Developing a Holistic Assessment for Land Grant University Economic Impact Studies: A Case Study

A southern Land-Grant University (LGU) conducted an economic impact study of its Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Research Centers. The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities promotes the use of economic impact studies, however their design is business innovation-centric, deemphasizing the human capital development component that Extension provides. Literature on economic impact theoretical frameworks or proven methodological approaches to assess both the technical and human innovation side of an organization of this size, scale, and scope is limited. This led to the design of an exploratory qualitative study to determine what impacts should and could be measured, and how to attribute an economic value to particular research and extension programming. An analysis of input from industry stakeholders, administrators, and practitioners helped determine that the dominant economic impact assessment tools: large scale input-output models and small scale return on investment and productivity studies, have limitations in accurately operationalizing economic impact calculations for such a large state-wide organization. Initial results of this study demonstrate that both public and private innovations and technical assistance have impacts on the economy. This study exposed measures, methods and recommendations for future economic impact study design.