In my dissertation, I examine varied types of knowledge and how they contribute to innovation generation and selection at both the firm and the industry level using the emerging industry context of small satellites. My research is divided into three papers. In Paper One, I take a supply-demand perspective and examine how suppliers of technology—with their unique knowledge of science and technology—and users of technology—with their unique knowledge of demand—contribute to innovation generation and selection over the industry lifecycle. Results show that the contributions of suppliers and users vary based on unique aspects of innovation, such as novelty, breadth, and coherence – and also over the industry life cycle. In Paper Two, I study how firms overcome science-business tension in their pursuit of novel innovation. I examine unique aspects of knowledge: scientists' business knowledge and CEOs' scientific knowledge. I show that CEOs' scientific knowledge is an important driver of firms' novel pursuits and that this impact is higher when scientists do not have business knowledge. In the third paper, I further examine how scientists with high technological and scientific knowledge—i.e., star scientists—impact firm innovation generation and selection. With a focus on explorative and exploitative innovation, I develop theory on the boundary conditions of stars' impact on firm level outcomes. I propose that individual level contingencies—i.e., stage of employment—and organizational level contingencies—explorative or exploitative innovation—both facilitate and hinder stars' impact on firms' innovative pursuits. / Doctor of Philosophy / In my dissertation, I study innovation at both the firm level and the industry level using the emerging industry context of small satellites. My dissertation divides into three papers. In Paper One, I study unique aspects of innovation at the industry level taking a supply-demand perspective. Since novelty, breadth, and convergence of innovation are all important drivers of the emergence and evolution of industries, I examine how supply side or demand side actors contribute to unique aspects of innovation over the industry life cycle. Results suggest that both suppliers and users of technology make important contributions to innovation, however, their respective contributions vary to novelty, breadth, and convergence of innovation. This impact varies over the industry life cycle. In Paper Two, I study how firms pursue novel innovation as main creator of economic value for firms. Firms need both scientific and technological knowledge in their pursuit of novel innovation. However, firms often struggle to overcome science-business tensions. Focusing on CEOs and scientists as two main drivers of innovation, I study how CEOs’ scientific knowledge and scientists’ business knowledge help firms overcome business-science tension. Results suggest that the likelihood of firms’ novel pursuit is higher when CEOs have scientific knowledge and scientists do not have business knowledge. In Paper Three, I further examine how high-performing scientists—i.e., star scientists—impact explorative and exploitative innovation. I propose that the stage of employment of individuals and goal context of firms are important contingencies that impact how stars impact firm level innovation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/102034 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Creators | Asgari, Elham |
| Contributors | Management, Hunt, Richard A., Gnyawali, Devi R., Srivastava, Manish Kumar, Tegarden, Linda F., Townsend, David M. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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