TY - JOUR
T1 - Experience Matters
T2 - The Role of Academic Scientist Mobility for Industrial Innovation
AU - Kaiser, Ulrich
AU - Kongsted, H.C.
AU - Laursen, Keld
AU - Ejsing, Ann-Kathrine
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Research Summary: A learning-by-hiring approach is used to scrutinize scientists' mobility in relation to the recruiting firms' subsequent innovation output. Our starting point is that among firm hires, individuals with university research experience—hired from universities or firms—can be particularly valuable. However, conflicting institutional logics between academia and industry makes working with academic scientists challenging at times for firms. We suggest two solutions to this difficulty: hiring “ambidextrous” individuals with a mix of experience of university research and working for a technologically advanced firm, and a strong organizational research culture in the recruiting firm reflected by the presence of a scientist on the top management team. We track the mobility of R&D workers empirically using patent and linked employer-employee data. Managerial Summary: An important way to make organizations more innovative is hiring individual researchers with the right types of skills and experience. We show that individuals with university research experience beyond their final degree are particularly likely to help boost firm-level innovation output after hiring compared to R&D workers with other types of skills and experience. However, to obtain good returns to innovation from hiring such individuals, firms need a university research–friendly organizational culture when hiring individuals with university research experience, from either firms or academia.
AB - Research Summary: A learning-by-hiring approach is used to scrutinize scientists' mobility in relation to the recruiting firms' subsequent innovation output. Our starting point is that among firm hires, individuals with university research experience—hired from universities or firms—can be particularly valuable. However, conflicting institutional logics between academia and industry makes working with academic scientists challenging at times for firms. We suggest two solutions to this difficulty: hiring “ambidextrous” individuals with a mix of experience of university research and working for a technologically advanced firm, and a strong organizational research culture in the recruiting firm reflected by the presence of a scientist on the top management team. We track the mobility of R&D workers empirically using patent and linked employer-employee data. Managerial Summary: An important way to make organizations more innovative is hiring individual researchers with the right types of skills and experience. We show that individuals with university research experience beyond their final degree are particularly likely to help boost firm-level innovation output after hiring compared to R&D workers with other types of skills and experience. However, to obtain good returns to innovation from hiring such individuals, firms need a university research–friendly organizational culture when hiring individuals with university research experience, from either firms or academia.
KW - Econometric evidence
KW - Innovation output
KW - Organizational research culture
KW - Scientists' mobility
KW - The science–technology relationship
KW - Econometric evidence
KW - Innovation output
KW - Organizational research culture
KW - Scientists' mobility
KW - The science–technology relationship
U2 - 10.1002/smj.2907
DO - 10.1002/smj.2907
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0143-2095
VL - 39
SP - 1935
EP - 1958
JO - Strategic Management Journal
JF - Strategic Management Journal
IS - 7
ER -