Technology Searching Breadth and Innovation Productivity: Evidence from the Chemical Industry

Abstract

The association between technology searching breadth and innovation productivity has received much attention from scholars. While conventional wisdom argues that there is negative relationship of technology searching breadth and efficiency in production, we assert that under innovation contexts the relationship between the scope of sourcing knowledge and innovation productivity has curvilinear. Adopting the construct of innovation productivity based on the production function measured in financial terms, we explore the relation in the US chemical industry context based on the organizational learning theory, by using the financial and patent-based panel data. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of traits of financial resources as the boundary conditions of the association between them. This study contributes to the extension of organizational learning theory to innovation productivity and to suggesting an integrated view by collaborating with financial economics and to giving managers the guidance of effective technology searching breadth on innovation productivity.