Abstract
Academic scientists are encouraged to pursue research that delivers both scientific and societal impact. This may involve a search for alternative mechanisms of social approval which lead to endorsement of scientists research goals. We explore how scientists mobilise and accumulate different forms of legitimacy, which might favour their participation in practices related to innovation and societal impact. We propose three specific sources of scientific legitimacy. i) scientists social networks (research-related legitimacy ties), ii) prominence in the relevant academic community (reputation-based legitimacy); and direct contact with the primary beneficiaries of the research (beneficiary-based legitimacy). To explain scientists participation in activities oriented towards innovation and societal impact, we test the significance of each of these sources of legitimacy and their potential interplay empirically, using a large sample of Spanish biomedical scientists.
Highlights
- We propose that scientists attain legitimacy from three sources, and that this legitimacy help them to achieve societal impact.
- First, by mobilising support for their research through their social networks (research-related legitimacy ties).
- Second, by becoming prominent in their academic community (reputation-based legitimacy).
- Third, by interacting with the main beneficiaries of their research (beneficiary-based legitimacy).
- We test our results on a large sample of biomedical scientists in Spain.
Oscar Llopis
Associated Professor
My research interests include university-industry interactions, citizen science, knowledge management in public and private contexts, scientific creativity, and social networks.