Individual and organizational factors affecting faculty technology transfer

The role of faculty is critical to university-industry technology transfer. Also, faculty motivation to engage in entrepreneurial activities is inevitably influenced by the system, policies, and environment of university to which the faculty belong. This study analyzes empirically the importance and effects of two sets of factors (the individual contexts and the organizational contexts) in faculty's technology transfer activities. A data set from 475 faculty members and 84 universities to which they belong is studied. The results show that overall both the characteristics of faculty members and the characteristics of universities influence faculty technology transfer. In the individual contexts, a faculty member’s research capability and commercial orientation have a significant impact on faculty technology transfer. In the organizational contexts, faculty members in the universities which market their technologies more actively and have a searchable technology DB are highly likely to make performance in technology transfer. This study shows that we can better understand the differences among faculty members in their technology transfer performance by considering the characteristics of universities to which they belong as well as the faculty’s characteristics.