The Use of Faculty Inventor Social Capital to Facilitate University Technology Transfer: A Multiple Case Study Inquiry Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis

The current practices of the university technology transfer profession seem to reflect the belief that the chances for success are greatly improved when faculty inventors employ their social capital to facilitate the process. However, this notion has not been extensively investigated directly. There is a gap in the university technology transfer literature regarding our understanding of faculty inventor social capital in the context of the occurrence of technology transfer outcomes. The aim of this study was to understand whether the use of faculty inventor social capital is a causal condition for the occurrence of university technology transfer. This question was examined using a multiple case study approach and the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method. The data were generated by collecting information on 21 cases that occurred during or around calendar year 2019 in which a private sector organization considered whether to obtain and assimilate a technology that was created at a university in the United States of America. The results of the study suggest that the use of faculty inventor social capital is not a necessary, sufficient, or INUS condition for the occurrence of university technology transfer.