ABSTRACT

Intermediary organisations such as technology transfer organisations (TTOs) are an important mechanism of open ecosystem governance, as they support how ecosystem participants search for knowledge. While scholars have identified TTO activities to support knowledge search, little is known about how these activities relate to the structural dimensions of TTOs or ecosystem-level factors. We propose that ecosystem search scope and problem complexity are key ecosystem-level factors that influence how TTOs support knowledge search. We further argue that coupling, specialisation, centralisation, and formalisation are the key structural dimensions of TTOs. We combine these arguments to develop TTO designs that detail the interplay of the structural dimensions and activities of a TTO given varying ecosystem-level factors. Our paper contributes to research on the open governance of ecosystems, ecosystem structures, and the ecosystem structure–intermediary organisations relation.

摘要

技术转让组织（TTO）等中介组织是开放生态系统治理的重要机制，因为它们支持生态系统参与者如何寻找知识。虽然学者们已经确定了支持知识搜索的 TTO 活动，但对这些活动如何与 TTO 的结构维度或生态系统层面的因素相关联知之甚少。我们提出生态系统搜索范围和问题复杂性是影响 TTO 如何支持知识搜索的关键生态系统层面因素。我们进一步认为耦合、专业化、集中化和形式化是 TTO 的关键结构维度。我们结合这些论点来开发 TTO 设计，详细说明在不同生态系统层面因素的情况下，TTO 的结构维度和活动之间的相互作用。