Underpinning Strategic Behaviours and Posture of Principal Investigators in Transition/Uncertain Environments Conor O’Kane, James Cunningham, Vincent Mangematin

To cite this version:

Conor O’Kane, James Cunningham, Vincent Mangematin. Underpinning Strategic Behaviours and Posture of Principal Investigators in Transition/Uncertain Environments. 2012. ￿hal-00794944￿

HAL Id: hal-00794944 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00794944 Preprint submitted on 26 Feb 2013

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Underpinning Strategic Behaviours and Posture of

Principal Investigators in Transition/Uncertain

Environments

Authors1:

Conor O’Kane, (corresponding author) Department of , University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Email: [email protected]

Phone: (0064) 34798121

James Cunningham, Centre for and Structural Change, NUI Galway, Galway Ireland Email: [email protected] Vincent Mangematin Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, France Email: mailto:[email protected] Paul O’Reilly, Faculty of , Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland Email: [email protected]

1The authors would like to thank the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences who provided funding for this research

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Underpinning Strategic Behaviours and Posture of

Principal Investigators in Transition/Uncertain

Environments

Abstract

Although principal investigators (PIs) are becoming key strategic actors in shaping new scientific trajectories, little is known about how they strategise in an evolving publicly funded research environment. Drawing on thirty interviews and extensive documentation from Ireland’s science, engineering and technology

(SET) sector, we take a closer look at the heretofore neglected strategic behaviours underlying the research activities of PIs. Our findings suggest that their strategic behaviours fall into four categories – research designer; research adapter; research supporter and research pursuer. We find that the mechanisms for selecting research strategies are interwoven with the posture

(reactive/proactive) of PIs as well as their degree of conformance. We argue that more proactive PIs utilising non-conformance strategies shape new research trajectories, while conformative and/or more reactive PIs predominantly pursue and deepen existing trajectories. We discuss the wider implications of these findings for policy makers, funding bodies and the practicing PI and strategist.

Keywords: Publicly funded research; strategy; principal investigator; strategic posture.

Introduction

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The public funding research environment is in a state of transition that is transforming both the nature of research and the competitive dynamics by which external monies are secured. Principal investigators (PIs) are scientists who orchestrate new research projects, combine resources and competencies (Kidwell, 2012), deepen existing scientific trajectories or shape new areas (Casatiand Genet, 2013). Appendix 1 exhibits a comprehensive list of definitions from funding bodies and leading universities. PIs are key strategic actors within this evolving environment. Paying greater attention to publicly funded PIs is necessary for u