Katarzyna Zalewska-Kurek

Strategies in the production and dissemination of knowledge

The focus of this dissertation is on the organisation and management of scientific research aiming to produce knowledge. The main research question answered in this thesis is ‘What conditions regarding research and the organisation of research do serve the researcher in the production of knowledge?’ This question is answered by analysing the production of knowledge by the researcher from the angle of the strategic positioning of this researcher in the environment. To this end, we developed a model analysing this strategic positioning in the relationship of the researcher. The positioning model contains two dimensions to characterise the relationship: the organisational autonomy and the strategic interdependence of each of the partners in the relationship. nThe model leads to a continuum of modes in which we can distinguish four typical modes of strategic positioning: the well-known mode1 and mode2, and the newly introduced mode0 and mode3. Mode3 is called the research entrepreneur. Each mode is a specific combination of a low or high necessity for interdependence and organisational. nMode3 – the research entrepreneur is shown to be highly autonomous and at the same time highly interdependent researcher. This means that he sets research goals and directs research being at the same time intertwined with his environment. nThe model was tested in interviews of 43 researchers active in hard and social sciences. The study confirmed feasibility of the model in creating observables and predicting the production of knowledge. nIn this thesis we also discuss business models for scientific publishing. We state that any business model for scientific publishing should serve researchers by providing wide availability of scientific information and the basic services of availability and peer review and should offer optional added value services further enhancing the power of selection of researchers. It should serve researchers in attaining their strategic goals. Therefore, it has to fulfil the basic premise that scientific information is to be shared and used in the production of knowledge. nOn the basis of the diagnosis of the production of knowledge under different conditions as delivered in this thesis we conclude that the positioning model may be of relevance for researchers, research strategists, research managers and policy makers alike. The model can well serve as a tool in setting research programmes and can be used for strategy development of researchers as it shows how to position researchers in their research environment to enhance the productivity in line with the goals of the group or institute.

The impact of the autonomy and interdependence of individual researchers on their production of knowledge and its impact: an empirical study of a nanotechnology institute

This article discusses how to organise and manage research to get the best performance out of researchers in terms of use of their produced knowledge. To this end we extended the strategic positioning theory developed to predict the level of the production of knowledge. The strategic positioning theory considers researchers as agents who reach their goals by collaboration, i.e. by sharing their resources. In this way researchers acknowledge being strategically interdependent with other researchers, while at the same time retaining some autonomy in taking decisions. As it turns out in a test on researchers of an institute for nanotechnology, the higher the interdependence and the better this is aligned with autonomy the higher the impact and citations of their produced knowledge. The theory explains largely the variance of the impact and citations of produced knowledge. It is concluded that researchers need to share resources to be highly performing: research management is advised to stimulate this sharing in combination with a commensurate degree of governance in directing research. Given specific domains and organisational conditions, the theory can serve as a tool in setting research programmes as it gives insight on which settings could and should be created by research managers or policy-makers. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Understanding researchers’ strategic behaviour in knowledge production: a case of social science and nanotechnology researchers

PurposenThis paper seeks to understand the strategic behaviour of researchers when producing knowledge in two scientific fields – nanotechnology and social sciences.nnDesign/methodology/approachnThe author conducted semi-structured interviews with 43 researchers to analyse the needs for strategic interdependence (resource-sharing) and for organisational autonomy (decision-making) in knowledge production. When aligned, these two concepts form three modes of behaviour: mode1, mode2 and mode3.nnFindingsnThe empirical study results show that, besides well-studied differences in various publications, there are large behaviour differences between social science and nanotechnology researchers. While nanotechnology researchers’ behaviours are mostly in mode3 (sharing resources; highly autonomous), social science researchers’ behaviours tend to be in mode1 (highly autonomous; no need to share resources).nnPractical implicationsnThis study delivers an understanding of the differences in the strategic behaviours of researchers in different scientific fields. The author proposes managerial interventions for research managers – university and research group leaders.nnOriginality/valuenWhile most studies that compare scientific fields look at knowledge production outcomes, the author analyses conditions that differentiate these outcomes. To this end, the author compares individual researchers’ behaviours in different fields by analysing the need for collaboration and the need for autonomy.