Taste for Science, Academic Boundary Spanning and Inventive Performance of Scientists and Engineers in Industry

No 12704, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Matching survey data on Ph.D. scientists and engineers currently working in an R&D job in industry with their publications and patents, we study the relationship between their individual traits and the nature of their inventive performance. We find that individuals with a strong taste for science, i.e. motivated by intellectual challenge, independence, and contribution to society, create more novel and impactful patents. Academic boundary spanning, proxied by scientific publications co-authored with academic scientists, mediates the effect of taste for science, but only partly and only on impact-weighted inventive output. For novelty of inventive output, we find no mediation through academic boundary spanning. Individuals with a strong taste for salary collaborate less with academic scientists, fully mediating the negative effect of taste for salary on impact-weighted inventive output.

Keywords: Taste for science; Industry-science links (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Taste for science, academic boundary spanning, and inventive performance of scientists and engineers in industry (2020)
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