Does external knowledge affect environmental innovations? An empirical investigation of eleven European countries

Claudia Ghisetti (), Alberto Marzucchi and Sandro Montresor ()

No dis1301, DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS)

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects that knowledge sources external to the firm have on its environmental innovations (EIs). Using the CIS 2006-2008, we refer to both the probability to introduce an EI and the number of EI-typologies adopted by firms. We estimate the impact of the “depth” and “breadth” of knowledge sourcing. In addition, we test for the moderating role of the firm's absorptive capacity. In general, knowledge sourcing has a positive impact on both types of EI-performance. However, a broad sourcing strategy reveals a threshold, over which the propensity to introduce an EI diminishes. Cognitive constraints in processing knowledge inputs that are too diverse could explain this result. Absorptive capacity generally helps firms in turning broadly sourced external knowledge into EI. Conversely, internal innovation capabilities and knowledge socialization mechanisms seem to diminish the EI impact of knowledge sourced through intense external interactions. The possibility of mismatches between internal and external knowledge and problems in distributing the decision-makers’ attention between the two could explain this result.

Keywords: Environmental Innovation; Open Innovation; Absorptive Capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O32 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/diseis-1301.pdf.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Does external knowledge affect environmental innovations? An empirical investigation of eleven European countries (2013)
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:dis:wpaper:dis1301

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emilio Colombo ().