Abstract
This paper studies how firms’ recruitment of high-skilled foreign R&D workers affects firm-level exploration. We contemplate that by hiring foreign R&D workers, firms gain increased access to geographical and technological distant knowledge which fosters their exploratory technology development activity. Examining a sample of 376 Danish R&D active firms over the period from 2001 to 2013, we present robust support for this hypothesis and provide evidence that the recruitment of foreign R&D workers spurs firm-level exploration more intensively than the recruitment of native R&D workers. Yet, we find that this is only the case when the recruited foreign R&D workers originate from geographical backgrounds that are represented to a lesser extent within firms’ incumbent R&D workforce. Interestingly, we show that - in contrast to native R&D hires - the recruitment of foreign R&D workers fosters firm-level exploration even when the cognitive distance between these hires and firms’ incumbent R&D workforce is low.
Original language | English |
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Publication date | 2021 |
Number of pages | 33 |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Event | DRUID21 Conference - Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark Duration: 18 Oct 2021 → 20 Oct 2021 Conference number: 42 https://conference.druid.dk/Druid/?confId=62 |
Conference
Conference | DRUID21 Conference |
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Number | 42 |
Location | Copenhagen Business School |
Country/Territory | Denmark |
City | Frederiksberg |
Period | 18/10/2021 → 20/10/2021 |
Internet address |