Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Guilan University

3 Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Economics , University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: In recent years, concepts such as the fifth generation university, the fifth generation of industry and society have been continuously raised among the researches. The success of the university in the fifth mission and formation of the fifth generation of industry and society requires considering the fact that both university and industry are the main actors of knowledge and business ecosystems. Without considering the comportment of these actors in the context of ecosystems, it is not possible to form a proper communication process between these institutions. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual model to explain the cooperation between knowledge and business ecosystems

Methodology: This research is interpretive from a philosophical point of view and inductive from the point of view of theory development. The research strategy is "Grounded Theory" which was used to present a conceptual model. The systematic procedure of Strauss and Corbin was used to create a suitable structure for better understanding and classification of data and findings. In order to check the validity of the data, two methods of Member Checking or Participant Feedback and reviewing by External Audit were used. Furthermore, in order to check the reliability of the research findings, the method of fixed index or Re-test Reliability was used.

Findings: The results show that in order to form cooperation between industry and university as the main actors of business and Knowledge ecosystems, 18 key and vital categories should be taken into consideration. A conceptual model is presented in order to describe the relationship between these categories.

Originality/Value: It can be claimed that despite the studies conducted in the field of cooperation between industry and university, a model for this cooperation has not been developed so far and only the challenges of this cooperation have been discussed or a series of concepts have been discussed. In this research, an attempt has been made to present such a model by taking into account theories such as ecotone and ambidextrous organization, and various aspects of this cooperation have been investigated.

Keywords