Making a marriage of materials: The role of gatekeepers and shepherds in the absorption of external knowledge and innovation performance

Anne L.J Ter Wal,Paola Criscuolo,Ammon Salter

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2017.03.003

Anne L.J Ter Wal, Paola Criscuolo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.03.003

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Journal: Research Policy	Publication Date: Mar 17, 2017
Citations: 93	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Imperial College London, University of Bath

Abstract

Through interviews and a large-scale survey of R&D scientists and engineers, this paper explores individuals’ attempts to absorb external knowledge, focusing on their efforts to identify and assimilate external knowledge and promote its utilization. Extant research does not explicitly address whether individuals should better specialize in certain absorption efforts or rather work as generalists dedicated to a range of efforts. We suggest that assimilation efforts increase the value of individuals’ efforts at external search and at promoting the utilization of external knowledge, which culminates in two main absorption roles that can help individuals achieve greater innovation performance. We argue that gatekeepers who combine external search with assimilation effort help to achieve innovation by contributing to building potential absorptive capacity, while shepherds who combine assimilation with utilization effort aid innovation by building realized absorptive capacity. We find support for these predictions and discuss the implications for research and managerial practice in open innovation.

Highlights

By embracing more open forms of innovation, organizations are increasingly requiring their staff to make greater efforts to identify, assimilate, and utilize external knowledge (Chesbrough, 2003; West et al, 2014)
We suggest that assimilation efforts increase the value of individuals’ efforts at external search and at promoting the utilization of external knowledge, which culminates in two main absorption roles that can help individuals achieve greater innovation performance
We argue that gatekeepers who combine external search with assimilation effort help to achieve innovation by contributing to building potential absorptive capacity, while shepherds who combine assimilation with utilization effort aid innovation by building realized absorptive capacity

Summary

Introduction

By embracing more open forms of innovation, organizations are increasingly requiring their staff to make greater efforts to identify, assimilate, and utilize external knowledge (Chesbrough, 2003; West et al, 2014). Part II is a deductive study that draws upon a large-scale survey of R&D scientists and engineers in Neptune to examine how individuals combine those activities in distinct absorption roles and how those roles affect their innovation performance. This multimethod approach allows us to pose and try to answer the following questions: Do individuals who search for and assimilate external knowledge contribute more to a firm’s innovative performance than individuals dedicated exclusively to external search? This multimethod approach allows us to pose and try to answer the following questions: Do individuals who search for and assimilate external knowledge contribute more to a firm’s innovative performance than individuals dedicated exclusively to external search? Can individuals effectively utilize external knowledge if they are not involved in the assimilation of external knowledge?

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