Who I Am and How I Contract: Roles, Relational Capital and Evolution of Contract Stucture in University-industry Research Agreements

In this paper, we explore how contract structure is influenced by relational capabilities developed in cross-boundary innovation-based relationships. Differing from other studies, we focus on the organizational positions, roles, and responsibilities of the parties involved. We hypothesize that as technical personnel gain contracting experience with an exchange partner, their focus on value creation supports the establishment of trust-based relationships and operational routines that cause subsequent contracts to become less detailed. We also hypothesize that administrators responsible for contracting, because of their focus on value capture, primarily accumulate joint governance experience and establish negotiation routines which cause subsequent contracts to become more detailed. Analyzing the monitoring terms and intellectual property terms of corporate sponsored university research agreements, we find support for both of our theoretically-grounded hypotheses.