What knowledge management approach do entrepreneurial universities need?

Abstract

[Abtract]: This paper explores how the entrepreneurial outcomes (patents, university spin-offs, research projects and R&D contracts) of universities relate to the availability and use of information and telecommunications (IT) solutions for knowledge management (KM) over the period 2011-2014. We hypothesize that entrepreneurial universities may benefit from a good connection between knowledge infrastructure (IT solutions) and knowledge management processes for KM. We tested this hypothesis by estimating generalized least squares models and negative binomial regression models in a sample of 63 Spanish universities over the period 2011-2014. The results show that using data grouping infrastructure increases several measures of entrepreneurial outcomes of universities. Unexpectedly, institutional tools of collaborative work and data warehouse significantly decrease the number of patents. According to these results we suggest that process-oriented approaches for KM may decrease the entrepreneurial outcomes of universities. The contribution of this analysis is twofold. First, it allows a better empirical understanding of how IT solutions for KM affect the entrepreneurial outcomes of universities. Second, this analysis could guide a new design of IT solutions in order to increase these outcomes.