What leadership styles and traits do industry partners need to exhibit to produce positive outcomes from collaborative projects with researchers from other types of organizations?

Abstract

This is a Rapid Evidence Assessment focused on the identification of leadership styles and traits that enable industry partners to optimize their support on collaborative research projects. While there is considerable research on collaboration, there is a gap related to the leadership contributions that industry partners bring to team science projects. Literature searches returned 192 titles and abstracts, which were assessed for applicability. Of these, seven met the criteria for inclusion. These seven articles formed the basis for snowballing, which contributed to the addition of 19 articles. The 26 papers provided robust research design to be applicable for industry leaders who are supporting government-university-industry partnership projects. Evidence highlighted leadership style and traits that could be applied by industry. The servant leadership style and the capacity to inspire trust were highlighted by the selected research. Operating as a servant leader, an industry leader participating in a team science project has a greater potential to meet research goals and achieve innovative solutions through teamwork. Findings indicate that the facilitation skills common among industry leaders are essential to support a university-industry-government partnership project. Industry partners are well suited to support collaboration while avoiding competitive practices that might otherwise complicate the achievement of project objectives.