TASTE · TAKING STOCK: EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT BY ACADEMICS

An extensive body of literature has examined academics’ engagement in knowledge-transfer activities. While much of the existing work has focused on assessing empirical relationships and phenomena, few contributions address how research on universities may yield more general theoretical contributions to the management literature. To fill part of this void, the aim of TASTE (TAking STock: External engagement by academics) is to gather new primary and secondary data on academics thereby illuminating (a) the social-cognitive determinants of academics’ enterprising behaviours, (b) how and to what extent academics’ individual characteristics shape the organisational environments in which they participate, and (c) the impact that institutional dimensions have on academics’ cognitions and behaviours. The study will be located in Italy, and it will be hosted by the Department of Management of the University of Bologna. Results will have implications for management theory and policymaking.