مقام PhD در صنعت اسپانیایی: عوامل تعیین کننده شغلی در تولید در مقابل شرکت های غیر تولیدی  PhD careers in Spanish industry: Job determinants in manufacturing versus non-manufacturing firms

1. Introduction The incorporation of PhD holders into firms has increased recently due to the recognition that scientific advancement can have an important impact on industrial development and growth (Cohen et al., 2002). PhD holders can be used to search for and collect knowledge as well as to systematically test and evaluate the potential of new discoveries from a commercial point of view (Zellner, 2003). Studies have shown that PhDs convey not only scientific knowledge but also important skills that are useful for firms at different stages of the innovation process (Herrera and Nieto, 2015). These skills, which are acquired during PhD training and research trajectories, have been demonstrated to be suited to linking science to innovation (Beltramo et al., 2001), reducing the failure risk in the innovation process (Zellner, 2003) and connecting firms with knowledge networks (Dietz and Bozeman, 2005; Hess and Rothaermel, 2011; Murray, 2004). Studies have also found that scientists in firms have a positive and significant influence on the inputs and outputs of the innovation process (Zucker et al., 1998; Herrmann and Peine, 2011). Despite the importance attributed to scientists in firms, academia has remained the referent sector for PhDs to work in. PhD graduates have frequently been trained to undertake a research career in academia and not in industry, and as a result, they are often unable to obtain value from their degree in the private sector (Mangematin et al., 2000). It has been shown that when firms hire scientists, problems can arise that are mainly derived from the integration of their scientific knowledge into the firm’s knowledge stock. This integration may not be automatic due to the tacit nature of the embodied knowledge of academic researchers (Kessler et al., 2000) and the different knowledge production regimes that are present in academia and industry (Stern, 2004). While academic researchers tend to lean toward open science regimes and seek prestige together with the diffusion of their research results, firms often prefer to protect newly acquired knowledge. Academic researchers can also have a lower production rhythm (timing) compared with that present in industry, which requires intensive work focused on product-oriented projects and a constant battle against time to launch new products (Lee et al., 2010). Academic career orientations are becoming a problem if one takes into account that academia has ceased to be the main employment sector for doctorates and that industry is actively increasing as an alternative source for the provision of labor (Cruz-Castro and Sanz-Menéndez, 2005; Lee et al., 2010). It is widely known that the number of PhDs increases annually, and academia is unable to absorb all of the PhD laureates (Auriol, 2010; Auriol et al., 2013). This situation leads to at least two research questions: “What factors explain PhDs’ pursuit of careers in the private sector?” and “Do different PhD career patterns exist within the private sector?”