Research

Research interests

Inter- and intra-organizational networks – Employee mobility – Technological innovation – Intellectual property rights – Organizational ambidexterity – Corporate entrepreneurship

Research focus

My research focuses on the role of individuals in knowledge creation and diffusion processes within and between organizations. In R&D-intensive industries, most critical knowledge and expertise are tacit and personal which emphasizes the importance of individuals. I focus on the dynamics and structures of social interactions of R&D scientists to explain their innovative performance. Whereas scientists normally reside in a single organization, they are often exposed to technological knowledge stemming from outside their organization via, for example, alliances and employee mobility. My research examines how social interaction of scientists within firms complements various mechanisms of knowledge transfer between firms.

Published work

Wagner, S., & Goossen, M. C. (2018). Knowing me, knowing you: Inventor mobility and the formation of technology-oriented alliances. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), 2026-2052.
Idea: Drawing upon information asymmetry and frame misalignment, we propose that firms face uncertainties when selecting their R&D alliance partners. Mobility of R&D personnel can help in overcoming these issues by providing insight information and aligning decision frames, especially when mobile scientists are more knowledgeable and when alliances aim for knowledge creation (instead of commercialization).

Paruchuri, S., Goossen, M. C., & Phelps, C. (2019). Conceptual foundations of multilevel social networks. In: S. E. Humphrey & J. M. LeBreton (Eds.), The handbook of multilevel theory, measurement, and analysis (pp. 201–221). American Psychological Association.
Idea: Multilevel network theory has proposed that social networks occur at multiple levels (inter-personal, inter-team, inter-organizational, inter-industry, etc.). and that higher- and lower-level networks are interrelated. In this chapter, we propose a typology of multilevel networks by looking at variations in cross-nestedness and cross-level connections.

Goossen, M. C., & Carnabuci, G. (2020). When employees walk out the door, their memories remain: the effect of inventor mobility on patent renewal. Advances in Strategic Management, 41, 245-265.
Idea: Patent renewal is a straightforward yet costly method to prevent value expropriation from technological innovation. In this study, we argue that firms are more likely to renew the patents that are more accessible by other firms, namely those patents created by inventors that previously or subsequently worked for other firms. We find that this effect is particularly true when mobile inventors moved from or to within-industry competitors.

Goossen, M. C., & Paruchuri, S. (2022). Measurement errors and estimation biases with incomplete social networks: replication studies on intra-firm inventor network analysis. Research Policy, 51(1), 104404.
Idea: Most research on inventor networks has used data from patent grants to construct inventor collaboration networks, yet it does not include the data on failed patent applications.  Because nearly half of all patent applications fail, we argue that this is can lead to biases in network measures and regression analysis. A replication study reveals that measurement errors are stronger for individual-level network measures but far less for network-level measures.

Ogink, R. H., Goossen, M. C., Romme, A. G. L., & Akkermans, H. (2022). Mechanisms in open innovation: A review and synthesis of the literature. Technovation, 102621.
Idea: The large body of open innovation literature has employed different theories and concepts to explain how open innovation practices are initiated, implemented, and commercialized. In this review, we aim to capture the mechanisms that drive these relationships. Using a context-mechanism-outcome analysis reveals that open innovation effects are driven by very different mechanisms stemming from the economics, psychology, and sociology literatures. Furthermore, these concepts vary by stage of the open innovation process (initiation, execution, outcome) and by level (individual, project, firm, network).

Jain, S., Islam, H. A., Goossen, M. C., & Nair, A. (2023). Social movements and institutional entrepreneurship as facilitators of technology transition: the case of free/open-source software. Research Policy, 52(2), 104672.
Idea: Technological transitions requires the simultaneous development and mutual adaptation and adjustment of a set of technologies, which makes them much harder than changing a single technological aspect within an existing ecosystem. In this study, we employ an institutional entrepreneurship lens to the introduction of open-source software, which required an entire set of actors to rethink the software development process. We find that open-source software was facilitated through a social movement that reframed public perception, mobilized actors, and provided resources to make this transition possible.

Rua-Gomez, C., Carnabuci, G., & Goossen, M. C. (forthcoming). Reaching for the stars: How gender influences the formation of high-status collaboration ties. Academy of Management Journal.
Idea: Forming collaboration ties with star scientists is critical to the career development of junior scientists, but not all scientists have equal opportunities to form such connections. This study explores the joint dynamics of scientist gender, co-location, and the presence of third-party ties on their probability of initiating collaborating with a star scientist.

Desyllas, P., Goossen, M. C., & Phelps, C. C. (forthcoming). Investors’ reactions to alliance-engendered acquisition ambiguity: Evidence from U.S. technology deals. Journal of Management Studies.
Idea: Many firms engage in inter-organizational relationships to jointly perform key activities, particularly in innovation-driven contexts. Yet, alliances may complicate future acquisitions as the acquirer potentially needs to renegotiate or terminate these alliances. Upon the acquisition announcement, this creates ambiguity for the acquirer's shareholders: alliances of the target firm give additional uncertainty the post-merger integration process. In line with this theorization, we find that shareholders react more negatively to acquisitions of target firms that have alliances.