{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,12]],"date-time":"2026-05-12T20:28:55Z","timestamp":1778617735883,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":70,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,8]],"date-time":"2017-12-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1512691200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Research indicates that non-commercial and informal university\u2013industry interactions, which are defined as academic engagement, account for a larger part and play a more important role than commercialization in academic knowledge transfer in China. This paper aims to explore the effect of Chinese scientists\u2019 individual differences on academic engagement via social cognitive theory. This study attempts to provide an interpretation of how individual differences affect Chinese academics\u2019 industrial engagement through self-efficacy. Based on data collection from Chinese universities, these analysis results show that gender, academic rank, industry connections, and previous industrial experience are significantly associated with Chinese scientists\u2019 industry engagement. Furthermore, a scientist\u2019s self-efficacy in industry collaborations is also influenced by these four individual factors. The mediating effects of self-efficacy on the relationship between individual differences and academic engagement are confirmed by empirical analysis results. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed at the end of this paper.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info8040160","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,8]],"date-time":"2017-12-08T11:37:40Z","timestamp":1512733060000},"page":"160","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Individual Differences, Self-Efficacy, and Chinese Scientists\u2019 Industry Engagement"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8758-2618","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhiyan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi\u2019an 710072, Shaanxi, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianfeng","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi\u2019an 710072, Shaanxi, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/S0048-7333(02)00009-4","article-title":"Research groups as \u2018quasi-firms\u2019: The invention of the entrepreneurial university","volume":"32","author":"Etzkowitz","year":"2003","journal-title":"Res. 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