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How universities influence societal impact practices: Academics’ sense-making of organizational impact strategies

Jong,Stefan P L de
; 
Balaban,Corina
Abstract
Societal impact of academic research has become a central concern of contemporary science policies. As key players in the higher education sector, universities play a crucial role in translating policy into organizational strategies, which then have the potential to shape academics' practices. This article investigates the influence that universities may have on academics' impact practices. We employ an analytical framework that combines a novel method for studying university impact strategies, sense-making theory, and insights from literature on impact. Our data consist of interviews with sixteen philosophers and anthropologists working across four universities in the Netherlands and the UK. We find that, in response to organizational goals and Human Resource Management policies, academics report changing their impact practices. We call for universities to use their influence responsibly in order to enable a broad range of impact practices.
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This work was supported by a Rubicon grant of the Dutch Research Council [grant number 446-16-013; to S.d.J.], a grant of the Leiden University Fund/Mr J.J. van Walsem Fonds [grant number W19135-9-95] (https://www.luf.nl) to S.d.J and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 883676 to S.d.J, and the Alliance Manchester Business School Lord Alliance Strategic Research Investment Fund [LA-SRIF-AA15310; to C.B.].
Date
2022
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Tilburg University Research Output Collection
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IDENTIFICATION, KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE, PERFORMANCE, PERSPECTIVE, PRODUCTIVE INTERACTIONS, RESEARCH EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK, RESEARCHERS, SCIENCES, SENSEMAKING, TECHNOLOGY-TRANSFER OFFICES, impact practices, organizational strategy, sense-making theory, social sciences and humanities, societal impact
Citation
Jong, S P L D & Balaban, C 2022, 'How universities influence societal impact practices : Academics’ sense-making of organizational impact strategies', Science and Public Policy, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 609-620. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scac012
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/77114
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