Rethinking individual technological innovation: Cooperation network stability and the contingent effect of knowledge network attributes

Runhui Lin, Yanhong Lu, Cheng Zhou and Biting Li

Journal of Business Research, 2022, vol. 144, issue C, 366-376

Abstract: The innovation of inventors is doubly embedded in a cooperation network of collaborations among inventors, and knowledge network composed of linkages among knowledge elements. Network research has provided many insights for individual innovation, yet prior research treats the network as static, ignoring its dynamics. Drawing on social network theory, this study develops a theoretical model that links a focal inventor’s ego cooperation network stability to innovation. Furthermore, it investigates three knowledge network contingencies, namely technological complexity, knowledge diversity, and the stability of the focal inventor’s ego knowledge network, which moderate the relationship between ego cooperation network stability and innovation. Hypotheses are tested using patent data of Huawei's 1,531 inventors filed in China between 2004 and 2013. The results show that the focal inventor’s ego cooperation network stability has an inverted U-shaped effect on innovation. Moreover, technological complexity weakens this effect, while knowledge network stability enhances it.

Keywords: Cooperation Network Stability; Knowledge Network Technological Complexity; Knowledge Network Diversity; Knowledge Network Stability; Individual Technological Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322001205
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:144:y:2022:i:c:p:366-376

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.02.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().