Challenges of Research Collaboration in Ghana’s Knowledge-based Economy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges of research collaboration from the perspective of academic researchers who engage in research collaboration with knowledge users. The study design was descriptive and comprised an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach made up of a survey of a proportionate stratified sample of academic researchers and key informants from two public universities in Ghana. On the basis of responses from 127 academics with collaborative research experience and 11 key informants, it was established through principal component analysis that collective assets, such as lack of common values and trust, followed by structural and positional factors, such as limited funding and inadequate infrastructure, were key challenges of research collaboration. The challenges of research collaboration point to the existence of clash of values between academics and knowledge users and to the absence of comprehensive national and institutional support systems for research collaboration. The persistence of the challenges will widen the knowledge filter in the economy and can eventually result in a Swedish paradox.