Knowledge-Intensive Business Service Firms’ Knowledge Externalities and Appropriability in Innovation Performance
基于300家台湾知识密集型商业服务企业的调查数据，研究了企业创新协作中的知识搜索行为与防止知识外溢的保护措施如何影响创新绩效，发现交互式知识搜索与绩效呈U型关系，非交互式知识搜索呈倒U型关系。
We revisit the literature on the “paradox of knowledge externalities”, which encompasses two conflicting views regarding a firm's innovation collaboration and spillover prevention. Drawing on original survey data from 300 Taiwanese Knowledge-Intensive Business Service (KIBS) firms, we explore the extent to which KIBS firms' behavioral elements in innovation collaboration (i.e., interactive knowledge search and non-interactive knowledge search) and unwanted spillovers prevention (i.e., formal and informal appropriability) affect their innovation performance. Specifically, we predict that KIBS firm's interactive knowledge search exhibits a U-shaped relationship with innovation performance, whereas KIBS's non-interactive knowledge search exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation performance. These curvilinear relationships are contingent on whether the KIBS firm employs formal and informal appropriability that consider distinct aspects of innovation protection and value appropriation during its knowledge search. By reconciling the conflicting views in the existing literature, we provide a nuanced framework for understanding the extent to which KIBS firms strategically manage knowledge externalities to secure private benefits. Finally, we conclude with theoretical and managerial implications that underscore the critical role of managing knowledge externalities to maximize privately-owned innovation performance in KIBS firms.