Aiming for impact: Differential effect of motivational drivers on effort and performance in knowledge valorisation

Linda H.M. Van De Burgwal*, Rana Hendrikse, Eric Claassen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Societal engagement of scientists critically depends on their intrinsic motivation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how motivational drivers influence effort and performance in engaging with four distinct stakeholder domains: academic, civil society, state-governmental, and economic. This article tests motivational drivers in a survey among 706 Dutch Life Scientists to study direct and indirect effects on effort and performance and finds that drivers differentially influence effort and performance in the four domains. Analysis supported the identification of a fourth category of drivers: 'moral' - next to the well-recognised gold, ribbon, and puzzle drivers - and demonstrated their importance for performance in the civil society and state-governmental domains, two domains that have been underserved in previous studies. Pecuniary drivers influenced engagement with academic, as well as economic domains. In line with these findings, spreading responsibilities for engagement with different domains in line with the interests and motivations of individual scientists is recommended.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)747-762
Number of pages16
JournalScience and Public Policy
Volume46
Issue number5
Early online date29 May 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2019

Keywords

  • knowledge transfer
  • knowledge valorisation
  • motivation
  • societal impact
  • third mission
  • university external engagement

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Aiming for impact: Differential effect of motivational drivers on effort and performance in knowledge valorisation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this