2.2. Project Outline & Strategy
Two research tracks have been pursued to investigate the phenomenon. Four in-depth case studies about the situation in distinct European universities are carried out. Secondly the research has intended to live as knowledge entrepreneur and has engaged in various knowledge entrepreneurial ventures, allowing him to reflect and analyze his experience as basis for the development of a model of an entrepreneurial mindset. These empirical methods have been supplemented with theoretic insights based on secondary literature which were results of opportunities realized in the action research track.

These qualitative methods are deployed because “strategic planning in a college or university occurs in a complex, dynamic, real world environment, not readily amendable to controlled studies, or even to quasi-experimental designs. It is difficult to parse out measurable effects of strategic planning from the influences of such other important factors as institutional leadership, demographic chance, fluctuations in state and federal funding, politics, the actions of competing organisations, social and cultural forces, and the like” (Dooris, Kelley, & Trainer, 2004)

As outlined in the overall approach and described in more detail below, a multi-theoretical and multi-level framework (in terms of Monge and Contractor (2003)) with the goal of producing a trans-disciplinary study holding actionable, as well as theoretically sound findings, is used. The studied phenomenon is what scientists in the field of morphological analysis call a mess (also known as a “wicked problem” (Ritchey, 2003), and indisputable results are therefore difficult to reach. However as Michael Pidd in his book "Tools for thinking: modelling in management science" (1996. p 40) has rightly pointed out: “One of the greatest mistakes that can be made when dealing with a mess is to carve off part of the mess, treat it as a problem and then solve it as a puzzle -- ignoring its links with other aspects of the mess.” What one ought to do is explore the subject so that entropy emerges though trans-disciplinary understanding and the act of making constellations conscious. Nevertheless as Tom Richey (2003) expressed in his text on “Modelling Complex Socio-Technical Systems Using Morphological Analysis”: “reality presents us with infinite dimensionality” and we have to accept that “we are working with models of reality, which are never complete”.

In the project theories from the areas of sociology, philosophy, organisations science, social psychology, economics and technology are used to describe and explain knowledge entrepreneurship in universities. Also different levels or units of analysis (individual, project, and institution) are investigated. Monge and Contractor (2003, p. 46) argue that: ‘utilising multiple theories should improve our explanations […] as well as significantly increase the amount of variance accounted for by these theoretical mechanisms’.

Rice (1999:40) presents a similar argument: ‘We feel that it is important to consider multiple paradigms when studying a complex social phenomenon such as the implementation of information systems in organisations, as each paradigm emphasises and highlights different, though often overlapping, aspects of the phenomenon. Furthermore each paradigm emphasises different sources of data and different analytical approaches.’

The following sections depict the specific planning and methods used in each research track. The different research tracks have the following approximate weighting: Case Studies 70%, phenomenological action research 30% and will contribute to the findings accordingly.




[ Back ]