Strengthening Knowledge Co-Production Capacity: Examining Interest in Community-University Partnerships

Abstract

Building successful, enduring research partnerships is essential for improving links between knowledge and action to address sustainability challenges. Communication research can play a critical role in fostering more effective research partnerships, especially those concerned with knowledge co-production processes. This article focuses on community-university research partnerships and factors that influence participation in the co-production process. We identify specific pathways for improving partnership development through a prospective analytical approach that examines community officials' interest in partnering with university researchers. Using survey responses from a statewide sample of Maine municipal officials, we conduct a statistical analysis of community-university partnership potential to test a conceptual model of partnership interest grounded in natural resource management theory and environmental communication. Our findings both support and advance prior research on collaborations. Results reveal that belief in the helpfulness of the collaborator to solve problems, institutional proximity, familiarity, perceived problem severity and problem type and trust influence interest in developing community-university partnerships. These findings underscore the benefits of proactively assessing partnership potential prior to forming OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2013, 5 3745 partnerships and the important roles for communication research within sustainability science, especially with regard to strengthening partnership formation and knowledge co-production processes.

Transdisciplinary research partnerships in sustainability science: an examination of stakeholder participation preferences

“…The non-significant relationship between institutional proximity and participation preferences suggests that additional research is needed on proximity, as prior research documents that this variable impacts stakeholders' evaluations of project partners (Hutchins et al 2013, Lubell 2007.…”

“…Prior research on stakeholder engagement in scientific research and the public's participation in environmental decision-making (e.g. Bell et al 2013;Focht and Trachtenberg 2005;Hutchins et al 2013;Leahy and Lindenfeld 2013;Lyons et al 2014) informed the development of four broad strategies for stakeholder and researcher participation in transdisciplinary research processes: lead, consulting, facilitating and full. The strategies vary by researcher and stakeholder involvement in four general stages of the research process.…”

“…These actors contribute to some or all stages of the research production and solutions development processes (Kauffman 2014;Polk 2014). The power of such partnerships is great, but partners in transdisciplinary groups need to pay careful attention to research practices and interpersonal processes, as well as actual outcomes of the partnership, to ensure that partnerships function well and make progress on sustainability problems (Hutchins et al 2013, Polk, 2014.…”

Adding a Community Focus to the Psychological Investigation of Immigration Issues and Policies

“…Thus, there is much we can draw from the analyses already generated by those working in other research-to-policy areas. These analyses have begun to transform efforts aimed at increasing the uptake of research (Hutchins, Lindenfeld, Bell, Leahy, & Silka, 2013). Drawing on such analyses will be important as we consider the complex systems in which the immigrant experience occurs in communities.…”

Knowledge mobilisation in practice: an evaluation of the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre

“…Cross-sector knowledge mobilisation may be especially helpful for addressing 'wicked problems' such as chronic disease, where there are multiple, interconnected and contextually contingent causes, disputed and variable evidence, competing interests, and where solutions do not appear to be evident or fully attainable [2,3,16]. Collaboration can enable more effective responses to complex social problems than traditional research approaches [17] because it shifts the emphasis from 'push' and 'pull' models, where researchers disseminate findings or where decision-makers seek research, towards deliberative decision-making that blurs the distinction between those who produce knowledge and those who use it [18]. Cross-sector knowledge mobilisation can also aid navigation of the complex systems in which research is used, which are influenced by diverse institutional structures, disciplines, processes, priorities and discourses [19].…”