Influence of individual and group variables on the attitude of Spanish researchers towards the transfer of knowledge and cooperation with private and public actors

Abstract

National and supranational governments have promoted knowledge transfer policies for the generation of socio-economic impacts by intersectional cooperation. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the mechanisms that generate the attitudes conducive that lead to such transfer. From the responses of 851 leaders of Spanish research groups in four regions -Andalucía, Canarias, Madrid and País Vasco- three logistic regression models have been generated in order to measure the influence of individual and group variables on the more or less proactive attitude of the researchers towards cooperation with non-academic partners -businesses and public administrations-. Our results refine the hypothesis of the "virtuous circle" regarding knowledge transfer, giving a negative role to previous collaboration with public administrations. Discipline and age have not been significant factores in this model, while academic achievements and motivation have played a less prominent role than expected.