A bridge to the far: Relating to distant categories through familiar components

Abstract

A paradox exists in that scholars have argued organizations need knowledge from distant categories (often dissimilar to their knowledge base) in order to successfully innovate, while others have argued that organizations need knowledge to be similar to their knowledge base in order to absorb it. In this study I seek to explore this paradox in organizations using familiar components that have also been used in distant categories as a mechanism to identify, comprehend, and integrate knowledge in those same categories. I argue in this paper that even as the similarity between knowledge is drastically reduced, absorption can be achieved through a distant category link. I use a novel sample of patents in which the material graphene has been used as a component across a diverse set of categories. I find that as an organization increases its familiarity with the component (graphene), it is more likely to patent in a distant category in which the component is already used.