Managing the Appropriability of R&D Collaboration

Research and development (R&D) collaboration with various types of external stakeholders is becoming increasingly important for firms pursuing innovation‐related goals. However, collaborating with actors such as customers, suppliers, competitors, and research organisations involves risks related to knowledge leakage and the possible misappropriation of the created value. It is therefore logical to employ mechanisms that safeguard effective knowledge protection and innovation appropriability. In order to shed light on this issue, we conduct an empirical investigation of appropriability mechanisms in R&D collaboration based on a multi‐industry sample from Finland. The results of the study provide novel evidence concerning the relationship between different appropriability mechanisms (intellectual property rights, contracts, labour legislation, human resource management practices, lead time, secrecy, and tacitness) and the firm's propensity to engage in R&D collaboration with various stakeholders.