Designing a Knowledge Commercialization Model with an Emphasis on Islamic Values in Higher Education Centers

Knowledge is the foundation of development and social welfare of countries and the foundation of development and wealth. On the other hand, the commercialization of knowledge is one of the strategic goals and necessities of the higher education system. Now the questions are: Why have these outputs not led to real and economic development? And why do economic problems and unemployment continue to dominate in the country? Therefore, it seems that despite the production of knowledge, there is no art of applying knowledge in our country. The research gap that exists specifically regarding knowledge commercialization in the country mainly concerns the commercialization of knowledge in a localized way and compatible with the academic culture, which was attempted to be explored in this study. Islamic values ​​are among the key concepts in designing a model of knowledge commercialization, which is very important to be considered in Islamic countries, including Iran. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to design a systematic and strategic model of knowledge commercialization in higher education centers with an emphasis on Islamic values.
The present study is applied in terms of purpose and a descriptive survey research in terms of method. This is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods adopting a content analysis strategy with the theme network approach from December 2020 to September 2021 in Tehran. To conduct the research, first by studying the records of previous research, a relatively comprehensive knowledge about commercialization was obtained and based on this, a preliminary framework was provided. This framework was then completed by the Delphi method and finalized by evaluation through survey modeling. The general direction of the research was as follows: In the first stage, different texts were studied and a comparative study was done and the table of reading texts was identified. In the second stage, an interview was conducted with a panel of experts to extract the component and index. In the third stage, open, axial and selective codings were performed; and in the last stage, model validation and testing were performed. Thus, in this study, first, using the content analysis method and its implementation in MAXQDA 2020 software and performing open and axial coding, the components were identified and summarized, and then the final framework was formed using selective coding. The statistical population of the study included academic experts with related specialties, from which 9 people were included in the qualitative section through purposive sampling. Sampling and data collection in this section continued until theoretical saturation was reached. In this study, data were repeated after interviews with 9 people, but several additional interviews were conducted to ensure information saturation. An online questionnaire was sent to selected professors to collect data. Qualitative data analysis was performed using contextual analysis in three stages of open, axial and selective coding, and finally the indicators of the knowledge commercialization system model were identified and the initial commercialization model was designed. Then, using structural equation modeling, the relationships between the components of the model as well as the validation of the extracted model were determined. In order to check the validity of the model, 24 questionnaires were distributed among the statistical sample through random sampling method and with SmartPLS software in two modes of standard coefficient estimation and again in the significant mode of coefficients. Then, after performing the homogeneity test of the indicators, the questions of the variables that were not in the same field were removed and the model was performed again in two modes and presented in the form of a modified model. After this stage, all tests were performed based on the modified model. The model reliability test also showed that all Cronbach’s alpha coefficients are above 0.7 and the reliability was confirmed based on this test. Based on the data collected in this study, the knowledge commercialization process was first designed in 6 components of presenting research results, commercialization, exploitation, strategy adoption, research and development, and ideation; but finally, after the initial validation test and homogeneity test, a number of items due to having λ less than 0.7 were deleted. Deletion of these items led to the elimination of the component of presenting research results from the dimension of knowledge commercialization process, economic component from the dimension of environment, information component from the dimension of resources, and technology component from the dimension of organization. Finally, a model with 5 dimensions and 22 components was presented. Regarding the deleted components, it can be said that they do not cause much change in the content of the model, because, for example, the component of presenting research results overlap with commercialization, exploitation and transfer. At the end, in this study, the final model of knowledge commercialization with an emphasis on Islamic values ​​with 5 dimensions and 22 components was presented.