Workers’ mobility and patterns of knowledge diffusion: evidence from Italian data

Abstract

The channels through which firms access and acquire new and relevant knowledge for their innovative activities is a critical issue to the geography and the management of innovation. In this regard, recent studies have suggested that the mobility of workers across firms is a primary source of new knowledge for the hiring firm and, more in general, of knowledge diffusion across firms. However, little evidence has been presented and discussed about the role and the impact of workers’ mobility on the processes of knowledge transfer across firms. The present paper, thus, aims precisely at contributing to this stream of research by making use of unique data on Italian inventors’ curriculum vitae. The results of the empirical analysis indicate that the mobility of inventors is a mechanism that spurs processes of cumulative knowledge and innovation building from the departure firm to the destination one and significantly impacts on knowledge diffusion across firms.