Effects Of Network Position In Collaboration Network And Past Performance On Individual Knowledge Innovation

With the advent of knowledge economy,individual knowledge innovation has become one of the core competencies of enterprises with its inimitability.One cannot act alone,and innovation cannot be completed by a separate individual.Individuals are embedded in the social network of collaboration between researchers,and the innovative behavior has a strong network attribute.The individual's network position and the heterogeneity of individual ability will have an impact on individual knowledge innovation performance.Network position is not stationary,and the collaboration network formed by the cooperative interaction is not static.Therefore,it is necessary to study the relationship between the collaboration network and the individual knowledge innovation in a dynamic evolution perspective.How can an individual occupy a network position in a collaboration network?How does individual capacity affect the relationship between the collaboration network and individual knowledge innovation? This paper holds that the network structural hole and the degree centrality are two important factors,and learns from the previous research that choose past performance as an agent of individual capacity.Based on the social network theory and knowledge innovation theory,this paper explores the evolution of two kinds of network positions,namely the structural hole and the degree centrality,and analyzes the mechanism how individuals' position in the collaboration network and heterogeneity of individual ability influence individual knowledge innovation,then we got the research model and related hypothesis.In this paper,Biotechnology Company was selected as the study sample,and the samples were collected from Eli Lilly and Company,Merck Laboratories,and Abbott Laboratories from 1976 to 1995,including 3701 patent data of 1460 researchers.This paper constructed collaboration networks of patent inventors,and finally got 664 patent inventors.On the basis of the theoretical and empirical analysis,this paper has obtained the following conclusions:(1)For the individual in the collaboration network,past performance has a positive effect on occupying structural holes.Individuals with high performance tend to form a non-redundant relationship that repays more,and often become an alternative potential collaborator,bringing new partners to high-performance individuals,thereby enabling individuals to become “bridges” to occupy structural holes.(2)For the individual in the collaboration network,past performance has a positive effect on occupying degree centrality.Individuals with higher performance are more motivated and capable of occupying degree centrality in the collaboration network.Potential partners receive the signals that the past performance delivers,and choose to cooperate with each other.These two factors increase one's direct relationships,thereby improving his/her degree centrality in a collaboration network.(3)In collaboration networks,the structural hole and the degree centrality both have a positive impact on knowledge innovation.It indicates that innovation has a network attribute,and networks provide individuals with resources and opportunities,and that network positions may lead to great differences in innovation.(4)Past performance has a moderating effect on the relationship between network position and individual knowledge innovation.In particular,past performance has a positive impact on the relationship between structural holes in collaboration network and individual knowledge innovation,and the relationship between degree centrality in collaboration network and individual knowledge innovation.To explain that differences in individual capacity to use the resources and opportunities brought by network position have important effects on individual innovation,this paper select past performance as an agent of individual capacity like previous studies.