Implementing strategic changes in universities’ knowledge exchange profiles: The role and nature of managerial interventions

In a context of increasing managerialization of higher education and growing importance of the so-called ‘third mission’, universities increasingly seek to align their knowledge exchange (KE) profiles—i.e., the KE channels they use and the stakeholders with which they interact—to their institutional objectives. Using the lens of management control systems theory, we mapped changes in KE profiles to different management interventions. Building on 12 case studies of UK universities and combining content analysis and qualitative comparative analysis, we found that a) universities that had diversified their KE profiles had implemented belief and interactive control system interventions to encourage all staff members to exploit a wide range of KE opportunities; b) universities that had increased their KE specialization had implemented boundary and diagnostic control system interventions targeted at staff members performing specific KE activities; and c) universities that had reoriented their KE profiles had used a mix of interventions.