Educated and Adventurous

Abstract

This paper examines how the percentage of firm employees with masters degree or PhD associated with the firms exploratory behavior by analyzing the relationship between the percentage of the firm employees with masters degree or PhD and the absorptive effort. Additionally, the paper also investigates the stock of knowledge as a moderating variable since the firm employees foster knowledge performance by utilizing the stock (Argote and Fahrenkopf, 2016). For the analysis, Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) data from Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) in 2018 was used. A total of 906 manufacturing SMEs were selected as a sample. Multiple regression was performed. In addition, I create 120 matched samples to exclude potential confounding variables. As a result, my cross-sectional data analysis supports my arguments that the percentage of firm employees with an advanced degree affects the firms exploratory behavior positively and the influence of the stock of knowledge shows negative on the firms exploratory behavior. Moreover, my matched-pairs analysis supports that firms with firm employees with an advanced degree have higher average of a firm's searching behavior and of external R&D investment.

본 연구는 기업내 석박사학위 취득자 비율이 기업의 외부지식 탐색 전략에 미치는 효과를 살펴보고, 기업의 지식보유역량이 가지는 조절효과를 고찰하였다. 이를 위해, 한국기술혁신조사(KIS)의 2018년 제조업 중소기업의 자료로 다중선형회귀분석을 실시하였다. 분석결과, 석박사학위 취득자 비율에 따라 기업의 탐색전략과 외부 R&D 투자 모두에 유의한 긍정적인 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났고, 지식보유역량의 매개효과는 모두 유의한 부정적인 영향이 나타났다. 이는 기업내 석박사학위 취득자 비율은 기업의 외부지식 탐색 전략에 영향을 주는 결정요인이며, 지식보유역량이 주는 조절효과에서 기업은 경로의존성을 확인하였다.