Leader-member exchange,trust, and performance in national science foundation industry/university cooperative research centers

This research examines the relationship between leader-member exchange, trust, and research center performance with satisfaction and commitment to the research center in all Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers supported by the National Science Foundation in the United States. University administrator ratings of center performance fully mediated the positive relationship between leader-member exchange and trust and the extent to which university administrators reported satisfaction with and commitment to the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center that reported to them. We discuss the manner in which leadership relationship and research center performance mutually reinforce each other and the importance of this in creating and transferring technology in industry-university research partnerships and the implications of this for science policy.