Performance measurement of university-industry collaboration in the technology transfer process: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Background To fostering organizational improvement, the performance must be assessed. In the context of university-industry collaboration (UIC) in the technology transfer process, the performance of also must be assessed. However, the performance covers complex aspects which makes it difficult to be measured. This indicates the need to have a better understanding of the methods used. Therefore, this study presents a systematic literature review on the performance measurement of UIC in the technology transfer process that can give to the researchers an easy and quick overview of the literature about (mainly) the methods used for the performance measurement. Methods We used two major scientific databases, i.e., Scopus and Web of Science. We defined four groups of keywords to restrict the search criteria. We only consider articles published in the last decade, during 2010 to November 2021. The search procedure contains four phases following the PRISMA framework: (i) identification, (ii) screening, (iii) eligibility, and (iv) inclusion. Results The final screening process resulted in 24 articles that satisfied the criteria for inclusion in this review. The collected articles are categorized according to two classifications. The first is about type of the collaboration, while the second is about the methods used. We investigated three types of collaboration, i.e., at the level of technology transfer office (TTO), the academic (university) spin-offs, and joint-research. There are several methods for assessing performance, ranging from qualitative, quantitative, to mixed methods. Conclusion The literature review leads us to the following conclusions. First, most studies are conducted at the TTO level, in which it is anticipated since it is the most common form UIC. Second, the application of data envelopment analysis is still preferable than other method in measuring the performance. This study also provides possible research directions that can facilitate scholars to uncover gaps in the literature.