Modeling the Factors Influencing Commercialization of Academic Research Achievements: Mixed Method (Case study: Engineering Faculties of State Universities in Tehran)

The aim of this study is to identify factors influencing the commercialization of academic research achievements and to design its Structural Model. The research is applied and the method is mixed. The population in qualitative is experts, and in quantitative is faculty of engineering colleges in state universities in Tehran. The sample size in qualitative is 55 (purposive sampling) and in quantitative is 334 (stratified random). To collect data, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used. To validate the qualitative section, the member check and peer check and to reliability, method of agreement between the two coders was used. To validate quantitative section, content and construct validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. The findings are a conceptual model and identify independent variables in four categories: individual factors, internal, external, and academic gatekeepers. Goodness of fit index (GFI) was 0.88 and root mean square residual latent variables model was RMSEA = 0.072. The results indicate that the commercialization in universities as well as internal factors, lower than average level.