Too much of a good thing? Knowledge transfer and scientists’ job satisfaction

Universities and research organisations increasingly expect scientists to expand their roles beyond research and teaching through various forms of knowledge transfer. As these activities extend scientific work across organisational and institutional boundaries and embed scientists in heterogeneous role expectations, they may enrich scientists’ work while also creating integration strain. Despite extensive research on the antecedents and outcomes of knowledge transfer, little is known about how engagement in knowledge transfer activities is associated with scientists’ job satisfaction. Given the relevance of job satisfaction for individual performance, collaboration, productivity and retention, this study addresses this gap by examining associations between seven specific knowledge transfer categories and job satisfaction using cross-sectional survey data from 1,658 scientists in German universities and research organisations. The findings provide the clearest evidence of an inverted U-shaped association for cooperative knowledge development, although evidence for a decline at high engagement is less robust across alternative specifications. Continuing education is positively associated with job satisfaction. Curvilinear associations for several other knowledge transfer categories emerge in separate models but do not persist in the joint model, while technology transfer exhibits an exploratory U-shaped pattern contrary to our expectation. Taken together, our findings reveal heterogeneous and partly nonlinear associations between knowledge transfer engagement and job satisfaction and highlight the importance of accounting for scientists’ broader knowledge transfer portfolios.