Abstract
Firms rely increasingly on external knowledge, e.g. from universities, to improve their innovation performance. Existing research models the acquisition of knowledge either as a firm-specific search or a purchase on markets for technology. The former implies that a firm chooses and develops relationships with knowledge sources while the latter suggests a transaction governed by markets. We argue that both mechanisms increase a firm’s innovation performance but that they are interrelated. While on the firm level firm-specific search and acquisitions on markets for technology complement each other, the costs of firm-specific search are only justified in underdeveloped markets. Otherwise, market transactions provide higher efficiency and flexibility. This negative cross-level interaction effect is stronger the more knowledge in an industry is covered by markets for technology. We test and support these hypotheses for a sample of 2131 German firms.
Original language | English |
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Publication date | 2014 |
Number of pages | 40 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Event | The Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2014: The Power of Words - Philadelphia, United States Duration: 1 Aug 2014 → 5 Aug 2014 Conference number: 74 http://aom.org/annualmeeting/ |
Conference
Conference | The Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2014 |
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Number | 74 |
Country/Territory | United States |
City | Philadelphia |
Period | 01/08/2014 → 05/08/2014 |
Internet address |