Knowledge environments in universities
Abstract
Talent, motivation, and wealth of ideas are not the only characteristics determining how successfully a scholar's research and academic career develops. What we academics call creative is never the result of individual action alone. Learning processes and research are situated in environments, organisational structures, and spatial relations. We cannot study scientific creativity by isolating scholars and their works from the social and historical milieu in which their actions are carried out. A stimulating environment and a talented individual must come together and interact before a creative process can occur. This article addresses four questions: What elements constitute a local knowledge environment? How can a local knowledge environment affect learning and research processes? How can one measure the impact of a knowledge environment and avoid the trap of determinism? What theoretical concepts can contribute to the analysis of knowledge environments and the explanation of their impact?
References
Ackers, L. 2005. Moving people and knowledge: Scientific mobility in the European Union. International Migration 43. 99-131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2005.00343.x
Amabile, T.M. 1983a. The social psychology of creativity. New York, Springer, 245 p. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5533-8
Amabile, T.M. 1983b. The social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualisation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45. 357-376. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.2.357
Amabile, T.M. and Gryskiewicz, N. 1989. The creative environment scales: The work environment inventory. Creative Research Journal 2. 231-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400418909534321
Amabile, T.M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J. and Herron, M. 1996. Assessing the work environment for creativity. The Academy of Management Journal 39. 1154-1184. https://doi.org/10.2307/256995
Amabile, T.M., Goldfarb, P. and Brackfield, S. 1990. Social influences on creativity: Evaluation, co-action, and surveillance. Creativity Research Journal 3. 6-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419009534330
Baar-Cantoni, R. and Wolgast, E. 2012. Migration of professors between 1550 and 1700. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatiotemporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 66-69.
Barker, R.G. 1968. Ecological psychology. Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 242 p.
Battilana, J. 2006. Agency and institutions: The enabling role of social position. Organization 13. 653-676. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508406067008
Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. 1967. The social construction of reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York, Doubleday, 249 p.
Bitektine, A. and Miller, D. 2015. Methods, theories, data, and the social dynamics of organizational research. Journal of Management Inquiry 24. 115-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492614546897
Boden, M. 1994. What is creativity? In Dimensions of Creativity. Ed.: Boden, M. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 75-117. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2437.001.0001
Boden, M. 2004. In a nutshell. In The Creative Mind. Ed.: Boden, M. London-New York, Routledge, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203508527
Bukau, B. and Tolle, R. 2012. The Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH). In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 225-227.
Charle, C. 2004. The intellectual networks of two leading universities: Paris and Berlin, 1890-1930. In Transnational intellectual networks. Eds.: Charle, C., Schriewer, J. and Wagner, P. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 401-450.
Christmann, G.B. 2013. Das theoretische Konzept der kommunikativen Raum(re)konstruktion. Eine Synthese. In Zur kommunikativen Konstruktion von Räumen. Theoretische Konzepte und empirische Analysen. Ed.: Christmann, G.B. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 89-108. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-00867-3_5
Clegg, S. 2010. The state, power, and agency: Missing in action in institutional theory? Journal of Management Inquiry 19. 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492609347562
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1988. Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In The nature of creativity. Ed.: Sternberg, R.J. Cambridge, MA, Cambridge University Press, 325-339.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1990. The domain of creativity. In Theories of creativity. Eds.: Runco, M.A. and Albert, R.S. Newbury Park, CA, Sage, 190-212.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1999. Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity. In Handbook of creativity. Ed.: Sternberg, R.J. New York, Cambridge University Press, 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807916.018
Dacin, M.T., Goodstein, J. and Scott, W.R. 2002. Institutional theory and institutional change: Introduction to the special research forum. Academy of Management Journal 45. 45-57. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2002.6283388
Diekmann, A. 2014. Die Anderen als sozialer Kontext. Zur Bedeutung strategischer Interaktion. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (Suppl.) 66. 47-66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-014-0258-5
Eckart, W.U., Hübner, K. and Nawa, C. 2012. The rise of the natural sciences - Bunsen, Kirchhoff and Helmholtz. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 96-99.
Esser, H. 2002. Was könnte man (heute) unter einer "Theorie mittlerer Reichweite" verstehen? In Akteure - Mechanismen - Modelle. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makrosozialer Analysen. Schriften des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Band 42. Ed.: Mayntz, R. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 128-150.
Friedrichs, J. and Nonnenmacher, A. 2014. Die Analyse sozialer Kontexte. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (Suppl.) 66. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-014-0260-y
Fuller, A.R. 1990. Insight into value: An exploration of the premises of a phenomenological psychology. Albany, NY. State University of New York Press, 236 p.
Gieryn, T.F. 2001. Sociology of science. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 20. Eds.: Smelser, N.J. and Baltes, P.B. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 13692-13698. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/03153-3
Gieryn, T.F. 2002. Three truth-spots. Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences 38. 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.10036
Glückler, J. 2013. Knowledge, networks and space: Connectivity and the problem of non-interactive learning. Regional Studies 47. 880-894. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.779659
Graumann, C.F. 1996. Aneignung. In Ökologische Psychologie. Ein Handbuch in Schlüsselbegriffen. Eds.: Kruse, L., Graumann, C.F. and Lantermann, E. Weinheim, Psychologie Verlags Union, 124-130.
Graumann, C.F. 2002a. Zwischen den Disziplinen. Dilemma und Chancen der Umweltpsychologie. Umweltpsychologie 6. 154-161.
Graumann, C.F. 2002b. The phenomenological approach to people-environment studies. In Handbook of Environmental Psychology. Eds.: Bechtel, R.B. and Churchman, A. New York, Wiley, 95-113.
Graumann, C.F. 2002c. Auf dem Wege zu einer humanökologischen Psychologie. Zu Florian Kaisers Replik. Umweltpsychologie 6. (2): 82-83.
Graumann, C.F. and Kruse, L. 2003. Räumliche Umwelt. Die Perspektive der humanökologisch orientierten Umweltpsychologie. In Humanökologie: Ansätze zur Überwindung der Natur-KulturDichotomie. Erdkundliches Wissen, Vol. 135. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schwan, T. Stuttgart, Steiner, 239-256.
Harvey, D. 2005. Space as a key word. Hettner Lectures 8. Stuttgart, Steiner, 93-115.
Harvey, W. 2010. British and Indian scientists moving to the United States. Work and Occupations 38. 68-100. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888410385056
Heffernan, M. and Jöns, H. 2013. Research travel and disciplinary identities in the University of Cambridge, 1885-1955. The British Journal for the History of Science 46. 255-286. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000708741200074X
Hennessey, B.A. and Amabile, T.M. 1988. The conditions of creativity. In The nature of creativity. Ed.: Sternberg, R.J. Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, 11-38.
Honeck, M. and Meusburger, P. 2012. American Students up to 1914. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 296-299.
Hübner, K. 2010. Gustav Robert Kirchhoff. Das gewöhnliche Leben eines außergewöhnlichen Mannes. Schriften, Archiv und Museum der Universität Heidelberg 16. Heidelberg, Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher, 311 p.
Hudson, B.A., Okhuysen, G.A. and Creed, W.E.D. 2015. Power and institutions: Stones in the road and some yellow bricks. Journal of Management Inquiry 24. 233-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492614565240
Husserl, E. 1986. Phänomenologie der Lebenswelt. Stuttgart, Reclam, 303 p.
Jöns, H. 2007. Transnational mobility and the spaces of knowledge production: A comparison of global patterns, motivations and collaborations in different academic fields. Social Geography 2. 97-114. https://doi.org/10.5194/sg-2-97-2007
Jöns, H. 2008. Academic travel from Cambridge University and the formation of centres of knowledge, 1885-1954. Journal of Historical Geography 34. 338-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2007.11.006
Jöns, H. 2009. Brain circulation' and transnational knowledge networks: Studying long-term effects of academic mobility to Germany, 1954-2000. Global Networks 9. 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00256.x
Jöns, H. 2014. Talent mobility and the shifting geographies of Latourian knowledge hubs. Population, Space and Place 21. 4. 372-389. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1878
Keen, E. 1975. A primer in phenomenological psychology. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 184 p.
Keller, R., Knoblauch, H. and Reichertz, J. 2013. Der Kommunikative Konstruktivismus als Weiterführung des Sozialkonstruktivismus - eine Einführung. In Kommunikativer Konstruktivismus. Theoretische und empirische Arbeiten zu einem neuen wissenssoziologischen Ansatz. Eds.: Keller, R., Knoblauch, H. and Reichertz, J. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 9-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-19797-5_1
Knoblauch, H. 1995. Kommunikationskultur. Die kommunikative Konstruktion kultureller Kontexte. Berlin, de Gruyter, 338 p.
Knoblauch, H. 2013. Über die kommunikative Konstruktion der Wirklichkeit. In Zur kommunikativen Konstruktion von Räumen. Theoretische Konzepte und empirische Analysen. Ed.: Christmann, G.B. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 29-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-00867-3_2
Kühlmann, W., Hartmann, V. and El Kholi, S. 2012. The golden age of late Humanism (ca. 1560 to 1622). In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatiotemporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 60-61.
Lawrence, T., Suddaby, R., and Leca, B. 2011. Institutional work: Refocusing institutional studies of organization. Journal of Management Inquiry 20. 52-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492610387222
Lepsius, M.R. 2012. Intellectual circles at the beginning of the 20th century. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knitt lingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 112-113.
Livingstone, D.N. 1995. The spaces of knowledge: Contributions towards a historical geography of science. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13. 5-34.https://doi.org/10.1068/d130005
Livingstone, D.N. 2000. Making space for science. Erdkunde 54. 285-296. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2000.04.01
Livingstone, D.N. 2002. Knowledge, space and the geographies of science. Hettner Lectures 5. Heidelberg, Department of Geography, Heidelberg University, 7-40.
Livingstone, D.N. 2003. Putting science in its place. Geographies of scientific knowledge. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 234 p. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226487243.001.0001
Mager, C. 2012. Heidelberg Nobel Prize winners. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatiotemporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 250-253.
Malecki, E.J. 2013. Creativity: who, how, where? In Knowledge and the economy. Knowledge and Space, Vol. 5. Eds.: Meusburger, P., Glückler, J. and El Meskioui, M. Dordrecht, Springer, 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6131-5_5
Massey, D. 1999. Philosophy and politics of spatiality: Some considerations. Hettner Lectures 2. Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, Department of Geography, 27-42.
Massey, D. 2005. For space. London, Sage, 222 p.
Matthiesen, U. 2009. Knowledge Scapes: A new conceptual approach and selected empirical findings from recent research on knowledge milieus and knowledge networks. disP-The Planning Review 177. (2): 10-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2009.10557032
Mayntz, R. 2002. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makro-sozialer Analysen. In Akteure - Mechanismen - Modelle. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makro-sozialer Analysen. Schriften des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Band 42. Ed.: Mayntz, R. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 7-43.
McCall, R.J. 1983. Phenomenological psychology: An introduction. Madison, WI, The University of Wisconsin Press, 140 p.
Meusburger, P. 2008. The nexus between knowledge and space. In Clashes of knowledge. Orthodoxies and heterodoxies in science and religion. Knowledge and Space, Vol. 1. Eds.: Meusburger, P., Welker, M. and Wunder, E. Dordrecht, Springer, 35-90. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5555-3_2
Meusburger, P. 2009a. Milieus of creativity. The role of places, environments, and spatial contexts. In Milieus of Creativity. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Spatiality of Creativity. Knowledge and Space, Vol. 2. Eds.: Meusburger, P., Funke, J. and Wunder, E. Dordrecht, Springer, 97-153. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9877-2
Meusburger, P. 2009b. Spatial mobility of knowledge: A proposal for a more realistic communication model. disP - The Planning Review 177. (2): 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2009.10557033
Meusburger, P. 2012a. Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University - An Introduction. In Wissenschaft satlas of Heidelberg University. Spatiotemporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 12-17.
Meusburger, P. 2012b. Heidelberg: Relations between a town and its university. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 18-35.
Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. 2010a. Karrieren, soziale Herkunft und räumliche Mobilität der Heidelberger Professoren 1803-1932. In Akademische Lebenswelten. Habitus und Sozialprofil von Gelehrten im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Eds.: Demm, E. and Suchoples, J. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang Verlag, 217-249.
Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. 2010b. From mediocrity and existential crisis to scientific excellence: Heidelberg University between 1803 and 1932. In Geographies of science. Knowledge and Space 3. Eds.: Meusburger, P., Livingstone, D.N. and Jöns, H. Dordrecht, Springer, 57-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8611-2_4
Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. 2012a. Regional provenance and social background of professors 1803 to 1932. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 78-81.
Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. 2012b. Whence they came: Heidelberg University's professors 1945 to 2010. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 262-265.
Meusburger, P., Funke, J. and Wunder, E. 2009. Introduction: The spatiality of creativity. In: Milieus of Creativity. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Spatiality of Creativity. Knowledge and Space, Vol. 2. Eds.: Meusburger, P., Funke, J. and Wunder, E. Dordrecht, Springer, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9877-2_1
Mintzberg, H. 1979. The structuring of organizations: A synthesis of the research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 512 p.
Mumford, M.D. 1995. Situational influences on creative achievement: Attributions or interactions? Creativity Research Journal 8. 405-412. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj0804_7
Ophir, A. and Shapin, S. 1991. The place of knowledge: The spatial setting and its relations to the production of knowledge (Special issue). Science in Context 4. 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269889700000132
Pfetsch, F.R. 1974. Zur Entwicklung der Wissenschaftspolitik in Deutschland, 1750-1914. Berlin, Duncker and Humblot, 359 p.
Raditsch, L. 2012. European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 288-289.
Raudsepp, E. 1958. The industrial climate for creativity: An opinion study of 105 experts. Management Review 47. 4-8, 70-75.
Rowles, G.D. 2008. Place in occupational science: A life course perspective on the role of environmental context in the quest for meaning. Journal of Occupational Science 15. 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2008.9686622
Runco, M.A. 1988. Creativity research: Originality, utility, and integration. Creativity Research Journal 1. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400418809534283
Runco, M.A. and Okuda, S.M. 1988. Problem discovery, divergent thinking, and the creative process. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 17. 213-222. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538162
Scharpf, F.W. 2002. Kontingente Generalisierung in der Politikforschung. In Akteure - Mechanismen - Modelle. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makro-sozialer Analysen. Schriften des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Band 42. Ed.: Mayntz, R. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 213-235.
Schroeder, H.W. 2007. Place experience, gestalt, and the human-nature relationship. Journal of Environmental Psychology 27. 293-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.07.001
Seamon, D. 1982. The phenomenological contribution to environmental psychology. Journal of Environmental Psychology 2. 119-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(82)80044-3
Seamon, D. 1987. Phenomenology and environment-behavior research. In Advances in environment, and behavior design, Vol. 1. Eds.: Zube, E.H. and Moore, G.T. New York, Plenum Press, 3-27. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5345-2_1
Seltmann, S. 2012. The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 284-285.
Shapin, S. 1998. Placing the view from nowhere: Historical and sociological problems in the location of science. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 23. 5-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0020-2754.1998.00005.x
Shapin, S. 2001. Truth and credibility: Science and the social study of science. In International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. Vol. 23. Eds.: Smelser, N.J. and Baltes, P.B. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 15926-15932. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/03149-1
Simonton, D.K. 1975. Sociocultural context of individual creativity: A transhistorical time-series analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32. 1119-1133. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.32.6.1119
Sternberg, R.E. and Lubart, T.I. 1991. An investment theory of creativity and its development. Human Development 34. 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1159/000277029
Sternberg, R.E. and Lubart, T.I. 1999. The concept of creativity: Prospects and paradigms. In Handbook of creativity. Ed.: Sternberg, R.J. New York, Cambridge University Press, 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807916.003
Suddaby, R. 2010. Challenges for institutional theory. Journal of Management Inquiry 19. 14-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492609347564
Suddaby, R. and Greenwood, R. 2005. Rhetorical strategies of legitimacies. Administrative Science Quarterly 50. 35-67. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.1.35
Suddaby, R., Elsbach, K.D., Greenwood, R., Meyer, J.W. and Zilber, T.B. 2010. Organizations and their institutional environments. Bringing meaning, values, and culture back in: Introduction to the special research forum. Academy of Management Journal 53. 1234-1240. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.57317486
Thelen, K. 2002. The explanatory power of historical institutionalism. In Akteure - Mechanismen - Modelle. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makro-sozialer Analysen. Schriften des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Band 42. Ed.: Mayntz, R. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 92-107.
Treiber, H. and Sauerland, K. 1995. Heidelberg im Schnittpunkt intellektueller Kreise. Zur Topographie der "geistigen Geselligkeit" eines Weltdorfes. Opladen, Westdeutscher Verlag, 563 p. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-01112-5
Wellnitz, E.M. 2012. Medical faculty Mannheim. In Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University. Spatiotemporal relations of academic knowledge production. Eds.: Meusburger, P. and Schuch, T. Knittlingen, Bibliotheca Palatina, 166-169.
Welskopp, T. 2002. Die Theoriefähigkeit der Geschichtswissenschaft . In Akteure - Mechanismen - Modelle. Zur Theoriefähigkeit makro-sozialer Analysen. Schriften des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaft sforschung Köln, Band 42. Ed.: Mayntz, R. Frankfurt-New York, Campus, 61-90.
Willmott, H. 2015. Why institutional theory cannot be critical. Journal of Management Inquiry 24. 105-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492614545306
Withers, C.W.J. 2002. The geography of scientific knowledge. In Göttingen and the Development of the Natural Sciences. Ed.: Rupke, N.A. Gött ingen, Wallstein Verlag, 9-18.
Zilber, T.B. 2002. Institutionalization as an interplay between actions, meanings, and actors: The case of a rape crisis center in Israel. Academy of Management Journal 45. 234-254. https://doi.org/10.2307/3069294
Copyright (c) 2015 Peter Meusburger
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
