453 WHY DON’T TOURISM FIRMS USE ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE FOR INNOVATION? A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Marcin Olszewski and Marlena A. Bednarska 1 ABSTRACT Several empirical studies have suggested that knowledge is one of the main inputs in the innovation process. Interacting with external entities could help to enhance the knowledge, skills, and experience of the company’s employees and, therefore, to foster innovativeness. Universities are believed to play an important role as external sources of knowledge, however, there is growing evidence that univer - sity–industry cooperation in tourism is limited. The insufficient knowledge transfer from academia to the tourism industry can be explained by the qualities and behaviors of the senders and the recipients of the knowledge as well as the fit between them. The purpose of the paper is to create the conceptual model of the university–industry collaboration barriers in the tourism industry. The paper opens by re- viewing the literature on the role of knowledge in improving innovativeness of tourism companies. Then the concept of study on the barriers to university–industry collaboration is presented. Finally, the overall implications and recommendations for future research are proposed. KEYWORDS university–industry cooperation, innovation, tourism firms Introduction It has been widely argued that knowledge is a pivotal factor in innovation processes in tourism companies (Cooper 2006; Shaw and Williams 2009; Hoarau 2014). Nowadays, the traditional approach to innovation in which a firm should posses an internal R&D department in order to create and implement innovations is being replaced by ‘open innovation’ concept that assumes external knowledge is a key prerequisite for innovation. Several empirical stud- ies have suggested that knowledge outside of the company is one of the main input in the innovation process. Innovation no longer happens solely within the firm, but it rather involves the entire supply chain (Tu, Hwang, and Wong 2014). This results from the fact that interact - ing with external agents could help to enhance the knowledge, skills, and experience of the company’s employees (Bessant and Tidd 2007; Saenz and Pérez-Bouvier 2014). Nowadays, universities play a crucial role in creating and disseminating knowledge. Their mission of knowledge transfer, in addition to research and teaching is more and more im- portant. According to Cooper (2006, p. 47), “in many other sectors of the economy, such as primary industries, knowledge transfers efficiently because the gearing between researcher and business is tight and formalized, which is not the case in tourism”. Collaboration of these two parties is paramount because it could bring benefits to businesses, universities, and in general to the tourism industry (Alonso and O’Neill 2011). The purpose of the paper is to identify the university–industry collaboration barriers in the tourism innovation processes. 1 Department of Tourism, Faculty of International Business and Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Busi- ness, Al. Niedpodleglosci 10, 61 - 875 Poznan, Poland, Tel: +48 618 543 763, E-mail: marcin.olszewski@ue.poznan.pl, m.bednarska@ue.poznan.p BACK TO CONTENT |