Academic Entrepreneurship and Exchange of Scientific Resources Material Transfer in Life and Materials Sciences in Japanese Universities

American Sociological Review. Vol. 77, No. 5, pp. 804-830, 2012

35 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2013

See all articles by Sotaro Shibayama

Sotaro Shibayama

University of Tokyo; CIRCLE Lund University

John P. Walsh

Georgia Institute of Technology

Yasunori Baba

University of Tokyo

Date Written: Semptember 30, 2012

Abstract

This study uses a sample of Japanese university scientists in life and materials sciences to examine how academic entrepreneurship has affected the norms and behaviors of academic scientists regarding sharing scientific resources. Results indicate that high levels of academic entrepreneurship in a scientific field are associated with less reliance on the gift-giving form of sharing (i.e., generalized exchange) traditionally recommended by scientific communities, and with a greater emphasis on direct benefits for givers (i.e., direct exchange), as well as a lower overall frequency of sharing. We observe these shifts in sharing behavior even among individual scientists who are not themselves entrepreneurially active; this suggests a general shift in scientific norms contingent on institutional contexts. These findings reflect contradictions inherent in current science policies that simultaneously encourage open science as well as commercial application of research results, and they suggest that the increasing emphasis on commercial activity may fundamentally change the normative structure of science.

Keywords: academic capitalism, academic entrepreneurship, material transfer, scientific norms, social exchange, indirect reciprocity, life sciences, material sciences

JEL Classification: O32, C71, J58, O38

Suggested Citation

Shibayama, Sotaro and Walsh, John P. and Baba, Yasunori, Academic Entrepreneurship and Exchange of Scientific Resources Material Transfer in Life and Materials Sciences in Japanese Universities (Semptember 30, 2012). American Sociological Review. Vol. 77, No. 5, pp. 804-830, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2286980

Sotaro Shibayama (Contact Author)

University of Tokyo ( email )

Hongo 7-3-1
Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656
Japan

HOME PAGE: http://sotaroshibayama.weebly.com/

CIRCLE Lund University ( email )

John P. Walsh

Georgia Institute of Technology ( email )

Atlanta, GA 30332
United States

Yasunori Baba

University of Tokyo ( email )

Hongo 7-3-1
Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 113-0033, Tokyo
Japan

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