Exploring the Research Behavior of University Professors Through Patent Data

This paper examines the behavior of academic researchers within the context of universityindustry relationships. Two aspects of a researcher’s behavior are explored: 1) the environmental effects of institution and sponsorship on research characteristics and 2) the anticipatory career behavior of a researcher. To investigate these issues we develop a formal utility model for a researcher. Using individual-level patent portfolio data for Stanford University researchers, we empirically test our model using categorical data analysis techniques. We find that environmental effects do not impact the appropriability of a researcher’s work but anticipatory career behavior does. These findings imply industry relationships with universities do not influence a researcher’s behavior and the migration of researchers from universities to industry can facilitate knowledge transfer.