TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT: WHO PARTICIPATES AND WHY?

This paper examines participation in technology transfer activity using data on individual researchers from the medical schools of two prominent universities, Duke University and Johns Hopkins University. The paper provides a model of participation in technology transfer by faculty members within academic departments and tests hypothesis about the effects of individual attributes, organizational incentives and social interactions on the decision to participate in technology transfer. Our results suggest that the adoption of strategic initiatives like technology transfer is a function of the norms at the institutions where the individual trained; the observed behavior of their chairman and the observed behavior of similar individuals.

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