Publications
50 results found
Hoang H, Perkmann M, 2023, Physician entrepreneurship: a study of early career physicians’ founding motivations and actions, Social Science and Medicine, Vol: 339, ISSN: 0277-9536
The literature on professional socialization suggests that their training and socialization lead physicians to prioritize professionally prescribed activities over entrepreneurial activity. This leaves unexplained how and why early career physicians would engage in entrepreneurship, a behavior that many healthcare organizations now seek to encourage. To address this shortcoming, we conducted an inductive study, augmented with survey data, of UK National Health Service physicians involved in entrepreneurial projects. We detail a process of physician entrepreneurship underpinned by organizational improvement motives and identification with the organization. Entrepreneurs breached constraining roles and formed ventures which originated as intrapreneurial initiatives but shifted to individual-level resourcing. Entrepreneurial behaviors coincided with physicians’ commitment to remain with the NHS albeit with adjustments to their career plans. Overall, the study suggests that physicians manage the pressure exerted by professional socialization by adapting both the kind of entrepreneurial projects and career pathways they pursue.
Fini R, Jourdan J, Perkmann M, et al., 2023, A new take on the categorical imperative: Gatekeeping, boundary maintenance, and evaluation penalties in science, Organization Science, Vol: 34, Pages: 1090-1110, ISSN: 1047-7039
Extant theory suggests that candidates with an unfocused identity – those spanning different categories - suffer from a valuation penalty because evaluators are confused by their profile, and concerned they lack the required skills. We argue that unfocused candidates may be penalized for another reason: they threaten established social boundaries. This happens in contexts where evaluators act as gatekeepers for social entities such as professions. We test how the penalty applied to unfocused candidates varies in an academic accreditation process, a setting where evaluators decide on admitting candidates to an academic discipline and where candidates’ prior performance is observable. We find, using data on the 2012 national scientific qualification in Italian academia, that the valuation penalty applied to unfocused (multi-disciplinary) candidates was most pronounced for the most high-performing candidates. High-performing yet ill-fitting candidates threaten the distinctiveness and knowledge domain of the discipline and are hence penalized by evaluators. High-performing multidisciplinary candidates suffered the greatest penalty in small and distinctive academic disciplines and when accreditors were highly typical members of their discipline. Our theory and findings suggest that the categorical imperative may not only be driven by cognitive or capability considerations, as typically argued in the literature, but also by attempts to maintain social boundaries.
Fini R, Perkmann M, Kenney M, et al., 2023, Are public subsidies effective for university spinoffs? Evidence from SBIR awards in the University of California system, Research Policy, Vol: 52, ISSN: 0048-7333
This study examines the impact of public subsidies, and specifically, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards on university spinoff companies. Using unique data for a population of University of California spinoffs, we find pronounced differences between companies commercializing digital technologies (software and hardware), and those that focus on other product spaces. For digital spinoffs, receiving an SBIR award has a negative impact on raising venture capital and no impact on IPOs, exits or first sales. Conversely, for non-digital firms (e.g., biotechnology, energy), receiving an SBIR award has a positive effect on raising venture capital and performance outcomes. We reason that digital technologies are subject to faster cycle times and higher market uncertainty, relative to technological uncertainty. Digital firms may therefore benefit less from subsidies designed to support technology development, and private investors may view the need of digital companies to obtain such subsidies as a negative certification. Our findings inform policy by suggesting that the industrial domain may be an important boundary condition for the effectiveness of SBIR-type subsidies for university spinoffs.
Perkmann M, Phillips N, Greenwood R, 2022, Institutional arbitrage: how actors exploit institutional difference, Organization Theory, Vol: 3, Pages: 1-20, ISSN: 2631-7877
In this paper, we explore how actors benefit from bringing together incompatible institutional logics-an activity we call institutional arbitrage-and discuss why they do so despite the challenges it creates. We develop a taxonomy of four basic tactics of institutional arbitrage that are rooted in differences between logics in terms of resource valuation, purpose, practices, and legitimacy. These tactics enable actors to create benefits by engaging with actors from fields adhering to different logics or integrating practices from other fields. We also discuss some of the factors that enable actors to deploy these tactics in particular institutional settings. We conclude with a discussion of some of the potential consequences of institutional arbitrage for actors, organizations, and the broader organizational field within which arbitrage occurs.
Defazio D, Kolympiris C, Perkmann M, et al., 2022, Busy academics share less: the impact of professional and family roles on academic withholding behaviour, Studies in Higher Education, Vol: 47, Pages: 731-750, ISSN: 0307-5079
Although academics are increasingly expected to share their research data and materials with other academics, many appear reluctant to do so. While extant research emphasises commercial involvement and peer influence as determinants of withholding behaviour, we hypothesise that the volume of competing commitments plays an important role in preventing academics from sharing. Using rich, multi-source data on 876 academics at a large research university, we explore how withholding behaviour is related to the breadth of professional and family roles. We find that academics engaged in more activities, including research, teaching and commercialisation, and with more young children, are more likely than their colleagues to withhold research data and materials from their previously published research. We explore the implications of these findings for scientific production and exchange, and for academics' workloads.
Fini R, Perkmann M, Ross J-M, 2022, Attention to exploration: the effect of academic entrepreneurship on the production of scientific knowledge, Organization Science, Vol: 33, Pages: 495-871, ISSN: 1047-7039
We study how becoming an entrepreneur affects an academic scientist’s research. We propose that entrepreneurship will shift scientists’ attention away from intra-disciplinary research questions and toward new bodies of knowledge relevant for downstream technology development. This will propel scientists to engage in exploration, meaning they work on topics new to them. In turn, this shift toward exploration will enhance the impact of the entrepreneurial scientist’s subsequent research, as concepts and models from other bodies of knowledge are combined in novel ways. Entrepreneurship leads to more impactful research, mediated by exploration. Using panel data on the full population of scientists at a large research university, we find support for this argument. Our study is novel in that it identifies a shift of attention as the mechanism underpinning the beneficial spill-over effects from founding a venture on the production of public science. A key implication of our study is that commercial work by academics can drive fundamental advances in science.
Perkmann M, 2022, Two dimensions of openness: universities' strategic choices for innovation, Oxford Handbook of Open Innovation
Universities are destined to engage in open innovation because they generally do not commercialize products themselves. Yet, they have strategic discretion over how to perform innovation and shape outcomes. I consider two dimensions of strategic choice for universities: the degree of control universities exert over how innovations are developed; and, how widely they intend their inventions or expertise to spread. Choices with respect to these two dimensions inform how licensing deals and research partnerships are structured. I discuss trade-offs and strategic implications of each choice
Weiss T, Perkmann M, Phillips N, 2021, Scaling technology ventures in Africa: new opportunities for research, Innovation: Organization and Management, Vol: 24, Pages: 552-567, ISSN: 1440-1266
Research on new venture creation in Africa is growing rapidly. This increasing interest reflects both the potential for entrepreneurship to contribute to the economic and social development of Africa, as well as the potential for this research to provide new insights that challenge and extend theories developed primarily from studies of North American and European new ventures. In this editorial essay, we argue for an expansion of this important research stream to include a focus on how technology ventures scale in Africa. We identify seven topics that offer interesting opportunities for research on scaling in Africa: (1) the effect of venture location on scaling; (2) the effect of founding team diversity on scaling; (3) the effect of entrepreneurial strategies on scaling; (4) the effect of nascent ecosystems on scaling; (5) the effect of the institutional environment on scaling; (6) the effect of nascent financial markets on scaling; and (7) the societal effects of scaling. We discuss each of these topics, their potential to contribute to the existing literature, and provide examples of African technology firms that have scaled to illustrate each topic. We conclude with a discussion of how African social, political, and regulatory change, combined with rapidly developing entrepreneurial ecosystems, are creating a context where the successful scaling of technology ventures is becoming increasingly common, and research is therefore increasingly valuable.
Kavanagh B, Perkmann M, Phillips N, 2021, Collective identity and the limits of innovation: a review and research agenda, Innovation: Organization & Management, Vol: 23, Pages: 1-16, ISSN: 1440-1266
In this essay, we discuss how collective identity shapes and constrains innovation in organisations and argue that this phenomenon deserves more attention from innovation scholars. Drawing on the existing literature, we distinguish three mechanisms through which a collective identity affects innovation – top management team cognition and emotion, organisational member resistance, and external stakeholder resistance – and illustrate these mechanisms by drawing on the example of symphony orchestras. Orchestras have faced shrinking audiences and significant declines in revenue for decades, yet their ability to innovate in response has been constrained by the very traditional collective identity of the ‘symphony orchestra’. We go on to argue that innovation researchers need to pay more attention to the mechanisms through which collective identity limits and shapes innovation, to investigate potential strategies that organisations can use to manage the tension between collective identity and innovation, and to better understand how collective identity can be used as a resource in innovation.
Perkmann M, Salandra R, Tartari V, et al., 2021, Academic engagement: A review of the literature 2011-2019, Research Policy, Vol: 50, ISSN: 0048-7333
We provide a systematic review of the literature on academic engagement from 2011 onwards, which was the cut-off year of a previous review article published in Research Policy. Academic engagement refers to knowledge-related interactions of academic scientists with external organisations. It includes activities such as collaborative research with industry, contract research, consulting and informal ties. We consolidate what is known about the individual, organisational and institutional antecedents of academic engagement, and its consequences for research, commercialisation, and society at large. Our results suggest that individual characteristics associated with academic engagement include being scientifically productive, senior, male, locally trained, and commercially experienced. Academic engagement is also socially conditioned by peer effects and disciplinary characteristics. In terms of consequences, academic engagement is positively associated with academics’ subsequent scientific productivity. We propose new areas of investigation where evidence remains inconclusive, including individual life cycle effects, the role of organisational contexts and incentives, cross-national comparisons, and the impact of academic engagement on the quality of subsequent research as well as the educational, commercial and society-wide impact.
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- Citations: 200
Hampel C, Perkmann M, Phillips N, 2020, Beyond the lean start-up: experimentation in corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, Innovation: Organization and Management, Vol: 22, Pages: 1-11, ISSN: 1447-9338
In this essay, we argue that entrepreneurship and innovation researchers should pay more attention to experimentation as an approach to innovation and corporate entrepreneurship in established firms. While there is a growing body of research examining experimentation in start-ups, there is no corresponding literature investigating the role of experiments in the innovation and corporate entrepreneurship activities of established firms despite the increasing interest in experimentation among managers and the growing practitioner literature urging established firms to adopt experimentation. We discuss this trend and point to a number of research areas that we believe deserve systematic research.
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- Citations: 33
Perkmann M, McKelvey M, Phillips N, 2019, Protecting scientists from gordon Gekko: How organizations use hybrid spaces to engage with multiple institutional logics, Organization Science, Vol: 30, Pages: 298-318, ISSN: 1047-7039
Previous work on institutional complexity has discussed two solutions that organizations internally deploy when externally engaging with multiple institutional logics: blended hybrids, in which logics are combined throughout the organization, and structural hybrids, in which different logics dominate in different compartments within the organization. While blended hybrids have been extensively investigated, few studies have examined how structural hybrids are constructed and maintained. We address this imbalance by studying university-industry research centers as instances of distinct organizational spaces used to engage with a minority logic. We found that these spaces require three kinds of work: (a) leveraging, where dominant logic practices are drawn on to achieve minority logic objectives; (b) hybridizing, where the practices inside the space are modified to allow engagement with the minority logic; and (c) bolstering, where the space is shielded against excessive minority logic influence and anchored back into the organization. Furthermore, contrary to the existing literature, we found that the spaces were hybrid, rather than being dominated by a single logic. Our finding is likely generalizable across many instances of structural hybrids given the integration problems that organizations with pure single logic spaces would face, combined with the usefulness of hybrid spaces. Our study is novel in revealing the work needed to sustain hybrid spaces and questioning the previously held conceptualization of structural hybrids as made up of single-logic compartments.
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- Citations: 88
Fini R, Jourdan J, Perkmann M, 2018, Social valuation across multiple audiences: The interplay of ability and identity judgments, Academy of Management Journal, Vol: 61, Pages: 2230-2264, ISSN: 0001-4273
How is an evaluating audience influenced by previous evaluations made by another audience? This question is critical to individuals and organizations reaching out to multiple audiences for key resources. While extant work has suggested evaluators are influenced by previous evaluations made by their peers, we develop theory about how evaluators’ assessment of a candidate is shaped by previous evaluations made by an external (nonpeer) audience. We argue that the latter represent exogenous indices that affect evaluators in two opposing ways: they positively influence peer valuation by pointing to candidates’ unobservable abilities, yet, since they are conferred by an external audience, they are also indicative of candidates’ deviation from an expected peer identity. The combination of the two opposite effects suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship between exogenous indices and peer valuation. Further, this effect is moderated by the identity proximity between audiences, and the availability of previous peer evaluations (endogenous indices). We test and find support for our arguments using unique data on the peer valuation of 9,502 academic scientists applying for research grants at a research university. Our work contributes to the understanding of valuation and socially endogenous inferences, and has implications for the management of organizations in multi-audience environments.
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- Citations: 27
Garcia-Herrera C, Perkmann M, Childs PRN, 2018, Industry-led corporate start-up accelerator design: Lessons learned in a maritime port complex, DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference, Publisher: The Design Society, Pages: 1845-1856, ISSN: 1847-9073
Given the increasing disruption in every industry, firms can design new interfaces to further their strategic exploration efforts in order to remain competitive. Based on an inductive multi-case study research in a leading maritime port complex, we devised an actionable framework to design and run an industry-led accelerator through four steps: ecosystem orchestration, innovation funnel generation, flexible matching and scaling corporate start-up recurrent engagement. This framework can guide managerial practice and inform corporate start-up acceleration design in similar industrial contexts.
Perkmann M, Phillips N, 2017, Editorial: Using and developing organization theory to study innovation, Innovation: Organization & Management, Vol: 19, Pages: 1-4, ISSN: 2204-0226
Dodgson M, Perkmann M, Phillips N, 2016, Introduction to the retrospective section: innovation in China, grassroots innovation, and city regions, Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice, Vol: 18, Pages: 411-412, ISSN: 1447-9338
Schildt H, Perkmann M, 2016, Organizational settlements: theorizing how organizations respond to institutional complexity, Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol: 26, Pages: 139-145, ISSN: 1552-6542
Research on hybrid organizations and institutional complexity commonly depicts the presence of multiple logics within organizations as an exceptional situation. In this essay, we argue that all organizations routinely adhere to multiple institutional logics. Institutional complexity only arises episodically, when organizations embrace a newly salient logic. We propose two concepts to develop this insight. First, we suggest the notion of organizational settlement to refer to the way in which organizations durably incorporate multiple logics. Second, we define organizational hybridization as a change process whereby organizations abandon their existing organizational settlement and transition to a new one, incorporating a newly salient logic. Overall, we propose a shift in attention from the exceptionality of hybrid configurations of multiple logics towards exploring the dynamics of transitions from one state of complexity to another.
Perkmann M, 2016, How Boundary Organizations Facilitate Collaboration Across Diverse Communities, Managing Knowledge Integration Across Boundaries, Editors: Tell, Berggren, Brusoni, Van de Ven, Publisher: Oxford University Press
Successful integration of dispersed knowledge often requires collaboration between members of different communities. This poses challenges due to the social boundaries that separate communities. In this chapter, I explore how specially designed boundary organizations can facilitate cooperation across social boundaries and, thereby, support knowledge integration. I present an inductive study of the Structural Genomics Consortium, a boundary organization operating at the interface between academia and industry. The findings suggest that the boundary organization enabled cooperation by intervening both structurally and cognitively. Structurally, it managed and maintained the social boundary between academia and industry, thereby reducing the potential for conflict and allowing for multilateral decision-making. Cognitively, it created a cosmopolitan interpretive scheme that appealed to participants from diverse settings and maintained their motivation. Compared to previous research on boundary organizations that has focused on their structural interventions, we stress that establishing a cognitive scheme broad enough to align with multiple communities is important for facilitating lasting cooperation across social boundaries.
Perkmann M, Fini R, Ross J, et al., 2015, Accounting for universities’ impact: using augmented data to measure academic engagement and commercialization by academic scientists, Research Evaluation, Vol: 24, Pages: 380-391, ISSN: 1471-5449
We present an approach that aims to comprehensively account for scientists’ academic engagement and commercialization activities. While previous research has pointed to the economic and social impact of these activities, it has also been hampered by the difficulties of accurately quantifying them. Our approach complements university administrative records with data retrieved from external sources and surveys to quantify academic consulting, patenting, and academic entrepreneurship. This allows us to accurately account for ‘independent’ activity, i.e., academic engagement and commercialization outside the formal university channels and often not recorded by universities. We illustrate this approach with data for 10,000 scientists at Imperial College London. Results indicate that conventional approaches systematically underestimate the extent of academic scientists’ impact-relevant activities by not accounting for independent activities. However, with the exception of consulting, we find no significant differences between individuals involved in supported (university-recorded) and independent activity, respectively. Our study contributes to work concerned with developing appropriate and accurate research metrics for demonstrating the public value of science.
Perkmann M, Schildt H, 2015, Open data partnerships between firms and universities: The role of boundary organizations, Research Policy, Vol: 44, Pages: 1133-1143, ISSN: 0048-7333
Science-intensive firms are experimenting with ‘open data’ initiatives, involving collaboration with academic scientists whereby all results are published with no restriction. Firms seeking to benefit from open data face two key challenges: revealing R&D problems may leak valuable information to competitors, and academic scientists may lack motivation to address problems posed by firms. We explore how firms overcome these challenges through an inductive study of the Structural Genomics Consortium. We find that the operation of the consortium as a boundary organization provided two core mechanisms to address the above challenges. First, through mediated revealing, the boundary organization allowed firms to disclose R&D problems while minimizing adverse competitive consequences. Second, by enabling multiple goals the boundary organization increased the attractiveness of industry-informed agendas for academic scientists. We work our results into a grounded model of boundary organizations as a vehicle for open data initiatives. Our study contributes to research on public-private research partnerships, knowledge revealing and boundary organizations.
Perkmann M, 2015, University–Industry Relations, Concise Guide to Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation, Editors: Audretsch, Hayter, Link, Cheltenham, Publisher: Edward Elgar, Pages: 227-233, ISBN: 9781783474189
This is a primer on university–industry relations. The focus is on academic engagement, which refers to collaboration between academics and ‘users’ of academic science, such as firms or public sector organizations. I review the main features of academic engagement from the viewpoint of both universities and firms, and discuss the relationship between academic engagement and the commercialization of university knowledge.
Perkmann M, Fini R, Ross J-M, et al., 2015, Accounting for Impact at Imperial College London: A Report on the Activities and Outputs by Imperial Academics Relevant for Economic and Social Impact
We report findings of a study of academic engagement and commercialisation at Imperial College London. We detail the extent of collaboration with industry, consulting, patenting and entrepreneurship by Imperial academics, as well as individuals’ motivations and perceived barriers to engagement. The data stems from archival records held by the College, complemented by external databases, and a survey conducted among all academic staff in 2013.
Perkmann M, West J, 2015, Open science and open innovation: Sourcing technology from universities, The Chicago Handbook of University Technology Transfer and Academic Entrepreneurship, Editors: Link, Siegel, Wright, Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Perkmann M, Spicer A, 2014, How emerging organizations take form: The role of imprinting and values in organizational bricolage, Organization Science, Vol: 25, Pages: 1785-1806, ISSN: 1526-5455
We examine how emerging organizations acquire shape by drawing on multiple organizational forms, a process we call organizational bricolage. Studying Indymedia London, a grassroots media collective, we propose a grounded theory of organizational bricolage that identifies how various types of organizational forms are selected, and how they are instantiated into the organization. While extant research has emphasized imprinting as primary mechanism shaping newly founded organizations, we point to the additional role of organizational values. Emerging organizations augment their imprinted forms by using ancillary forms aligned with their organizational values, and reinforce their core features by differentiating themselves from antagonistic forms that conflict with their values. We contribute to the literature on organizational formation by developing a process model that details how imprinted forms are subsequently modified. Moreover, we extend theories of bricolage by specifying the limits to the relative arbitrariness of bricolage as an activity, and contribute to the study of organizational values by suggesting they act as a focusing device shaping organizational structure.
Tartari V, Perkmann M, Salter A, 2014, In good company: The influence of peers on industry engagement by academic scientists, Research Policy, Vol: 43, Pages: 1189-1203, ISSN: 0048-7333
Previous research on academic entrepreneurship and engagement with industry has found that the behaviour of academics is influenced by their local social context. However, we know little about the mechanisms that produce this effect. We argue that academic scientists’ industry engagement is influenced significantly by the behaviour of their peers, that is, the behaviour of colleagues of similar seniority. Using insights from social psychology, we hypothesize that these peer effects are produced by the mechanism of social comparison. In an analysis of data from multiple sources for 1,370 UK academic scientists and engineers, we find that peer effects are stronger for early career individuals and weaker for star scientists, suggesting the incidence of social comparison. We argue that individuals look to their immediate peers for inspiration, because they view them as an important reference group and use them as a benchmark for their own ambitions and behaviours. Our findings have important implications for how universities may encourage scientists’ behaviours by paying attention to local work contexts.
Perkmann M, Tartari V, McKelvey M, et al., 2013, Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university-industry relations (open access article), Research Policy, Vol: 42, Pages: 423-442, ISSN: 0048-7333
We present a systematic review of the literature on academic engagement, defined as academic scientists’ involvement in collaborative research, contract research, consulting and informal technology transfer. Our findings suggest that across all national contexts studied, academic engagement is widespread. We identify the antecedents and consequences of academic engagement, and systematically compare these with the antecedents and consequences of commercialisation, i.e. intellectual property transfer and academic entrepreneurship. Academic engagement is distinct from commercialisation in that it is closely aligned with traditional academic research, and is pursued by academics to access resources that further their research. We conclude by identifying future research needs, opportunities for methodological improvement and policy interventions.
Perkmann M, Salter A, 2012, How to create productive partnerships with universities, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol: 53, Pages: 79-88
Tartari V, Perkmann M, Salter A, 2012, In good company: The influence of peers on industry engagement by academic scientists, Pages: 675-680
Recent research has explored behavioral peer group influences on academics' engagement with industry. We find that peers' behavior shapes individual engagement behavior and that these peer effects are generated by two distinct mechanisms. The first mechanism is social learning, the second is social comparison.
Perkmann M, McKelvey M, Phillips N, 2012, A pact with the devil? Organizations engaging with multiple logics, Pages: 1156-1161
Recent research has explored how organizations respond to institutional complexity, that is situations in which prescriptions from multiple logics are present. While extant studies have viewed institutional complexity as a source of contradictions, we consider how organizations may deliberately seek exposure to alternative logics in order to draw benefits such as acquiring resources. We present an inductive study of university-research centres, which are research groups based at universities but sponsored by corporations. We develop a process model for how centre participants first reached settlements that exploited institutional complementarities, and then dealt with the arising logics tensions via organizational design. We conclude with implications for work on institutional complexity, ambidexterity and resource dependence theory.
D'Este P, Perkmann M, 2011, Why do academics engage with industry? The entrepreneurial university and individual motivations, Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol: 36, Pages: 316-339
The debate on the entrepreneurial university has raised questions about what motivates academic scientists to engage with industry. This paper provides evidence based on survey data for a large sample of UK investigators in the physical and engineering sciences. The results suggest that most academics engage with industry to further their research rather than to commercialize their knowledge. However, there are differences in terms of the channels of engagement. Patenting and spin-off company formation are motivated exclusively by commercialization whilst joint research, contract research and consulting are strongly informed by research-related motives. We conclude that policy should refrain from overly focusing on monetary incentives for industry engagement and consider a broader range of incentives for promoting interaction between academia and industry.
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