Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-09-07DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105108
{"title":"Transformation of the governance of failure for radical innovation: The role of strategic leaders","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105108","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105108","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Although failures are inherent in radical innovation activities, many firms do not have clear rules and mechanisms in place to manage them, which can result in a loss of knowledge and resources or inappropriate penalties. The absence of or weak governance of failure might lead to a fundamental misjudgement: Treating a failure (i.e. an unsatisfactory result in uncertain situations in which actors do not know ex-ante the best way to define goals, plans, and outcomes) as an error (i.e. a deviation from expected and desired results in known situations). The governance of failure is more critical for firms shifting from incremental towards radical innovation. In this situation, strategic leaders play a decisive role in performing radical innovation projects and crafting the pathway for transforming the governance to address failure underlying radical innovation processes. However, the current scholarship offers limited guidance on how strategic leaders and organisations transform their governance to cope with failure (i.e. rules and mechanisms) in radical innovation endeavours. Based on a rich qualitative study of eight case studies involving 63 interviews in Brazil, we clarify the role of strategic leaders in transforming the governance of failure in innovation activities. The primary contribution of this study is a new multi-stage, multi-faceted theoretical framework for governance transformation to address failures related to radical innovation processes: Reducing, emancipatory moving, understanding, and incorporating. This new framework contains two significant novelties: A new type of governance, known as the governance of failure, and a unique set of activities and tasks to change the governance structure from error prevention to coping with failures concerning implementing radical innovation processes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142151019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-09-05DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105105
{"title":"How media portrayal of CEO overconfidence impacts radical innovation","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105105","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105105","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The characteristics, actions, and potential biases of strategic leaders play an important role in setting their organizations on the path of radical innovation. An important and growing stream of research has recognized that, due to its impact on a CEO's decision-making processes, CEO overconfidence has critical effects on firm innovation both in terms of the resources that overconfident CEOs are willing to allocate to their firms' innovation activities (input) and the outcome that they reap from these investments (output). However, prior research has yet to fully explore how public, external observations of CEO overconfidence may steer the inner workings of a firm's innovation network toward the pursuit of radical innovation. The socially embedded processes of knowledge diffusion that occur among a firm's knowledge workers may change when they observe the overconfidence of their CEO, affecting a firm's future paths of knowledge exploration—in the pursuit of radical innovations—or paths of knowledge exploitation—in the pursuit of incremental innovation. We draw from agenda-setting theory, cognitive and social psychology, and innovation networks to develop a theoretical framework to address this issue. Our empirical analyses of S&P 500 and S&P 1000 firms in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical devices industries suggest that media portrayal of greater CEO overconfidence leads firms' knowledge workers to focus on exploiting core knowledge and reduces their emphasis on exploring new avenues of recombinatory knowledge diffusion. Thus, we uncover a paradox: while overconfident CEOs are more likely to invest in exploratory knowledge search favoring radical innovation, we consider whether knowledge workers observing their overconfidence in the media may be more likely to converge toward exploitative, incremental innovation practices. Our work offers important contributions to research on the relationship between CEO overconfidence and innovation and the understanding of the role of media portrayal of CEOs on knowledge workers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142151709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105092
{"title":"The determinants of parallel invention: Measuring the role of information sharing and personal interaction between inventors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105092","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105092","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>There is abundant evidence that individuals create similar ideas independently at about the same time. While this phenomenon has often been documented, its underlying mechanisms have been understudied empirically. This study investigates two of such mechanisms implied by the theoretical work of Amabile (1983, 1988), Nonaka (1994), and Nonaka et al. (2006). We examine these mechanisms in the empirical setting of 3G and 4G standardization, allowing us to track whether inventors have access to the same technical information and are involved in interactive discussions on technical issues. Using AI-based similarity scores as well as patent examiner decisions on patent similarity, this study finds that individuals create similar knowledge when identical information inputs are given, and also when they exchange thoughts and ideas among them. The latter effect on parallel inventions is stronger and more robust than the former effect. Our findings deepen the understanding of knowledge creation and provide practical implications for organisations that seek to innovate.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733324001410/pdfft?md5=74e80d2601265e9319c6eda1cc9f09e4&pid=1-s2.0-S0048733324001410-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142129130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-09-03DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105074
{"title":"Do the elite university projects promote scientific research competitiveness: Evidence from NSFC grants","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper contributes to the causal effects of the elite university project on academic productivity, utilizing a comprehensive dataset of research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). We use difference-in-differences estimation to identify the treatment effect of being listed in the 211 Project and find evidence of a substantial improvement in scientific research competitiveness in these universities. Mechanism analyses illuminate the underlying reasons driving this effect, encompassing increased human capital accumulation and government funding, and heightened academic reputation. Our results empirically validate the economic logic behind China’s government-led effort to promote the development of elite universities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142129128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-09-03DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105102
{"title":"The bidirectional causality of tie stability and innovation performance","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105102","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105102","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Scholars increasingly focus on the tie stability of firms' alliance networks and regard innovation as its consequence. However, they overlook that a firm's innovation performance may shape its tie stability. This potential simultaneous causality is poorly accommodated in the empirical literature, which impedes progress in innovation and network research. From the relational embeddedness and behavioral perspectives, we propose a mutually reinforcing relationship between tie stability and innovation performance. A stochastic actor-oriented SIENA model enables us to investigate bidirectional causality. Longitudinal data on 876 firms from 2003 to 2014 were analyzed to find evidence of a self-reinforcing force; this relationship was moderated by collaborative purpose diversity. These findings support the bidirectional causality between tie stability and innovation and the contingency effect of alliance relationships, providing new insights into network research, the innovation literature, and practice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142129129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105093
{"title":"Beyond declarations: Metrics, rankings and responsible assessment","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105093","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105093","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Responsible assessment promotes expert judgment and opposes sole reliance on research metrics when assessing research excellence. While many institutions and national research panels declare commitment to responsible assessment practices, we ask: have these declarations affected the outcomes of research evaluation? Using data from the UK's 2021 national research quality exercise and focusing on the business and management discipline, we show that the strong association between journal rankings and expert evaluations has not changed, despite institutional endorsements of DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment). Additionally, we find that this correlation is strongest for the most prestigious journals. The implications of these findings are profound: they enhance understanding of the use of metrics in research evaluations post-DORA and highlight potential constraints in the deployment of responsible assessment.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733324001422/pdfft?md5=f7b743d95a907a2e7a14acc260bd5e83&pid=1-s2.0-S0048733324001422-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142098207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-08-16DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105084
{"title":"Public R&D investment in economic crises","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study the cyclicality of public R&D in 29 OECD countries over the period 1995 to 2019. Public R&D is procyclical on average, and mostly driven by adjustments in public R&D aimed at the government and higher education sectors. However, public R&D reacts asymmetrically over different phases of the business cycle, becoming acyclical during recessions. This acyclicality masks an important heterogeneity across countries: the world’s leading innovators behave countercyclically during recessions and even increase public R&D. These results suggest that countries behind the innovation frontier could still strengthen their resilience to economic crises by adopting countercyclical public R&D strategies, thereby also safeguarding long-term growth through innovation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141993324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-08-16DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105091
{"title":"Knowledge spillover and entrepreneurship: Evidence from BITNET","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105091","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105091","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study, we investigate how knowledge spillovers create entrepreneurial opportunities using the adoption of BITNET, an early predecessor of the Internet, across universities in the U.S. as an exogenous shock to the knowledge base in the county where the university is located. Using County Business Patterns data, we find a positive relationship between entrepreneurship, measured by the increase in the number of establishments in a county, and the adoption of BITNET at a university in that county. Further, this relationship is stronger for establishments in high-tech industries and for smaller establishments. We also find that the number of patents and citations in a county increase after the adoption of BITNET in a county. These results indicate that knowledge spillovers from local universities can have a strong impact on entrepreneurial opportunities in a location, consistent with the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141993281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-08-13DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105081
{"title":"Motivating innovation: The impact of prestigious talent funding on junior scientists","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite the critical role of creativity in advancing science and technology, our understanding of the funding schemes that drive creativity remains remarkably limited. Concerns have arisen that grants supporting predetermined projects may unintentionally encourage incremental research, prompting governments to explore different funding approaches. For instance, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) initiated the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (EYS), a prestigious talent funding program designed to support junior scientists. Given that radical innovation is a key concern for contemporary China, we empirically estimate the impact of the EYS program on scientific productivity, citation impact, and the generation of radical research. Utilizing a unique dataset, we find that the EYS program enhances both the productivity and citation impact of early-career Chinese scientists. Strikingly, we observe that EYS investigators tend to consolidate current science, resulting in a reduction of disruption compared to their counterparts. We propose several theories to explain this reduced level of disruption, with a particular focus on research strategies. Our investigations suggest that exploitation strategies and a focus on publishing hot-topic papers contribute to this observed effect. These findings provide valuable insights into the impact of funding and hold important policy implications for supporting disruptive research endeavors.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141978480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2024-08-03DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105077
{"title":"New evidence on international postdocs in the US: Less pay, different experiences","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105077","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.105077","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Post-doctoral scholars play a critical role in the innovation workforce and contribute to most scientific publications by US institutions. More than half of US postdoctoral scholars are temporary residents; of these, most earned PhDs abroad. We describe the experiences of international postdocs and find that salaries and many other dimensions of postdoc experiences are different for temporary residents, particularly those trained abroad, while on some dimensions - career guidance, recognition for their work, and work hours - their experiences are similar to those of US citizens and permanent residents. Productivity does not explain the different experiences; temporary residents have higher research productivity. Better matches with supervisors somewhat attenuate these differences, as does speaking English as a first language. However, even controlling for the quality of the match, language and productivity, foreign-educated temporary residents in particular have different experiences along several dimensions: salary and some benefits, involvement in grants and teaching, supervisor mentoring and collaboration outside the lab). Experiences are associated with postdocs' overall assessments of their positions and with changing their intentions to leave or remain in the US.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141941161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}