Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2021

Abstract

Inventors are triply embedded. They are embedded in a network of knowledge components that they can reuse in future inventions. They are embedded in an inventor network, where internal embeddedness (the strength of relationships between focal inventors and their colleagues upon whose knowledge the team builds) and network centrality influence access to information. Finally, they are embedded in the firm, with its specific routines that favor external or internal knowledge search, what we call search orientation. Using a sample of 39,785 semiconductor patents, we study the pattern of knowledge reuse, or the recombination of technologically similar components, on invention impact. We propose that reuse of internal knowledge affects invention impact in a concave manner, and posit that internal embeddedness steepens this relationship while network centrality leads to an inflection point shift. We examine whether these effects differ for subsamples of firms with inward- or outward-looking search orientation. Counter to expectations, we find that inward-looking firms’ optimal pattern of internal knowledge reuse does not differ markedly from outward-looking firms. We find that inward-looking firms are more susceptible to internal embeddedness and that centrality in the collaborative network flattens rather than shifts the relationship between reuse and impact. These findings elevate the theoretical discourse of embeddedness from the effects of network positions on innovation outcomes, to one where similar network positions have asymmetric effects that vary with the firm’s search orientation. Our results contribute to an emergent area in innovation research on how inventor networks shape the inventive process and its outcomes.

Keywords

Patents, Knowledge Recombination, Innovation, Impact, Search, Networks

Discipline

Strategic Management Policy | Technology and Innovation

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Journal of Management

Volume

47

Issue

4

First Page

838

Last Page

866

ISSN

0149-2063

Identifier

10.1177/0149206320906865

Publisher

SAGE Publications (UK and US)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320906865

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