Coopetition in academia

Abstract

Academic research is inherently cooperative, with researchers exchanging information through formal publications as well as direct messaging. Academia are, however, becoming increasingly competitive: limited financial resources and research spots, among other things, may now affect how researchers cooperate and interact in general. In the current study, the congruence of cooperative and competitive interactions in academia was investigated. To this end, the existing knowledge on the competition and cooperation amalgamation "coopetition", coined for industry relationships, was used. A theoretical framework on coopetition and related theories relavant to academic relationships was constructed. This framework was used to conduct an online survey on academic coopetition among academic microscopy researchers in the Netherlands. The results suggested that competition and cooperation in academia are related yet separate, so that an increase in one does not necessitate a decrease in the other and vice versa. Additionally, the survey responses suggested a discrepancy between the respondents' reported competitive sentiments and those apparent from their other answers. To address this discrepancy, and help academic researchers reflect on what competition and cooperation mean to them, the interactive Guide for Introspection on Competition and Cooperation (GICCo) was developed.