ABSTRACT

Using the behavioural theory of the firm as a theoretical lens, an integrated framework for this study was developed to examine how negative performance relative to aspiration as well as organisational slack shapes a firm’s openness in its innovation search behaviour. Furthermore, the study investigates whether the extent to which slack is committed to specific organisational procedures determines its moderating effect on the relationship between negative performance feedback and open innovation search behaviour. Patent archives and financial data from 1688 manufacturing firms publicly listed in the US were collected to construct a panel dataset of 13,685 observations. By examining the open innovation search behaviours of these manufacturers from 1986 to 2006, it was found that negative performance feedback encourages firms to be more open to external knowledge sources. The findings also revealed that the absorption degree of slack indeed determines its moderating role. Specifically, underperforming firms with more unabsorbed slack exhibited more openness in their innovation search behaviours, whereas absorbed slack failed to show significance. Possible explanations for the insignificance of absorbed slack are further discussed.

摘要

以公司行为理论为理论视角，为本研究开发了一个综合框架，以检验与抱负相关的负面表现以及组织松弛如何影响公司在创新搜索行为中的开放性。此外，该研究调查了冗余对特定组织程序的影响程度是否决定了其对负面绩效反馈与开放式创新搜索行为之间关系的调节作用。收集了 1688 家在美国公开上市的制造公司的专利档案和财务数据，以构建一个包含 13,685 个观察值的面板数据集。通过考察这些厂商在1986-2006年间的开放式创新搜索行为，结果发现，负面的绩效反馈鼓励公司对外部知识来源更加开放。研究结果还表明，松弛的吸收程度确实决定了它的调节作用。具体而言，具有更多未吸收冗余的表现不佳的公司在创新搜索行为中表现出更大的开放性，而吸收冗余未能显示出显着性。进一步讨论了吸收松弛无关紧要的可能解释。