Zimpel-Leal, K. and Lettice, F. (2021) Generative mechanisms for scientific knowledge transfer in the food industry. Sustainability, 13 (2). 955.
Abstract
This paper investigates the generative mechanisms for scientific knowledge transfer in the food industry, addressing the sustainability of knowledge transfer projects related to health, safety and regulation. Different levels of analysis examine structure, agency and interactions within a multilevel framework. The main research questions are: (1) what are the key generative mechanisms within science–industry knowledge transfer? and (2) what are the implications of these mechanisms to policy? This research applies explaining-outcome process-tracing by investigating different knowledge transfer projects, utilising empirical data from 52 in-depth interviews with food scientists and food SMEs, 17 supporting documents and 16 observations. Systematic combining is used to develop a narrative from empirical data, where the evidence leads to the formation of the most plausible explanation. This is followed by the abstraction of mechanisms which are then matched to a suitable theoretical framework. The results from the study show a range of predominant mechanisms that drove scientific knowledge transfer including nonpecuniary incentives, reputation, opportunity, instrumental rationality, self-interest, strategic calculation, aggregation, learning and adaptive self-regulation. The overall conclusion is that the construction of relationships based around social norms, autonomy and relatedness are more dominant than those focused on financial incentives or transaction cost theories.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | scientific knowledge transfer; generative mechanisms; food sector; mechanismic explanation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Feb 2021 14:33 |
Last Modified: | 18 Feb 2021 14:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/su13020955 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170707 |