Using technology broadcasting to explore market applications: The moderating role of a firm's domain-specific and general knowledge

Abstract

Innovative firms, like startups, are increasingly making use of technology broadcasting to explore market applications for their technology. While findings from previous studies suggest that these firms can get access to a large pool of suggestions for market applications through technology broadcasting, we lack empirical evidence on whether firms that use technology broadcasting will actually be able to process and explore these suggestions. The current study points to the distinct role of firms' domain-specific and general knowledge base in this respect. It proposes that technology broadcasting is positively related to the number of market applications a firm explores. Moreover, it hypothesizes that this relationship is weakened by the firm's domain-specific knowledge and strengthened by its general knowledge base. We use Poisson analyses on hand-collected survey and secondary data on a sample of 205 Flemish startups. We find that technology broadcasting is positively associated with the number of market applications a firm explores. Furthermore, this positive relationship is stronger with increasing general knowledge, but weaker with increasing domain-specific knowledge. These findings advance our understanding of the boundary conditions of technology broadcasting. Additionally, our study contributes to the open innovation literature which has called for more attention to the challenges an organization faces in managing its external knowledge search. Finally, our study provides important practical insights for innovative firms that are trying to find market applications for their technology.