Navigating ambiguity: strategic technical leaders and their role in knowledge exchange

Abstract Universities are increasingly expected to deliver societal and economic impact in addition to research and teaching. As a result, the role of knowledge exchange (KE) within universities is growing in importance. Research examining actors engaged in KE has tended to focus on academics, technology transfer officers, and early-career researchers. One group that has lacked examination is technicians, whose expertise lies in translating and operationalizing research to bridge the gap between concept and practice. Adopting a micro-foundations perspective, this research focuses on a specific subset of technicians, Strategic Technical Leaders (STLs), and their role in developing KE capability. The research conducted 31 interviews with STLs and non-technical senior university leaders across the UK. The paper offers two contributions, first it extends the understanding of KE capability development by examining STLs as an overlooked, yet strategic group of actors who shape how technical work is organized, coordinated, and integrated into institutional KE agendas. Second, it advances the micro-foundation perspective by demonstrating the reciprocal way that STL’s individual agency shapes KE routines and decision-making processes, while simultaneously being shaped by organizational structures, culture, and processes. Thus, showing that KE capability development depends not only on individual agency, but on the extent to which STL roles are formally embedded rather than ad-hoc. Illustrating the structural conditions required for technical leadership to contribute effectively to universities’ third mission.