Abstract
AbstractKnowledge‐intensive services firms prefer to locate in cities that provide access to rich information flows and abundant opportunities for learning‐by‐recruiting. Focusing specifically on such locations, this paper explores how innovation is associated with work experiences “collected” by employees through their recent career paths and the implementation by current employer firms of practices to manage knowledge. Strong complementarities are found using a unique Norwegian dataset: The statistical association between practices and innovation outcomes depends strongly on variety of experience‐knowledge among employees. Conversely, while said variety does not affect innovation in the absence of dedicated practices, it strongly does in their presence.
Highlights
Corporate innovation has traditionally been studied from the perspective of scientific knowledge, systematic research and development (R&D) work and formal business network configurations (e.g., Bogliacino & Cardona, 2014; Schøtt & Jensen, 2016; van Beers & Zand, 2014)
Rho is positive and significant in all three models, meaning that error terms of the two equations are correlated and outcomes interdependent as service innovation theory lead us to expect: Higher probabilities of SUPPINNO follows from higher probabilities of SERVINNO and vice versa
Once the distinction between experiences collected within and between domains is introduced in model 2, it is evident that both service innovation and supportive innovation is positively associated only with the component of total experience variety that is between-domain
Summary
Corporate innovation has traditionally been studied from the perspective of scientific knowledge, systematic research and development (R&D) work and formal business network configurations (e.g., Bogliacino & Cardona, 2014; Schøtt & Jensen, 2016; van Beers & Zand, 2014). The strong and persistent preferences exhibited by KIS for locating in the “madding crowd” (Shearmur, 2015) of large city regions (Jøranli & Herstad, 2017; Keeble & Nachum, 2002; Torres & Godinho, 2020) suggest that firms in these locations develop innovation models that are geared towards tapping external knowledge pools through recruitment and localized information search (Glaeser, 1999; Malmberg & Power, 2005; Power & Lundmark, 2003). The fundamental question of whether experience-knowledge interact with organizational practices to shape innovation in firms remains open
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