Barry Bozeman

Technology transfer and public policy: a review of research and theory.

Abstract My purpose is to review, synthesize and criticize the voluminous, multidisciplinary literature on technology transfer. To reduce the literature to manageable proportions, I focus chiefly (not exclusively) on recent literature on domestic technology transfer from universities and government laboratories. I begin by examining a set of fundamental conceptual issues, especially the ways in which the analytical ambiguities surrounding technology transfer concepts affect research and theory. My literature review follows and I emphasize technology transfers impact and effectiveness. I employ a “Contingent Effectiveness Model of Technology Transfer” to organize the literature. As the models name implies, it assumes that technology effectiveness can take a variety of forms. In addition to examining the more traditional effectiveness criteria- those rooted in market impacts- the model considers a number of alternative effectiveness criteria, including political effectiveness, capacity-building.

The impact of research collaboration on scientific productivity

Based on the curricula vitae and survey responses of 443 academic scientists affiliated with university research centers in the USA, we examine the longstanding assumption that research collaboration has a positive effect on publishing productivity. Since characteristics of the individual and the work environment are endogenously related to both collaboration and productivity, this study focuses on the mediating effect of collaboration on publishing productivity. By using the two-stage least squares analysis, the findings indicate that in the presence of moderating variables such as age, rank, grant, gender, marital status, family relations, citizenship, job satisfaction, perceived discrimination, and collaboration strategy, the simple number (‘normal count’) of peer-reviewed journal papers is strongly and significantly associated with the number of collaborators. However, the net impacts of collaboration are less clear. When we apply the same model and examine productivity by ‘fractional count’, dividing the number of publications by the number of authors, we find that number of collaborators is not a significant predictor of publishing productivity. In both cases, ‘normal count’ and ‘fractional count’, we find significant effects of research grants, citizenship, collaboration strategy, and scientific field. We believe that it is important to understand the effects of the individual and environmental factors for developing effective strategies to exploit the potential benefits of collaboration. We note that our focus is entirely at the individual level, and some of the most important benefits of collaboration may accrue to groups, institutions, and scientific fields.

Public Values An Inventory

Exploring boundaries and meanings of public value, the authors seek to identify some of the impediments to progress in the study of public values. The study of public values is often hamstrung by more general problems in the study of values. The authors begin by identifying analytical problems in the study of values and public values. Then they take stock of the public values universe. To identify public value concepts, relevant literature is reviewed and interpreted. Finally, the analytical questions posed in the first section are addressed, focusing specifically on issues related to the hierarchy, causality, and proximity of public values.

Public‐Value Failure: When Efficient Markets May Not Do

The familiar market-failure model remains quite useful for issues of price efficiency and traditional utilitarianism, but it has many shortcomings as a standard for public-value aspects of public policy and management. In a public-value-failure model, I present criteria for diagnosing values problems that are not easily addressed by market-failure models. Public-value failure occurs when: (1) mechanisms for values articulation and aggregation have broken down; (2) “imperfect monopolies” occur; (3) benefit hoarding occurs; (4) there is a scarcity of providers of public value; (5) a short time horizon threatens public value; (6) a focus on substitutability of assets threatens conservation of public resources; and (7) market transactions threaten fundamental human subsistence. After providing examples for diagnosis of public-values failure, including an extended example concerning the market for human organs, I introduce a “public-failure grid” to facilitate values choices in policy and public management.

Toward a Useful Theory of Mentoring A Conceptual Analysis and Critique

In this review and critique of mentoring theory and research, the authors identify persistent problems in the development of mentoring theory. Their conceptual analysis highlights these problems with a “thought experiment” illustrating the inability of mentoring theory and research to resolve certain fundamental issues, the resolution of which is a prerequisite for the advancement of explanatory theory. They conclude with ideas about demarcating “mentoring” from the sometimes confounding concepts “training” or “socialization.” Absent an ability to distinguish mentoring from related activities, progress in explanatory theory will remain impeded.

The Economics of Science and Technology

This paper provides a non-technical, accessible introduction to various topics in the burgeoning literature on the economics of science and technology. This is an interdisciplinary literature, drawing on the work of scholars in the fields of economics, public policy, sociology and management. The aim of this paper is to foster a deeper appreciation of the economic importance of science and technology issues. We also hope to stimulate additional research on these topics.

Job Satisfaction among University Faculty: Individual, Work, and Institutional Determinants

We find that faculty members are more satisfied with their jobs when they perceive that their colleagues respect their research work and they are paid what they are worth. Women tend to be less satisfied, and the tenured are more satisfied. Industry and university research center affiliations do not predict job satisfaction.

Innovative behavior in small-sized firms

This study compares aspects of innovative behavior among small-sized firms. The behavior considered is the acquisition of technical knowledge in the development of new products and production processes, the adoption of new production process technology, and the introduction of new innovative products as a competitive strategy. We find that among small-sized firms, size is important in determining the level of the first two aspects of innovative behavior, but not of the third.

Bureaucratic Red Tape and Formalization: Untangling Conceptual Knots

Advancements in our knowledge of red tape have been handicapped by a serious neglect in the development of red tape as an organizational concept. Progress has also been hindered by the rather haphazard application of this concept in much of the empirical research. In this paper we examine some of the principal factors that have impeded conceptual development, paying particular attention to the relationship between red tape and bureaucratic formalization. We argue that progress in red-tape research and knowledge requires attention to several issues, including the measurement of red tape, origins and sources of red tape, and the need to consider red tape from the perspective of multiple stakeholders.

A churn model of scientific knowledge value: Internet researchers as a knowledge value collective

Abstract Determining the value of scientific and technical knowledge poses a great many problems. One of the most acute and widely recognized is that the value of knowledge shifts dramatically over time as new uses for the knowledge emerge. A related problem is that market-based valuation of knowledge is an inadequate index of certain types of scientific knowledge. We present an alternative framework for the value of scientific and technical knowledge, one based not on market pricing of information, but instead, on the intensity and range of uses of scientific knowledge. Our “churn” model of scientific knowledge value emphasizes the distinctive properties of scientific and technical knowledge and focuses on the social context of its production. In particular, we consider the value of scientific and technical knowledge in enhancing “knowledge value collectives”, our term for the set of individuals who interact in the demand, production, technical evaluation, and application of scientific and technical knowledge. To illustrate the use of the churn model as an interpretive framework, we examine the recent history of the Internet and the churning knowledge use and transformation accompanying its emergence. The development of the knowledge brought together in the Internet shows us how little traditional disciplines and institutions help in explaining today’s epoch-changing knowledge and technology innovations. We urge a focus on the social configurations producing knowledge value. Rather than counting discrete output, we argue that research evaluation is most helpful when its subject is the capacity of social configurations to produce new scientific and technical knowledge uses.