Exclusive licensing of university technology: The effects of university prestige, technology transfer offices, and academy-industry collaboration

•We investigate the organizational determinants of the exclusivity of university licenses.•A framework is developed to show how exclusivity is jointly determined by the willingness of both universities and potential licensees to license exclusively.•University prestige and academy–industry collaboration play a significant role in exclusive licensing.•The influence of technology transfer offices in Chinese universities on exclusive licensing is limited.