Metaphors of University-Industry Relations: Interpretations on Technology Development Zones Unveiled

The purpose of the study is to examine metaphors that are used to explain university-industry relations. Metaphors are a lucrative qualitative tool in organizational analysis because extracting and interpreting metaphors that are used by participants in an organization can not only allow researchers to access hidden perceptions or feelings of the participants but also helps them gain insights about a key organization of university-industry relations: Technology Development Zones (TDZ). In this multiple-case study, 20 participants were involved from two universities and an institute of high technology, and their embedded TDZs in Turkey. Participants are high-rank manager-academics, faculty affiliated with university-industry relations, high-rank managers from TDZs and those of firms inside these TDZs. In order to collect data, semi-structured interviews were used in the study. Results from a content analysis of within-case and cross-case data from the three cases in the study showed that participants use superordinate themes of positive and negative metaphors to explain university industry relations. The positive metaphors superordinate theme involves the metaphors of interface, machine, bars district, showcase, and plants, while the negative metaphors superordinate theme includes zombie, babies, and real-estate metaphors. Based on the participants’ descriptions of these metaphors and their justification for their use, some conclusions were made on the participants’ evaluations of the university-industry relations phenomenon, which is the focus of the study.