How does digital piracy affect innovation? Evidence from software firms

Despite digital piracy's well-documented impact on firm revenue, the relationship between piracy and firm innovation, including the creation of new intellectual property (IP) rights, is not well-understood. To fill this gap, this paper estimates the impact of piracy on innovation through a quasi-experimental design and explores the mechanisms driving this relationship using data on software firms. Leveraging a 2001 technological shock that suddenly enabled rising software piracy, we find increases in subsequent R&D spending, copyrights, trademarks, and patents for large, incumbent software firms. Furthermore, firms with large patent portfolios appear to disproportionately increase copyrights and trademarks following the piracy shock. After considering alternatives, our analysis suggests that impacted firms perceive piracy as a form of product-market competition that causes them to increase innovation and balance their IP portfolios.     

How does IT affect design centricity approaches: Evidence from Spain’s smart tourism ecosystem

Little or no prior work has examined how information technology enables the development of a design centered digital ecosystem. To examine this research question, we employ a capabilities lens and identify the pathways through which IT drives the development of a design centric smart tourism ecosystem. We analyzed archival data and data collected from interviews conducted in Spain, a country which has embarked on smart destinations projects and topped the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Competitiveness Index. From our analysis, we delineate and identify specific IT-enabled capabilities important for a country implementing smart tourism projects. We find that many of the IT resources available help develop key capabilities necessary for creating a design centric smart tourism ecosystem.     

How does background affect attitudes to socioscientific issues in Taiwan?

Based upon the goal of scientific literacy and the importance of socioscientific issues (SSIs), the purpose of this study was to investigate the Taiwanese public's awareness of, inclinations to buy/use, and their attitudes towards three attributes of SSIs including genetically modified food (GM food), organic food, and DDT and malaria (DDT). Data from a total of 865 participants across ten populations (six different educational levels and four different vocations) were validated and analyzed. The results revealed that the awareness regarding GM food and DDT increased with the levels of education. The inclinations to buy/use and the attitudes towards the three SSIs, were not related to levels of education, vocation or gender, but were related to attributes of the SSIs. The implications for education and policy development are discussed.     

How does openness affect the importance of incentives for innovation?

When firms open up to external resources for innovation, do internal incentives still matter? This paper investigates the moderating effect of open innovation on the relationship between incentives and innovation using a survey database of British firms. Whilst both openness and incentives are positively associated with innovation efficiency, a substitution effect is found between openness and incentives. Whilst long-term incentives appear to enhance efficiency to a greater extent than short-term incentives, the substitution effect of openness is stronger regarding long-term incentives.     

Internal sequential innovations: How does interrelatedness affect patent renewal?

The value of patented innovations has attracted substantial research attention, especially in the context of patent renewal. However, research often assumes that a firm's patented innovations are independent from each other. We draw upon evolutionary economics and suggest that some of a firm's patents share important genealogical relationships, which we refer to as internal sequential innovations. We propose internal sequential innovations are more valuable and therefore more likely to be renewed than stand-alone innovations. We examine our hypotheses from a dataset of US pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. The results confirm our hypotheses at both the patent and the firm levels.     

How does government microblog affect tourism market value? The perspective of signaling theory

The emotion of social media users has been found to impact market value, but the mechanism of emotion transmission needs to be further explored. Based on the signaling theory, this study formulates the hypothesis that government microblog affects tourism market value by affecting consumers' emotion. A total of 10020 pieces of observation data on four famous Chinese scenic spots are analyzed with text analysis technique, and the correlations between government microblog emotion, comment emotion, and market value are confirmed. Besides, the moderating roles played by the COVID-19 epidemic and tourism attention are verified, and the crowding-out effect of tourism attention on comment emotion is validated. This study provides new understandings of signal transmission as well as practical suggestions for promoting the development of tourism through government social media in the context of COVID-19.     

Is there a startup wage premium? Evidence from MIT graduates

While startups are the center of extensive policy discussion given their outsized role in job creation, it is not clear whether they create high quality jobs relative to incumbent firms. This paper investigates the wage differential between venture capital-backed startups and established firms, given that the two firm types compete for talent. Using data on MIT graduates, I find that non-founder employees at VC-backed startups earn roughly 10% higher wages than their counterparts at established firms. To account for unobserved heterogeneity across workers, I exploit the fact that many MIT graduates receive multiple job offers. I find that wage differentials are statistically insignificant from zero when individual fixed effects are included. This implies that much of the startup wage premium in the cross-section can be attributed to selection, and that VC-backed startups pay competitive wages for talent. To unpack the selection mechanism, I show that individual preferences for risk as well as challenging work strongly predict entry into VC-backed startups.     

How do foreign firms patent in emerging economies with weak appropriability regimes? Archetypes and motives

Foreign firms patent in emerging economies with weak appropriability regimes at an increasing rate. This phenomenon constitutes a paradox since in such a setting foreign firms should have weak incentives to patent. In an attempt to resolve this paradox, we conducted an inductive analysis of 11 foreign firms that patent in such a setting, using the case of China as our empirical context. We identify four archetypes of foreign firms and three key antecedents the interaction of which determines which archetype a firm can be subsumed under.Our study complements the developed-economy focus of the extant appropriation literature by adding an international perspective. We extend previous econometric studies by identifying salient factors on the firm level that determine the extent to which a foreign firm patents in emerging economies with a weak appropriability regime, highlighting that the extent of a firm's motivation to maintain its freedom to operate can supersede imitability concerns. We also comment on the practical implications of these contributions for managers of foreign firms. Highlighting a structural conflict of interest between foreign firms from developed economies and the development goals of an emerging economy, we point to the generalizability of our results to a wide range of other emerging economies worldwide.     

Moving skills from hands to heads: does importing technology affect export performance in textiles?

This paper examines the link between imported technologies and a country’s export performance, as measured by product quality. The analysis is set in the background of the process of regional integration between the European Union (EU) and its neighbouring developing countries. The underlying question is whether trade integration fosters or dampens learning and technological upgrading. We find that unit values of exports from these countries to the EU rose steadily between 1988 and 1996, relative to the unit values of world exports to Europe. If increases in unit values satisfactorily proxy increases in product quality, then trade integration has fostered product upgrading and technological learning in the sample countries. We find that imported technologies and other sources of knowledge have a strong bearing on this pattern. Technological inflows are captured by the degree of involvement of European companies in export flows from our sample countries (outward processing trade (OPT)) and by the skill content of the machines imported.Non-technical abstractTrade and greater economic integration affect the upgrading of technologies in less advanced areas. The open questions pertain to the direction of such change and to the channels through which technologies are transmitted. This paper explores the role of a few different channels for importing technologies and their impact on export performance. The study is set in the context of the process of economic integration between the EU and its neighbouring developing countries, in particular Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and the Southern Mediterranean Countries (SMCs).New potential sources of technological inputs become available with declining trade barriers. Some of these technological inputs are deliberately purchased (new machines, foreign investments, skilled personnel) and others are acquired through spillovers, by trading with more technologically advanced partners, by gathering information in foreign markets, by learning from sophisticated imported goods.In the present paper export performance is defined in terms of the quality of exported products, on the presumption that higher quality products imply the use of more complex technologies and have a strong learning potential. We find that unit values of exports from the sample countries to the EU rose steadily between 1988 and 1996, relative to the unit values of world exports to Europe.We then investigate whether imported technologies and other sources of knowledge have some bearing on this pattern. Particular attention is devoted to the technologies embodied in the machines. We develop a measure of technological complexity of the machines imported related to the level of skills required to use them. We also jointly estimate the role of outward processing trade which indirectly captures foreign investments and other forms of involvement of European firms in our sample countries.These channels of technological imports appear to have a statistically discernible and positive role on product quality for all the countries analysed. Imported machines are the most important determinant of product upgrading in the SMCs, while foreign firms play a dominant role in the CEECs.This result is consistent with stylised facts. The pattern of trade liberalisation and specialisation was quite different for the two groups of countries. In the CEECs liberalisation was sudden and drastic. Trade patterns changed considerably, both in terms of products and market destination. Foreign companies are playing a crucial role in this pattern of transition. In the SMCs things have been smoother. Trade is being liberalised more gradually and many of these countries have a strong specialisation in textiles. Although based on imported technologies, upgrading and learning appears to be rooted in the local production structure rather than being channelled by foreign companies.     

How beneficial are relational capital and technology orientation for innovation? Evidence from Mexican SMEs

Globally, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are engines of economic growth and job creation. After the pandemic, innovation activities have become more critical than ever as a generator of competitiveness. Therefore, we need to better understand the factors that lead to innovation in SMEs. This study aims to analyze the role of relational capital and technology orientation in innovation to appreciate its final impact on firm performance. The main results reveal a strong positive effect of relational capital on innovation, but the effect is not so strong as firm performance. We also found a strong positive effect of relational capital on technology orientation. Finally, we offer some clues in the debate on technology as a source of innovation and how relational capital and technology orientation are related to a firm’s performance. The results reveal significant implications for innovation policies and relational capital strategies for SMEs.     

How do Miles and Snow's strategic types differ in their knowledge assets? Evidence from Italian SMEs

This paper takes a knowledge-based view of firms and discusses the importance of linking organizational knowledge assets into corporate strategy. In order to conceptualize knowledge assets, the paper adopts the intellectual capital (IC) framework, which distinguishes three IC components: human, structural and relational capital. As regards business strategy, the paper adopts Miles and Snow's model, which identifies three strategic types of successful organizations: Defenders, Analysers and Prospectors. The paper explores the ways in which the three strategic types differ in weighting the single components of their IC. This study represents an attempt to extend the Miles and Snow typology including the aspect of knowledge assets. The link between knowledge asset management and strategy is investigated by means of three case studies conducted in Italian small and medium enterprises from the food sector. The paper argues that firms of different Miles and Snow strategic types have different mix of IC components.     

How does competition influence innovative effort within a platform-based ecosystem? Contrasting paid and unpaid contributors

Unpaid individuals are an important source of contributions to many ecosystems. An understudied phenomenon is how such contributions are shaped by competition. In this paper, we study how the rate and type of new product creation are shaped by competition. We contrast its impact on “paid” developers that profit by selling their products to that on “unpaid” developers that release their software for free. Using a hand-collected dataset on the jailbreak ecosystem, we find that increasing competition has a stronger negative effect on the rate of innovation by paid developers than that of unpaid developers. We also find that increasing competition is associated with a reduction in the reuse of existing technological components by unpaid developers, relative to paid developers, suggesting that the types of products developed also shift as competition increases. The results suggest that competition has an important role in shaping innovation in platform-based ecosystems, but that it differs for paid and unpaid contributors.     

Brand communities based in social media: How unique are they? Evidence from two exemplary brand communities

Understanding how brands should operate on social media is very important for contemporary marketing researchers and managers. This paper argues that due to the social and networked nature of social media it is an ideal environment for brand communities. Taking a deep qualitative approach and with analysis of a vast array of data, the article articulates the existence of brand communities on social media. More importantly, it delineates five unique and relevant dimensions of brand communities based in social media. The authors advise researchers to consider these dimensions while conducting research on brand communities and social media. Further implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

How does health information seeking from different online sources trigger cyberchondria? The roles of online information overload and information trust

Cyberchondria is conceptualized as excessive online searches for medical information, which is typically accompanied by feelings of emotional distress or anxiety. While previous studies in this nascent area have identified various psychological predictors of cyberchondria, a relative dearth of research has explored the role of different online information sources in its development. Informed by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model and the literature on cyberchondria, this study proposes a theoretical framework to explain why people develop cyberchondria when seeking medical information via different online sources. Based on a three-wave panel survey (N = 654), our findings suggest that health information seeking via online search engines increases online information overload (β = 0.11, p = .02), while health information seeking via social media platforms and health-specific websites increases online information trust (β = 0.13, p = .005; β = 0.25, p < .001). Additionally, online information overload is negatively related to online information trust (β = -0.39, p < .001). Subsequently, both online information overload and online information trust trigger cyberchondria (β = 0.73, p < .001; β = 0.15, p < .001). This study can contribute to the literature by expanding and deepening our understanding of cyberchondria developmental trajectory as well as emphasizing the pivotal role of online information sources in this complicated and dynamic process.     

How do collaborations with universities affect firms’ innovative performance? The role of “Pasteur scientists” in the advanced materials field

This article aimed to identify the effect of university-industry (U-I) collaborations on the innovative performance of firms operating in the advanced materials field, and by doing so, it proposed an original classification of the research organization partners. The main contribution resides in the estimation of the role played by collaborations with differently experienced scientists. In contrast with previous studies, whose empirical setting was the life science industry, in the advanced materials industry the most effective collaborations are not with “Star scientists”, but with “Pasteur scientists”. The latter concept was empirically tested first by the authors of this article, to deepen the present understanding of industrial heterogeneity in innovation processes and to offer new insights for the formulation of corporate innovation strategies. The results of the estimation of a negative binomial regression model applied to a sample of 455 firms active in the photocatalysis in Japan confirm the idea that engaging in research collaborations, measured as co-invention, with “Pasteur scientists” increases firms’ R&D productivity, measured as number of registered patents. In contrast, we found that firms’ collaborations with “Star scientists” exert little impact on their innovative output.     

Better interaction performance attracts more chronic patients? Evidence from an online health platform

Online health consultation (OHC) serves as an important approach for patients to take an initial impression of a physician's interaction with their patients. However, little study has paid attention to how physicians leverage their interaction performance to attract patients. Drawing on signaling theory and externality effect, this study investigates how a physician's OHC performance influences patients’ choice of consulting the physician in a chronic disease context on an online health platform. By decomposing a physician's interaction performance into three dimensions, i.e., interaction breadth, interaction length, and interaction depth, this paper provides a novel method to evaluate the physician's performance. Information of 4434 physicians from six departments of chronic diseases at 185 general hospitals in the Tier Three Class A segment across China was collected, including individual information and the OHC records of the physicians. Regression analyses were applied to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that better performance in the interaction breadth and length helps physicians attract more patients while higher interaction depth reduces patients’ choice of physician. A physician's general health knowledge sharing behavior and expertise level intensify the negative effect of interaction depth on patient choice of physician. This study contributes to the literature on online health behavior, chronic disease management, and signaling theory, and offers implications for practice.     

How does openness influence the impact of a scholar’s research? An analysis of business scholars’ citations over their careers

How do the effects of cognitive openness and structural openness on the research impact of business scholars vary over their careers? By analysing a longitudinal sample of 35,296 scholars who published in business and management journals, we show that the cognitive openness and the structural openness of business scholars have non-linear relationships with their research impact. In particular, we found that, whereas moderate levels of cognitive openness and structural openness are desirable for increasing young scholars’ citations, a high level of cognitive openness and a low level of structural openness contribute to senior scholars’ citations. This study contributes to our understanding of different search behaviour across business scholars’ career paths and its implications for scholars’ research impact.     

Does policy influence the commercialization route? Evidence from National Institutes of Health funded scientists

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical test of the commercialization route chosen by university scientists funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the NIH and how their chosen commercialization path is influenced by whether or not the university technology transfer office is involved. In particular, the paper identifies two routes for scientific commercialization. Scientists who select the TTO route by commercializing their research through assigning all patents to their university TTO account for 70% of NCI patenting scientists. Scientists who choose the backdoor route to commercialize their research, in that they do not assign patents to their university TTO, comprise 30% of patenting NCI scientists. The findings show a clear link between the commercialization mode and the commercialization route. Scientists choosing the backdoor route for commercialization, by not assigning patents to their university to commercialize research, tend to rely on the commercialization mode of starting a new firm. By contrast, scientists who select the TTO route by assigning their patents to the university tend to rely on the commercialization mode of licensing.     

Science or graduates: How do firms benefit from the proximity of universities?

This paper examines the impact of universities on the technological performance of adjacent firms. We extend existing research by jointly analyzing, and comparing, the effects of education (graduates) and scientific research (publications) activities of universities on firms’ technological performance. Adopting the knowledge production framework, our study is conducted at the level of 101 Italian territorial areas (provinces) and four industries. Overall, fixed-effect panel data models reveal a positive effect of both university graduates and scientific publications on the technological performance of firms. At the same time, considerable industry differences are observed. While the provision of university graduates positively affects firm performance in all industries under study, additional effects for scientific research are only observed in electrical and pharmaceutical industries that are science-intensive and where the scientific knowledge base is changing rapidly over time. The observation that spillovers from academia into the industrial texture of provinces rely on education and research in an industry-specific manner is relevant to the design of appropriate research and innovation policies.