Inventor mobility, knowledge flows and productivity
Final Report Abstract
Human capital is an important source of sustainable competitive advantage of firms. However, human capital is not immobile. Employees can change their employer taking with them part of the knowledge stock of the firm. Assigned to R&D, the mobility of key R&D personnel can jeopardize a firm's innovative ability and consequently its competitiveness. However, the ability to engage in "distant technological search" (Rosenkopf and Nerkar 2001) is also of particular importance for sustaining a firm's competitiveness. Apart from inter-firm alliances and acquisitions, mobility is one of the mechanisms which would allow firms to tap into distant knowledge domains and recombine their knowledge with distant knowledge elements. Consequently, the mobility of researchers may also promote a firm's competitive advantage. These issues pose major challenges to the management of firms to maintain or increase the firms' position in competition. Moreover, since labor law and other regulations will impact incentives for mobility, there is also a substantial challenge for policy makers. This project sought to contribute to a better understanding of innovation processes and the involved inventors in general, and specifically of (1) the determinants of inventor mobility and (2) the relationship between inventor mobility and inventor productivity. To achieve this goal, an algorithm was developed which identified mobile inventors in European Patent Office (EPO) application data. To validate the algorithm we used data derived from an inventor survey (PatVal EU6). The PatVal EU6 data were especially helpful, since they allowed comparing the algorithm-based EPO information with the survey responses which contained information regarding the professional life ofthe inventors. Finally, interviews with 24 German inventors from different industries enabled us to interpret the results correctly and to derive appropriate implications. Overall, results show that mobility increases productivity. A possible interpretation for this finding is that a move improves the employer-employee match. Consequently, a better match quality leads to a higher productivity. Results further reveal that, in contrast, increasing productivity reduces mobility. Possibly, efficient incentive systems keep productive inventors from leaving the firm once management has recognized the importance of their contribution. We also find that high performers are better able to benefit from moving in order to draw level with or to overtake non-movers in the post-move period than average inventors.
Publications
- (2006): Inventors, Communities and Intellectual Property. In: U. Wengenroth (Hrsg.): Innovation in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Symposium der Volkswagen-Stiftung
Harhoff, Dietmar / Schulz, Celine / Hoisl, Karin
- (2007): A Study of Inventors: Incentives, Productivity and Mobility. DUV Gabler, Wiesbaden. Dissertation thesis, University of Munich, 2006
Hoisl, Karin
- (2007): A Closer Look at Inventive Output - The Role of Age and Career Paths. Munich School of Management Discussion Paper No. 2007-12
Hoisl, Karin
- (2007): Institutionalized Incentives for Ingenuity - Patent Value and the German Employees' Invention Act. In: Research Policy 36 (8): 1143-1162
Harhoff, Dietmar / Hoisl, Karin
- (2007): Inventors and Invention Processes. Results from the PatVal-EU Survey. In: Research Policy 36(8): 1107-1127
Giuri P. / Mariani M. / Brusoni S. / Crespi G. / Francoz D. / Gambardella A. / Garcia-Fontes W. / Geuna A. / Gonzales R. / Harhoff D. / Hoisl K. / Lebas C. / Luzzi A. / Magazzini L. / Nesta L. / Nomaler O. / Palomeras N. / Patel P. / Romanelli M. / B. Verspagen
- (2007): Tracing Mobile Inventors - The Causality between Inventor Mobility and Inventor Productivity. In: Research Policy 36 (5): 619-636
Hoisl, Karin
- (2009): Does Mobility Increase the Productivity of Inventors?, Journal of Technology Transfer, 34(2): 212-225
Hoisl, Karin
