Dynamics of Collaboration Modes and Mindsets: Health Researchers’ Interaction with Stakeholders

This article focuses attention to research collaboration with multiple stakeholders in public universities. In prior research, organisation and management scholars have focused on academic researchers’ collaboration with companies, often with rather static research designs. The main objective of this study is to extend attention to the dynamics of university-society collaboration in which public and third sector organisations may have key roles. Drawing from the literature on research collaboration and knowledge production we ask: how do researchers collaborate with stakeholders, and how do shifts emerge from one collaboration mode to another? The article is based on thematic interview data from health researchers in two of the largest universities in Finland. The findings illustrate four trajectories of collaboration dynamics: seizing the opportunity, problem solving, orchestrating, and weaving. The contribution of this article is three-fold. First, it argues that research collaboration in public universities increasingly extends to university-society relationships. Second, it extends the concept of knowledge production in research collaboration by adding the dimension of collaborative mindset. Third, it demonstrates how a focus on the dynamics of research collaboration offers fertile ground for the development of a better understanding of knowledge production with multiple stakeholders.