University’s absorptive capacity for collaborative research: examining challenges and opportunities for organizational learning to engage in research with community partners

ABSTRACT

The study and the practice of collaborative research between university researchers and community entities of various types have generally focused on the organizational conditions that facilitate community partners to make use of research knowledge. In this article, we propose a conceptual innovation that absorptive capacity – the ability to identify helpful new information and to absorb and apply it in new ways – is important not only for community entities but also for universities. Using our experience of collaborating at the University of California Berkeley between scholars engaged in collaborative research and Institutional Review Board (IRB) analysts, we examine the dimensions of absorptive capacity – prior knowledge, communication pathways, strategic knowledge leadership, and resources – in the university context. The analysis generates insights that recommend 1) further research into the conditions and the processes of organizational learning for collaborative research in universities and 2) strategies for practitioners of collaborative research to strengthen and improve universities’ capacity to engage in it.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-engaged scholarship
• institutional review board

Acknowledgments

This project was made possible by the generous support of the W.T. Grant Institutional Challenge Grant, supported by the W.T. Grant and Doris Duke Charitable Foundations. The authors wish to acknowledge the many community partners with whom we have collaborated with over the years to conduct community-engaged scholarship, including San Francisco Peer Resources, SF Unified School District, EOYDC (the East Oakland Youth Development Center), and the RYSE Youth Center. The authors also thank colleagues at Innovations for Youth (i4Y), particularly the i4Y Steering Committee, who played essential roles in the completion of this work. The authors appreciate the support and consultation of many Berkeley Senate faculty and administrative leaders who have engaged with this institutional change effort, and the support of the UC-Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research Office, Dean Michael Lu (Public Health), Dean Linda Burton (Social Welfare), Dean Emeriti Prudence Carter (Education), and Interim Dean Christopher Edley (Education). The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of any funding agency, community partner, university leader, or consultant. Valerie Shapiro would like to acknowledge the W.T. Grant Foundation Scholars Award for supporting her research and career development in thinking about how to promote the use of research evidence to improve the lives of young people.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We use “collaborative education research” or CER instead of collaborative research, when referring to specific efforts, scholars or literature about collaborative research in the field of education.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (#71748), William T. Grant Foundation's Institutional Challenge Grant (#71698), and William T. Grant Scholars Award (#190407).