Searching for a Cure: The Role of a Project Scaffolding Intervention In Scientific Collaborations

Abstract

We investigate the use of formal interventions in early-stage discovery collaborations focused on curing devastating diseases. To advance their objectives, these collaborations must overcome profound differences in members’ specialized knowledge, despite having limited familiarity and prior histories of collaboration with one another. We conducted a field quasi-experiment using 26 biomedical research collaborations across the US beginning to work on treatments or cures for human diseases. We provided and tested the efficacy of a formal scaffolding intervention, focused on tentative problem solving and provisional planning. Results show that using this intervention allowed collaborations to integrate members’ disparate and diverse expertise into innovative research projects, which led to increased productivity. The effect of the intervention was mediated by the extent to which collaborators were able to align and coordinate with one another to complete project tasks. Elements of transactive memory (i.e., knowing who knows what) and nascent creative efficacy did not mediate this effect.