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ItemPublic Use of Open Access Research: Evidence from the National Academies and Harvard DASH Repository(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-08-09) Doshi, AmeetOnce only available to those with university or scientific affiliations, the peer-reviewed literature is increasingly globally accessible to anyone with internet access. Over the past 20 years, this “open access” (OA) movement has transformed publishing business models, and changed the ways scholars use and cite research. However, given this unprecedented level of access to scientific and technical information, do non-researchers, or lay persons, who are not steeped in the foundational knowledge of a field use this information? Specialist knowledge requires effort by the general public to understand (Epstein, 1996; Savolainen, 1995; Shen, 1975). What motivates people to overcome obstacles to find and synthesize scholarly research into their everyday lives? The proposed research seeks to better understand this phenomenon in an emerging era of open access to science. There is an increase in government mandates to make publicly-funded research open (for example: NIH Open Access policy, OSTP Public Access Plan, EU Plan S). These mandates implicitly and explicitly assume that non-researchers desire access to, and can make productive use of, scientific literature. Thus, the question of how the public uses open access scholarship is a policy relevant inquiry worthy of study. As more journals offer (sometimes costly) OA options for publication in response to institutional mandates we can anticipate continued growth of openly accessible peer-reviewed science. Yet evidence is lacking about why non-researchers seek, read and integrate OA into their lives. Generally, there is a need to better understand open access use from the public’s perspective. This is a policy relevant area of inquiry since federal and international mandates are changing the way research is published, ostensibly to expand access to a wider array of society. Yet very little empirical work exists to understand if, and why, non-researchers use open access research. My thesis aims to fill this gap.
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ItemCollaboration and creativity: effects of tie strength(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-08-01) Wang, JianThis dissertation studies the relationship between collaboration networks and scientific creativity. It finds significant knowledge spillover from new collaborations to repeated collaborations, and proposes a network approach to understand scientific creativity at the egocentric network level beyond the boundary of teams. To understand the network effect (specifically, effects of tie strength) on creativity, it integrates literature on small groups and social networks and adopts a creative-process model. An inverted U-shaped relationship between tie strength and creativity is observed, because of the mixed impacts of tie strength at different stages of the creative process. Furthermore, it explores the effect of tie configurations and finds that the skewness of tie strength distribution moderates the effect of tie strength. In addition, it also tests two competing explanations for the association between strong tie and low creativity: creativity-decline hypothesis versus cost-reduction hypothesis. Finally, there is no evidence that collaboration networks would raise the visibility of previously published papers, but there is a significant prestige effect in gaining citations.
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ItemThree essays on serial innovator firms and geographical clustering(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-11-10) Libaers, DirkThis study aims to elucidate firm and performance attributes of a population of small, elite firms that assume prominent positions in their respective technological spaces and product markets. More specifically, this study addresses the role and impact of industrial agglomeration on the location and performance characteristics of serial innovator firms. The dissertation was conceived as a collection of three distinct but related essays. The first essay on the geographical location of firms with high levels of innovative prowess i.e. serial innovator firms vis-à-vis technology clusters and research universities indicates that these firms are not necessarily located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) with higher average levels of industry clustering than non-serial innovator firms of similar size. Serial innovator firms and their less innovative counterparts appear to have the same need and capacity to absorb knowledge spillovers in technology clusters. Further analysis, however, revealed that serial innovator firms in the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology and IT hardware industries are located in MSA's with significantly higher levels of regional specialization than non-serial innovator firms in that industry which suggests an asymmetric need for knowledge spillovers by these firms. Furthermore, serial innovator firms seem to be located in MSA's with a significantly higher number of research universities than a non-serial innovator firm although differences across industries can be noted. This again indicates an asymmetric use and need for academic knowledge spillovers and pecuniary advantages offered by these institutions. The analysis in the second essay reveals that serial innovator firms located in MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) with elevated levels of industrial clustering announce significantly more new products than their counterparts located in MSA areas with low levels of industrial clustering. However, no differences in the pace of technological progress of the technologies developed by serial innovator firms located in technology clusters and those outside of clusters was found. Finally, the research reported in the third essay indicates that the level of industrial agglomeration has a positive impact on the export performance of serial innovator firms and that these firms benefit proportionately more from technology clusters than non-serial innovator firms.
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ItemModelling stock market performance of firms as a function of the quality and quantity of intellectual property owned(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007-07-12) Chauhan, Lokendra Pratap SinghThis thesis attempts to analyze a part of the big and complex process of how intellectual property ownership and technological innovation influence the performance of firms and their revenues. Here I analyze a firm's stock market performance as a function of the quantity and quality of intellectual property (patents) owned by the firm in context of the three US high-technology sectors, Pharmaceuticals, Semiconductors and Wireless. In these sectors, value of a firm is predominantly driven by the technologies which a firm owns. I use citation based indicators and number of claims to measure the quality of patents. This research presents empirical evidence for the hypothesis that in high-tech sectors, companies which generate better quality intellectual property perform better than average in the stock market. I also posit that firms which are producing better quality technologies (good R&D) invest more in R&D regardless of their market performance. Furthermore, though smaller firms get relatively less returns on quality and quantity of innovation, they tend to invest a bigger fraction of their total assets in R&D when they are generating high quality patents. Larger firms enjoy the super-additivity effects in terms of market performance as the same intellectual property gives better returns to them. In addition, returns to R&D are relatively higher in the pharmaceutical industry than semiconductor or wireless industries.
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ItemNanotechnology enterprise in the United States: structure and location(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-04-12) Bhaskarabhatla, Ajay SivaramThis thesis investigates the structure and location of the nanotechnology enterprise in the United States. Nanotechnology merits focus because of the high degree of innovative activity associated with it and due to its promise for regional economic development. I consider the particular sectoral and technical characteristics of nanotechnology. Building on insights from theories of high-technology industrial evolution, this thesis examines contrasting hypotheses about the location of nanotechnology firms. I find that regional academic R and D, availability of venture capital promote entry of nanotechnology firms.