 Passing the torch of knowledge: Star death, collaborative ties, and knowledge creationRajat Khanna Research Policy, 2023, vol. 52, issue 1 Abstract: Stars hold a large portion of organizational knowledge, and their sudden absence may have non-trivial consequences for firms. In this study, I investigate what happens to the knowledge of star inventors following their absence. In particular, I consider the composition of stars' ties with coinventors and examine how it affects the future use of stars' knowledge (i.e., patents). Using the death of star inventors as an exogenous cause for their absence in firms, I find that the use of a star's patents in a firm's subsequent inventive efforts declines following the star's death. The results also indicate that when star inventors frequently collaborate with coinventors, the negative effect of stars' absence on the future use of their knowledge is somewhat alleviated. Further, the presence of central inventors in stars' collaboration networks increases the relative use of stars' knowledge in future inventions. The findings inform managers about conditions that favor “passing the torch” of knowledge from stars to their peers. Keywords: Star death; Knowledge creation; Collaborative ties; Semiconductor industry; Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:1:s0048733322001706 DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2022.104649 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 |
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