The Influence of Ethnic Community Knowledge on Indian Inventor Innovativeness

Paul Almeida (), Anupama Phene () and Sali Li ()
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Paul Almeida: McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057
Anupama Phene: School of Business, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
Sali Li: Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208

Organization Science, 2015, vol. 26, issue 1, 198-217

Abstract: This paper investigates the knowledge influences of the ethnic community on the quality of innovations of Indian immigrant inventors in the U.S. semiconductor industry. Membership in the Indian ethnic community enables inventors to source knowledge from, and to collaborate with, others in the community. By analyzing patent data, we find that the utility of ethnic knowledge and collaborators depends on the level of inventor embeddedness in the community. Most inventors benefit by sourcing knowledge from, or collaborating with, other Indians and hence enhance innovation quality, but at a diminishing rate. For those who are very heavily embedded in the community, ethnic community knowledge decreases the quality of innovation. Our results provide some support for the idea that simultaneously sourcing ethnic knowledge and using ethnic collaborators also decreases innovativeness. Thus, for Indian inventors, the level of embeddedness in the community is a key factor in influencing the quality of innovation.

Keywords: innovation; patents; economic sociology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:26:y:2015:i:1:p:198-217

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