WTZ-Süd Working Paper: Experts’ View on Knowledge Transfer

‘Knowledge transfer’ is a topic of general interest, being one of the key links between the research arena and both practice and civil society, yet it has attracted scant scholarly attention. Furthermore, prior research on knowledge transfer has typically focused on particular aspects, leading, among others, to the investigation of specific groups, such as researchers. Even though it may be reasonable to assume that experts in the field of knowledge dissemination will probably know best about its requirements, demands, strategies, and so on, there are also strategic biases associated if only those who provide knowledge are surveyed. The exclusion of potential targets may for example lead to the problem that knowledge is offered but not honored. There are several reasons why individual groups do not access knowledge that is accessible; the information may not be needed, there might be no insight about the use of the available information, or the mode of access may not be adequate, to name just a few examples.

In the current study, we attempt to overcome this problem by widening the scope of enquiry. Therefore, we included experts in the field of knowledge transfer from both inside and outside of academia in our study. The enclosed working paper describes our research strategy and presents the preliminary findings that have been obtained from the first 12 interviews.

Written by: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, MH
on: 20/12/2018