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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
A core role expectation of scientists in the principal investigator (PIs) role is to design and deliver research impact for the publicly funded projects that they lead. As such, PIs need to navigate different approaches to research impact as well as being responsive to various institutional, disciplinary, and stakeholder research impact expectations. While we have a growing understanding of how funders and universities enable research impact, less is known about the micro-level antecedent factors that contribute to understanding and realizing research impact from the perspective of individual PIs. Through the lens of ecological theory for conceptualization and analysis, the purpose of this paper is to examine what are the antecedent factors that shape PIs understanding of research impact. Using a qualitative approach based on interviews with medical device PIs we identified individual-level characteristics, micro-, meso-, and macro-level antecedent factors that contribute to how PIs understand research impact.
Author(s): Dolan B, Cunningham JA, McGregor C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Science and Public Policy
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 09/04/2026
Acceptance date: 24/01/2026
Date deposited: 08/05/2026
ISSN (print): 0302-3427
ISSN (electronic): 1471-5430
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scag013
DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scag013
Data Access Statement: The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to the privacy of individuals that participated in the study.
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