۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Research framework

۴- Empirical study

۵- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Knowledge is a core competency for maintaining competitive advantages of organizations. While universities conduct research and create knowledge, few studies have been conducted to address the applications of knowledge management (KM) to higher education in light of the increasing requirement for universities to play additional roles in the modern society. This study aims to develop a UNISON framework for managing knowledge for university–industry collaboration (UIC) with a plan-do-check-act (PDCA) improvement circle. An empirical study was conducted in Taiwan for improving employee productivity, optimizing resource use, motivating employees, and realizing continuous improvement. The results have shown practical viability of the proposed KM models to improve the performance of UIC as well as strengthen the efficiency and operational excellence for the university serving various social responsibilities. Indeed, the case study university, National Tsing Hua University, becomes the first national university being awarded for the National Quality Award in Taiwan. This study concludes with the contributions and discussions of future research directions.

Introduction

Knowledge is a national core competency in the era of the modern economy (Chen, Chien, and Lin, 2013). Knowledge management (KM) is important in the organization for maintaining competitive advantages (Sallis and Jone, 2013). Most studies (Hou et al., 2004; Hou et al., 2005; Hou and Tsai, 2008) explored industrial KM and proposed frameworks or models of related technologies (e.g., information technology, computer–integrated manufacturing) to manage or expedite the accumulation and application of domain knowledge which ends up with business performance improving. However, few studies have been done to address KM for higher education (Rowley, 2000; Piccoli et al., 2000; Eleni, 2003; Chou Yeh, 2005; Fullwood et al., 2013). On the other hand, due to declining birthrates, internationalization, marketization, and fiscal tightening by the government, higher education faces critical challenges for maintaining the same quality of education as well as meeting more demands for social responsibilities. In addition, in a transitional economic environment such as Taiwan, universities should grow with the industry and focus more attention to university–industry collaboration (UIC) activities for resolving operational problem in the industries existing at this stage (Hu, Hung, Lo, and Tseng, 2016; Chen et al., 2013). To fill the gap and address the needs to enhance university–industry collaboration, this study aims to develop a comprehensive framework for knowledge management to empower university–industry collaboration via acquiring various domain knowledge efficiently and accurately.