International Journal of Technology Management (7 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• How can Technology Intelligence experts benefit from the use of structured analytical frameworks? Proposals based on the Technological Innovation System approach  
  by Marina Flamand, Vincent Frigant 
  Abstract: Technology Intelligence as an information practice for decision support in innovation is attracting increasing interest from companies. This exploratory article discusses an underestimated way to improve technology intelligence practices: the use of structured analysis frameworks. We present an opportunity for technology intelligence experts to incorporate the lessons of innovation studies into the way they study the dynamics of innovation, thereby consolidating and diversifying the insights they are likely to provide to decision makers. More specifically, we show how the Technological Innovation Systems approach can contribute to technology intelligence analysis. We argue that this approach can provide a relevant analytical tool for analysing and evaluating the development of a particular technological field. As a result, the analyses produced will be richer and the professionalisation of the technology intelligence experts can be expected to improve.
  Keywords: Technology intelligence; technological innovation system; structured analytical framework; technological field study.
  
  
• R&D Area Diversity and Innovation Quality: A Cross-functional Absorptive Capacity Perspective  
  by Tianyu Hou, Wei Wang, Jin Chen, Haijie Wang 
  Abstract: Although many studies have investigated how the diversity of R&D human capital influences innovation performance, the impact of the diversity of functional areas in R&D centres remains poorly understood. Drawing on the absorptive capacity framework, this study examines how R&D area diversity influences innovation quality. As R&D activities are embedded in organisational social networks and knowledge networks, we further investigate how social cohesion, knowledge cohesion, and social-knowledge cohesion moderate the effect of R&D area diversity on innovation quality. We argue that R&D area diversity improves intra-organisational cross-function absorptive capacity, which enhances innovation quality. The positive effect of R&D area diversity increases when social cohesion and knowledge cohesion are high, and the coupling of social-knowledge cohesion is low. An analysis of a large longitudinal dataset of 3,061 firm-year observations covering 486 global pharmaceutical firms provides strong support for our hypotheses. We end with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications.
  Keywords: innovation quality; R&D area diversity; social cohesion; knowledge cohesion; social-knowledge cohesion; absorptive capacity; pharmaceutical firms; patents; Poisson estimation; panel regressions.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2023.10062974
   
  
• The Impact of Employees' Digital Growth Mindset on Digital Transformation Engagement  
  by Yaxin Zhao, Qinxian Liu, Taro Kamioka 
  Abstract: Rapidly developing digital technologies affect private companies' digital transformation (DT). However, most companies have not made much progress in DT as they initially expected. While it is claimed that employees' mindset is critical in promoting DT, there is a paucity of empirical research documenting how their mindset is related to progress in DT. This study presents a new concept of the digital growth mindset, which is the belief that digital technology can improve people's abilities. Employees with this mindset embrace new technologies proactively, which enhances their agility in changing environments, increasing their engagement in DT. A questionnaire survey conducted in Japan showed that digital growth mindset positively affects employees' DT engagement and digital agility.
  Keywords: digital growth mindset; DGM; digital mindset; growth mindset; digital transformation engagement; DTE; employee digital agility; EDA; digital transformation; DT.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2023.10064347
   
  
• Robots and Firm Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from China  
  by Bowen Li, Xin LIU, Cai Zhou 
  Abstract: Utilizing data of robot application in prefecture-level and Chinese listed firms from 2003 to 2017, this research investigates the impact of industrial robots on the firm total factor productivity (TFP). Empirical results show that the application of industrial robots can boost the growth of firm TFP. The conclusion holds after multiple robustness tests taking into account the effects of the industry, different estimation methods, and instrumental variables. Moreover, the results indicate that the effects of industrial robots enhance firm TFP is particularly evident for non-state-owned enterprises, capital-intensive industries, firms with less financial constraints, and those located in eastern regions. Mechanism analysis shows that industrial robots improve firm TFP by boosting innovative vitality and operation efficiency. These findings help deepen the understanding of how industrial robots shape the TFP at the firm level, and provide policy implications for promoting technology and economic development.
  Keywords: Industrial robot; Firm total factor productivity; Innovation vitality; Operation efficiency.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.10067706
   
  
• Selection of Collaborative Partners for Ambidextrous Technological Innovation: an Approach based on Community Detection  
  by Chunhua Ju, Qianwen Cao 
  Abstract: The selection of an appropriate partner plays a crucial role in overcoming technological barriers via technological innovation. This study aims to propose a methodology for the selection of technological innovation partners, focusing on recommending different potential partners based on ambidextrous technological innovation. This article presents a comprehensive framework for partner selection in collaborative innovation. The construction of collaboration networks relies on the existing collaborative relationships. The Louvain algorithm is employed to partition networks into distinct communities, while the number of time of co-citation is utilised for selecting the appropriate community. The community members are divided into two parts of partners for radical innovation and partners for incremental innovation based on their technical distance from the enterprise requiring partners. The partner selection methods proposed in this study demonstrate remarkable efficacy in expanding the range of partner selection options, improving selection efficiency and enhancing pertinence.
  Keywords: Collaboration network; Community detection; Technological innovation; Radical innovation; Incremental innovation.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.10067996
   
  
• The Measurement and Influencing Factors of Technology Standardisation Capability of Enterprises: the Case of Chinese Industry Standards  
  by Chen Tian, Junyan Zhang, Dayong Liu 
  Abstract: An enterprises technology standardisation capability (TSC) plays an important role in building competitive advantage. Thus, under the technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework, this study empirically examines 1,234 Chinese industry standards to explore the influence of different factors on firms TSC. More importantly, we propose a TSC measurement model based on patent and technical standard texts to accurately identify the differences in TSC among different companies. The results show that: 1) technology dependence (TD) affects enterprise TSC negatively, and there is a U-shaped relationship between technology complementarity (TC) and TSC; 2) the negative effect of technology dependence on enterprise TSC diminishes as organisational embeddedness (OE) increases; 3) in more competitive industries, enterprises need to increase technology complementarity more extensively to improve TSC; 4) there are differences in the effects of different factors on standardised and non-standardised active enterprises.
  Keywords: technology-organization-environment; technology standardization capability; industry standard; text analysis.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.10068053
   
  
• Overtaking in the Rain: Performance Feedback and Firm Innovation during Decoupling Period  
  by Haobang Chen, Shuzhe Jia, Jizhen Li, Donghong Li 
  Abstract: This research explores the behavioural mechanism of firm innovation in the context of the U.S.-China decoupling since 2018. Under suddenly increasing environmental uncertainty, while most firms are risk-aversion, firms with a social performance feedback leap (i.e., pre-shock underperforming firms outperforming others after the shock) get promising information from the leap and thus are more likely to take risks and launch innovation. The effect is stronger for firms with a promotion focus, which are more likely to identify and positively interpret the leap and take action to sustain the advantage. We find support for the arguments using data from 330 Chinese listed firms engaged in trade with the U.S. Our study introduces a behavioural mechanism to understand the impact of decoupling on innovation and contributes to the Behaviour Theory of the Firm (BTOF) with a novel concept.
  Keywords: innovation; decoupling; environment uncertainty; shock; social performance feedback leap; performance feedback; aspiration; regulatory focus; TMT promotion focus.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.10068562