The quest for valuable inventions: Knowledge search and the value of patented inventions

Tianyu Hou, Liang Zhang, Julie Juan Li, Bin Chong and Yanzi Wu

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2024, vol. 209, issue C

Abstract: While numerous studies have investigated the influence of knowledge search strategies on the impact of patented inventions, these studies predominantly focus on an invention's technological value. The economic value dimension has received less attention. This study draws on category-spanning and recombinant search literature to examine how knowledge search affects the economic value of patented inventions and compares this impact with that on technological value. Through an analysis of the knowledge search of a large sample of 1,998,504 U.S. utility patents, we find that knowledge search depth enhances an invention's economic value but negatively impacts its technological value. In contrast, knowledge search scope boosts an invention's technological value but diminishes its economic value. Moreover, knowledge relatedness, i.e., the extent to which the knowledge components being recombined are similar, has significant moderating effects. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Keywords: Economic value; Technological value; Knowledge search depth; Knowledge search scope; Patented inventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162524005924
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:tefoso:v:209:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524005924

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123794

Access Statistics for this article

Technological Forecasting and Social Change is currently edited by Fred Phillips

More articles in Technological Forecasting and Social Change from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().