textual sentiment analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2105-2143, April.
    2. Omar Bataineh & Ahmad Qablan & Shashidhar Belbase & Rachel Takriti & Hassan Tairab, 2022. "Gender Disparity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Programs at Jordanian Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    3. María Teresa Alonso & Virginia Barba-Sánchez & María Teresa López Bonal & Hermenegilda Macià, 2021. "Two Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Computer Engineering: From Secondary School to Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-28, September.

    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. Junfu Zhang, 2006. "A Study of Academic Entrepreneurs Using Venture Capital Data," PPIC Working Papers 2006.01, Public Policy Institute of California.
    2. Lin Zhang & Yuanyuan Shang & Ying Huang & Gunnar Sivertsen, 2022. "Gender differences among active reviewers: an investigation based on publons," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 145-179, January.
    3. Tomas Karlsson & Caroline Wigren, 2012. "Start-ups among university employees: the influence of legitimacy, human capital and social capital," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 297-312, June.
    4. Ding, Waverly & Choi, Emily, 2008. "Divergent Paths or Stepping Stones: A Comparison of Scientists’ Advising and Founding Activities," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt4907j25p, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    5. Nicolas Carayol & Elodie Carpentier, 2022. "The spread of academic invention: a nationwide case study on French data (1995–2012)," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 1395-1421, October.
    6. Simeone, Luca & Secundo, Giustina & Schiuma, Giovanni, 2017. "Adopting a design approach to translate needs and interests of stakeholders in academic entrepreneurship: The MIT Senseable City Lab case," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 64, pages 58-67.
    7. Klofsten, Magnus & Fayolle, Alain & Guerrero, Maribel & Mian, Sarfraz & Urbano, David & Wright, Mike, 2019. "The entrepreneurial university as driver for economic growth and social change - Key strategic challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 149-158.
    8. Andrea Vera-Gajardo, 2021. "Belonging and Masculinities: Proposal of a Conceptual Framework to Study the Reasons behind the Gender Gap in Engineering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-14, October.
    9. Rippa, Pierluigi & Secundo, Giustina, 2019. "Digital academic entrepreneurship: The potential of digital technologies on academic entrepreneurship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 900-911.
    10. van Burg, E. & Gilsing, V.A. & Reymen, I.M.M.J. & Romme, A.G.L., 2008. "Creating university spin-offs : A science-based design perspective," Other publications TiSEM ed13609d-fde4-43dc-ba8a-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Novotny, Ádám, 2013. "Az egyetemi-ipari technológiatranszfer sajátosságai Magyarországon [The features of university-industry technology transfer in Hungary]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1119-1139.
    12. Nora Hesse, 2013. "Longer is not necessarily better - University Career Level and Job Creation of Academic Entrepreneurs in Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa13p960, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Silvia Blasi & Silvia Rita Sedita, 2018. "L?impatto dell?universit? di padova sullo sviluppo dell?economia locale e sui processi di creazione di impresa dei suoi laureati," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(3), pages 72-85.
    14. Abderrezzak Benhabib & Amina Merabet & Mohamed Benachenhou & Yamina Grari & Fouzi Boudia & Hadjira Merabet, 2014. "Environmental and Individual Determinants of Female Entrepreneurship in Algeria: Applying the Structural Equation Modeling," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 2(1), pages 65-80.
    15. Peter T. Gianiodis & Gideon D. Markman & Andreas Panagopoulos, 2016. "Entrepreneurial universities and overt opportunism," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 609-631, October.
    16. Denzil PILLAY & Brian BARNARD, 2019. "Entrepreneurship and Knowledge Management: Knowledge Requirements, Utility, Creation, and Competency," Expert Journal of Business and Management, Sprint Investify, vol. 7(1), pages 44-81.
    17. Victoria Galán-Muros & Peter Sijde & Peter Groenewegen & Thomas Baaken, 2017. "Nurture over nature: How do European universities support their collaboration with business?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 184-205, February.
    18. Gür, Ufuk & Oylumlu, İkbal Sinemden & Kunday, Özlem, 2017. "Critical assessment of entrepreneurial and innovative universities index of Turkey: Future directions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 161-168.
    19. Petra Moog & Arndt Werner & Stefan Houweling & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2015. "The impact of skills, working time allocation and peer effects on the entrepreneurial intentions of scientists," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 493-511, June.
    20. Larsson, Johan P. & Wennberg, Karl & Wiklund, Johan & Wright, Mike, 2017. "Location choices of graduate entrepreneurs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1490-1504.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5426-:d:553335. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.