The Antecedents and Innovation Consequences of Organizational Knowledge Brokering Capability

David Hsu, Wharton
Kwanghui Lim, Melbourne Business School

Abstract

We empirically examine the antecedents and innovation consequences of organizational knowledge brokering capability, the ability to effectively apply knowledge from one technical domain to innovate in another. We do so by tracking all the start-up biotechnology firms founded to commercialize the then-emergent recombinant DNA technology. We examine how firms’ interaction with their external environment helps shape their heterogeneous knowledge brokering capacity, which in turn is associated with uneven ex-post innovative performance. Our results suggest that (a) knowledge brokering capability is achieved by hiring inventors with different technical backgrounds, more so than other boundary-spanning mechanisms typically available to start-ups; (b) knowledge brokering has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovative performance; and (c) knowledge brokering is especially helpful for innovative performance in more complex technological environments.