Star inventors, knowledge complexity and collaborative ties: what drives deference in invention teams?
利用美国半导体行业专利数据，研究了明星发明家在团队中获得尊重的影响因素，发现知识复杂性增强尊重，而地理距离削弱尊重，且资历与明星身份在尊重上可相互替代。
This paper provides an empirical investigation of factors that drive deference in an invention team setting. Drawing on innovation literature, we hypothesise and test the distinct factors that determine the extent of deference an inventor receives in an invention team. Using patent data from U.S. semiconductor industry, we show that star inventors command deference among their peers and that this effect is moderated by stars’ embeddedness in knowledge, social and geographical context. Deference is amplified when stars have complex knowledge, but not necessarily when they have strong ties. When the stars are geographically distant from their peers, the amount of deference that they receive is lower. We also show that seniority and stardom can acts substitutes rather than compliments when it comes to deference. We discuss the implications of our study for the design and management of invention teams.