Ann Bicknell, Jan Francis‐Smythe and Jane Arthur
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate motivations and “pull” factors of academics engaging in knowledge transfer (KT).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate motivations and “pull” factors of academics engaging in knowledge transfer (KT).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 15 in‐depth interviews were conducted with experienced, KT active (KTAs) academics to reveal their motivations and pull factors for engaging. Data were transcribed and submitted to template analysis to achieve qualitative conceptual “saturation”, from which a conjuctural analysis of conceptual relations was derived.
Findings
From the data, seven thematic areas were inducted: values‐in‐practice, motivations and “buzz moments”, purposive activities, the academic context, the journey of the KTA, pedagogy and perceptions of risk.
Research limitations/implications
The interview sample (12 males, three females) of active KTAs can be seen as a representative and authentic regional sample from the Midlands – who had carried out both teaching, research and KT aspects within their academic roles. In total, 120,000 words of dialogue were candidly reported, attesting to conceptual coherence.
Practical implications
The results concur with some existing literature on conceptualising the KTA as an academic intrapreneur, but also highlight aspects of how this role conceptually differs from non‐KTA academics. This has implications for the recruitment, development and retention of KTAs, in addition to facilitating their roles in higher education institutions (HEIs).
Originality/value
This paper constitutes a unique induction of a conceptual model for a relatively new economic and operational phenomenon in HEIs: the KTA. The paper contrasts with existing literature on the barriers and challenges to KTA work by emphasis on the positive and motivational aspects of the role.
Details
Keywords
Catharine Mary Ross, Laurie Robinson and Jan Francis-Smythe
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of academic scholarship on the development and practice of experienced managers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of academic scholarship on the development and practice of experienced managers.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews with experienced managers, modelled on the critical incident technique. “Intertextuality” and framework analysis technique are used to examine whether the use of academic scholarship is a sub-conscious phenomenon.
Findings
Experienced managers make little direct use of academic scholarship, using it only occasionally to provide retrospective confirmation of decisions or a technique they can apply. However, academic scholarship informs their practice in an indirect way, their understanding of the “gist” of scholarship comprising one of many sources which they synthesise and evaluate as part of their development process.
Practical implications
Managers and management development practitioners should focus upon developing skills of synthesising the “gist” of academic scholarship with other sources of data, rather than upon the detailed remembering, understanding and application of specific scholarship, and upon finding/providing the time and space for that “gisting” and synthesis to take place.
Originality/value
The paper addresses contemporary concerns about the appropriateness of the material delivered on management education programmes for management development. It is original in doing this from the perspective of experienced managers, and in using intertextual analysis to reveal not only the direct but also the indirect uses of they make of such scholarship. The finding of the importance of understanding the “gist” rather than the detail of academic scholarship represents a key conceptual innovation.