Intellectual capital or signal? The effects of scientists on alliance formation in knowledge-intensive industries

Xiaowei Luo, Kenneth W. Koput and Walter W. Powell

Research Policy, 2009, vol. 38, issue 8, 1313-1325

Abstract: Hiring employees with advanced education, training, and experience has been a prevalent human resource practice in dynamic science-based industries, and a growing body of literature has demonstrated the importance of scientists in such fields. Little research has attempted to distinguish the functional from the symbolic roles of scientists, however. We develop an integrative theoretical framework to separate the productive and legitimating effects of scientists on strategic alliance formation of firms. Results from a longitudinal analysis of more than 300 U.S. biotechnology firms between 1988 and 1999 suggest a positive relationship between ratio of scientists and R&D alliance partners as well as a positive relationship with finance alliance partners. Scientists influence partner attraction more strongly for firms that are less-well-connected, and they become less prominent in fostering finance ties as the industry practice of partnership becomes more institutionalized. We conclude that scientists serve more than just a research function in knowledge-intensive industries. Implications for building interorganizational networks and managing human resources in such industries are discussed.

Keywords: Intellectual; capital; Strategic; alliance; Human; capital; theory; Institutional; theory; Biotechnology; industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048-7333(09)00117-6
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:respol:v:38:y:2009:i:8:p:1313-1325

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

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