Special Issue Call for Papers: ‘Theories from the Lab’

‘Theories from the Lab’: How Research on Science Commercialization can Contribute to Management Studies

Universities and research laboratories have long been a salient setting to study many relevant management issues. In the last three decades, a growing body of research has focused on how science can be effectively commercialized, emphasizing technology commercialization behaviours, university-industry collaborations as well as science-based entrepreneurship. Our perspective in this special issue is that science commercialization is a process that poses significant managerial challenges, independently of the mechanism involved or the unit of analysis employed. The aim of this special issue is to solicit contributions from a broad spectrum of management and organization fields to gain further insights into a crucial issue for managers and policy makers.

The title of this special issue, ‘Theories from the Lab’, connotes two distinct features of science commercialization research. First, it points to an important origin of the scientific knowledge and technology being commercialized – the research laboratory. Second, it connotes our belief that the science commercialization context can serve as a laboratory for researchers seeking to advance our understanding of key issues in management and organization studies.

Our aim is to bring together scholars working in the area of science commercialization and theorizing in management, contributing to the conceptual advancement of management research. We encourage submission of conceptual and empirical work, developing and testing theories relevant for the field of management. Some potential topic areas that may be particularly relevant are (but not limited to):

• How do the opportunities and challenges in science commercialization afford new insights for institutional entrepreneurship?
• How does the development of science commercialization shed new light on understanding of the historical evolution of organizations?
• How does the governance of universities and research laboratories involved in science commercialization provide a context to extend emerging theories on public-private governance?
• How do the processes of commercialization challenge and extend theories relating to organizational goals, organizational resistance, organizational stickiness, organizational HRM practices, etc.?
• How does the portrayal of university and research laboratories strategies towards science commercialization to stakeholders extend narrative understandings of organizations?
• How do academic entrepreneurs’ perceptions about the incentives and constraints regarding science commercialization extend our understanding of the various dimensions of organizational justice in a traditionally non-commercial context?
• How does science commercialization contribute to identifying the boundaries of multiple agency theory in a traditionally non-commercial context?
• How do the changes in the traditional trajectory of universities involved in science commercialization influence understanding of theories of (shifting) path dependencies?
• How do collaborations in science commercialization between universities, academics and corporations extend understanding of the functioning and governance of alliances?
• How does the development of science commercialization in universities and research laboratories extend understanding of the ethical and socially responsible behaviour of organizations?
• How do the mix of social and commercial objectives of universities in commercializing science add to insights regarding the development of social entrepreneurship?

Submission Process and Deadlines

• Papers will be reviewed according to the JMS double-blind review process.
• Submissions should be prepared using the JMS Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
• The deadline for submission is 30th September 2016.
• Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to the guest editors at the following address: JMSscience@nord.no
• The guest editors welcome informal inquiries related to the proposed topics and potential fit with Special Issue objectives. Please direct any questions to the e-mail above.