IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ecinnt/v29y2020i2p184-205.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Founders’ human capital and external knowledge sourcing: Exploring the absorptive capacity of start-up firms

Author

Listed:
  • Masatoshi Kato

Abstract

This study highlights the importance of founders’ human capital on firms’ absorptive capacity for explaining the external knowledge sourcing (licensing-in and joint R&D) of start-up firms, using panel data from original questionnaire surveys conducted in Japan. The results of a probit model with an endogenous regressor show that firms managed by founders with a high level of specific human capital, measured as prior innovation experience and industry-specific work experience, tend to engage in external knowledge sourcing because of their superior absorptive capacity. The findings indicate that this type of human capital also promotes research and development (R&D) investment. Contrariwise, this study finds that firms managed by founders with a high level of general human capital, measured as educational attainment, tend to invest more in R&D, which enhances their absorptive capacity and thereby promotes external knowledge sourcing. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of public policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Masatoshi Kato, 2020. "Founders’ human capital and external knowledge sourcing: Exploring the absorptive capacity of start-up firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 184-205, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:29:y:2020:i:2:p:184-205
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2019.1598670
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10438599.2019.1598670
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10438599.2019.1598670?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shahid, Pirzada Syed Rizwan, 2023. "Founder's Human Capital and the Entrepreneurial Process Duration," OSF Preprints yf6mg, Center for Open Science.
    2. Alexandre Rodrigues Cajuela & Simone Vasconcelos Ribeiro Galina, 2020. "Processes in Interorganizational Relationships to Develop Absorptive Capacity in Startups," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 24(6), pages 550-566.
    3. Hebin Shen & Syed Ahtsham Ali & Majed Alharthi & Ali Shan Shah & Abdul Basit Khan & Qaiser Abbas & Saeed ur Rahman, 2021. "Carbon-Free Energy and Sustainable Environment: The Role of Human Capital and Technological Revolutions in Attaining SDGs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    4. Mazelis, Lev S. & Krasko , Andrey A. & Krasova, Elena V., 2021. "Distribution of financial resources by areas of investments in the human capital of the region," Economic Consultant, Roman I. Ostapenko, vol. 36(4), pages 4-16.
    5. Guckenbiehl, Peter & Corral de Zubielqui, Graciela & Lindsay, Noel, 2021. "Knowledge and innovation in start-up ventures: A systematic literature review and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:29:y:2020:i:2:p:184-205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GEIN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.