Abstract: The university-industry collaboration is a double-edged sword for the development of universities. It has not been effectively explored how to leverage university-industry collaboration to help universities strengthen their scientific research. Based on the researchers of the three university scientific research teams in the field of engineering, this paper explores the influence path of university-industry collaboration on academic performance with the framework ‘motivation-behavior-performance’ from the perspective of behavior through multiple case research methods: (1) the collaborative motivation is the starting point and determines the needs and levels of collaboration. Funding motivation is extrinsic motivation, mission motivation is intrinsic motivation, and learning motivation is between internal and external motivation. The more intrinsic the motivation-driven university-industry collaboration is, the more it contributes to the improvement of academic performance; (2) collaborative behavior is a mediator and moderator. The resource input behavior under the individual's own dimension determines the intensity of collaboration. The partner matching behavior under the interaction dimension between individual and environment determines the quality of collaboration. Moderate resource input and matching partners can better promote academics performance. This paper enriches and expands the micro-level theory of university-industry collaboration, and provides practical guidance for the academic and commercial incentives in the university scientific research teams.

Key words: university-industry collaboration, university scientific research team, collaborative motivation, collaborative behavior, academic performance