Abstract:

The new wave of technological revolution is driving a paradigm shift in scientific research toward organized research models. The key to translating organized research from theoretical exploration to practical efficacy lies in the allocation and synergy of innovation elements. The Regional Innovation and Development Joint Fund as a typical practice of scientific funds under organized research, serves as an important benchmark for evaluating the transition from theoretical exploration to practical application in organized research. This study takes the Shandong Regional Joint Fund as an example and uses Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to investigate how different configurations of factors influence project effectiveness from a configurational perspective. The study aims to explore how scientific funds drive the improvement of their effectiveness through the configuration matching of multiple elements under organized scientific research. We try to open the 'black box' of improving the efficiency of organized scientific research. The study finds that: (1) The improvement of scientific fund efficiency depends on the coordinated matching of multiple elements, and a single element does not constitute a necessary condition for high efficiency. We found that among elements such as the project leader's (PI) ability, PI age, team heterogeneity, team collaboration, disciplinary foundation, and institutional reputation cannot individually serve as necessary conditions for the high efficiency of regional joint funds. The effective way to improve the efficiency of scientific funds is the complex combination of multiple conditions. (2) Disciplinary foundation is a key factor affecting project effectiveness and play a rigid supporting role. With the advancement of Double First-Class Initiative in China, first-class disciplines have strengthened their core position in resource aggregation and innovation ecosystems. The finding that disciplinary foundation serves as a critical support for project effectiveness not only empirically validates the "Matthew Effect" in scientific research but also demonstrates the rationality of the Double First-Class Initiative in China being discipline-based from the perspective of performance. (3) There are multiple configurational pathways to enhance the effectiveness of regional joint scientific funds: Resource-driven young leader type, Discipline-supported team growth type, Government-Industry-academic collaboration type. Among these, the Resource-driven young leader type is the most common. We also found that there is a certain substitution effect between different elements. For example, under a strong discipline, elastic factors such as PI capabilities, team collaboration, and institutional reputation can be substituted through combination and replacement. This finding provides an important basis for the allocation of scientific research resources. These elements can be reconfigured through combinatorial optimization to enhance project efficacy. This paper breaks through the limitations of traditional single-factor analysis of project efficiency. It reveals the impact of the combination and matching of scientific research elements in organized scientific research from a configurational perspective, providing a new paradigm for scientific research management under the complex system perspective. The conclusion that "disciplinary foundation is a rigid support for enhancing efficiency, and elastic elements exhibit conditional substitution effects" demonstrates that organized scientific research is the result of the synergistic matching between rigid resource support and elastic elements. This not only provides an important basis for optimizing the allocation of scientific research resources in practice, but also solves the "paradigm code" of organized scientific research from theoretical exploration to practical verification.

Key words: organized research, regional innovation and development joint fund, fsQCA, factor allocation, configuration path

摘要：

新一轮科技革命推动科学研究范式向有组织科研转变,科研要素的配置与协同成为效能提升的关键。区域创新发展联合基金作为科学基金在有组织科研下的典型实践,其效能提升是检验有组织科研从理论探索到实践转化的重要标尺。本研究以山东区域联合基金为例,运用NCA与fsQCA方法探讨多要素组合对科学基金效能的影响机制。研究发现:科学基金效能提升依赖多要素协同匹配,单一要素不构成高效能的必要条件;学科基础是影响项目效能关键因素,发挥刚性支撑作用,负责人能力、负责人年龄、团队合作等作为弹性要素存在条件替代效应;研究识别出资源牵引-青年领军型、政产学研-协同攻坚型和学科支撑-团队成长型三条提升高效能组态路径,并提出通过要素组合配置提升项目效能的可行方案。研究以组态视角探究有组织科研下要素间的组合匹配对项目效能的影响,揭示出“刚性支撑—弹性匹配”这一核心机制,破解了有组织科研从理论探索到实践验证的“范式密码”,也为科学基金管理的精准施策与资源优化配置提供了重要启示。

关键词: 有组织科研, 区域创新发展联合基金, fsQCA, 要素配置, 组态路径