LOST IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH OF ACADEMIC INVENTIONS: A NON-RECURSIVE STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL OF ACADEMIC RESEARCHER�S ACTIVITIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The way that academic researchers assume their roles, and the relationships between them, are in the midst of numerous unresolved public and academic debates for the purpose of improving faculty performance. Two arguments were considered to study the distribution of university faculty’s efforts between their roles. While the first, the “resource allocation” argument, relies on a resource allocation perspective within which each activity is linked to the other by a resource dependency, the second, the “resource effect” argument, relies on dependency in terms of an input-output perspective. The literature is dominated by the former perspective; however, new insights in structural equation non-recursive models (SEM) allow using the latter study’s perspective. The result reinforces the perspective of conflicting relations between involvement in research and the researcher’s other duties. However, results suggest that such a conflict does not exist between teaching and involvement in administration. What is more, the total effect analysis shows that involvement in administration is also in conflict with all the entrepreneurial activities considered. The results also indicate there is no trade-off between publications and patents, but a trade-off exists between the different entrepreneurial mechanisms, and notably between consultation and spinoff creation. Keywords academic researcher’s portfolio, structural equation non-recursive models