The role of the technology transfer office

The aim of this study was to improve the commercialization level in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). For achieving this goal various factors and issues were examined to identify how they affect the procedure of university commercialization. These factors include the role of technology transfer office /center, availability of finance, availability of potential licensee and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) among the university researchers. Among these four factors, this study focused more on EO among academic researchers and its effect on the commercialization rate. This study was based on a qualitative research method and was designed to use a case study approach. For investigating the factors and issues in this study, a total of ten face-to-face interviews were conducted. The respondents were chosen from inventors, researchers, academic entrepreneurs, and Technology Transfer Office staff in UTM. The researcher utilized the content-analysis approach to analyze the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews of the respondents. The results indicated that EO among the university researchers, the role of technology transfer office /center, the availability of potential licensee and availability of finance were significant to the research output commercialization at university. Overall, the most critical factor was availability of finance.

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Investigating the Moderating Role of Technology Transfer Office on Academic’s Entrepreneurial Orientation and Research Commercialisation Relationship

GATR Global Journal of Business Social Sciences Review - GATR Global Journal of Business and Social Science Review (GJBSSR) Vol.7(1) Jan-Mar 2019 ◽

10.35609/gjbssr.2014.2.1(9) ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 79-88

Author(s):

Wirya Najm Rashid ◽

Kamariah Ismail ◽

Chaudhry Shoaib Akhtar

Keyword(s):

Regression Analysis ◽

Technology Transfer ◽

Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽

Research University ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Technology Transfer Office ◽

The Relationship ◽

Moderating Role

Objective – The purpose of the present study is to investigate the moderating role of technology transfer office on the relationship between academic’s entrepreneurial orientation and commercialisation. Methodology/Technique – Using survey approach, the study tests the formulated hypotheses. Respondents belonging to five Malaysian research universities were selected based on random sampling technique. A sample of 223 questionnaires was found usable for final analysis. Data gathered was subjected to factor analysis for validating the developed instrument. Further, Pearson correlation and regression analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses. Assumptions of regression were satisfied before applying the regression. To test the moderator, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Findings – The results highlight that technology transfer office has a significant moderating role on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and commercialisation. Similarly, when technology transfer office is taken as a moderator between dimensions of the entrepreneurial orientation and commercialisation, it is found that there is statistically significant influence on the relationships. Novelty – Technology transfer office has been investigated extensively for its role towards university commercialisation. However, this role has been tested as an independent variable. This is the first study that takes a different perspective on technology transfer office as a moderator. Further, the study not only checks the moderating influence of technology transfer office on the main construct of entrepreneurial orientation but also investigates its influence on each of the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and commercialisation relationship. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology Transfer Office; Entrepreneurial Orientation; Commercialisation; Research University; Academic Researcher; Malaysia. JEL Classification: L26, L31.

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