The impact of occupying cut-vertices positions on the creativity of key inventor in collaborative network

TANG Xiaoli, TIAN Gaoliang, SUN Xiaoming, LIU Bin

Systems Engineering - Theory & Practice ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (12) : 3152-3163.

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Systems Engineering - Theory & Practice ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (12) : 3152-3163. DOI: 10.12011/1000-6788(2016)12-3152-12

The impact of occupying cut-vertices positions on the creativity of key inventor in collaborative network

  • TANG Xiaoli1,2, TIAN Gaoliang2, SUN Xiaoming3, LIU Bin4
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Abstract

Although most previous studies focused on the static effect of relational ties, egocentric network or a whole network on key inventors' creativity, few have explored the dynamic impact of network cut-vertices that combine above three levels. Based on patent data of 46 domestic firms from 1995 to 2010, we use negative binomial regression model to analyze the effect of occupying past and current cut-vertices positions on key inventors' creativity. The analysis is conducted at a group level and time dimension. The results show that for a long time, the more cut-vertices key inventors occupy in the past collaborative networks, the lower his creativity is. But there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the occupation numbers of cut-vertices positions in the current collaborative networks and the key inventors' creativity, for both long time and short time. The results confirm the importance of occupying the current cut-vertices positions and time factor in considering the role of network dynamic.

Key words

key inventor / creativity / cut-vertices / negative binomial regression

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TANG Xiaoli , TIAN Gaoliang , SUN Xiaoming , LIU Bin. The impact of occupying cut-vertices positions on the creativity of key inventor in collaborative network. Systems Engineering - Theory & Practice, 2016, 36(12): 3152-3163 https://doi.org/10.12011/1000-6788(2016)12-3152-12

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (71602156); General Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (16XJC630006); Natural Science Foundation Project of Shaanxi Province (2014JQ2-7039); Social Science Fund of Shaanxi Province (2016R032)
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