Academic managerialism and team-centred motivations of top university-industry knowledge co-creators

There is little literature that considers the dynamic nature behind university researchers’ motivations to collaborate with industry, especially in a context of increasing managerialism. Moreover, the literature has rarely distinguished between individuals’ collaborative motivations to benefit themselves or their team. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of managerialism on the evolution of self-centred towards team-centred motivations among university knowledge co-creators. We conducted semi-structured interviews with leading academics that collaborate with industry and employ both a deductive and an inductive analysis. Our findings reveal that managerialism is associated with an unintended positive consequence: a shift from self-centred to team-centred motivations in collaborations with industry. The implications of these findings encourage policy makers, universities, and accreditation agencies to better understand academic motivations in the context of managerialism, build on strengths, and correct undesirable effects that may impact the quality of science and its societal impact.