Market Demand, Competition for Knowledge Workers, and Impact on Invention: Evidence from Electric Vehicle Technologies

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Lu, Jino
• 署名单位: Washington University (WUSTL)
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2023.18181
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: market demand; firm invention; adjacent technological domains; competition for skilled knowledge workers; rate and direction of technological progress; electric vehicle technologies

摘要

Strategy and innovation scholars have long emphasized the positive role of market demand in driving innovation within a technological domain. This study sheds light on an indirect negative spillover effect of market demand on technological progress: whereas increased downstream market demand within a domain generally drives increased technological progress in that domain (i.e., the demand-relevant domain), it may also adversely affect the technological progress of firms in adjacent domains. This occurs because the increased technological progress within the demand-relevant domain, driven by the downstream market demand, can intensify competition for skilled knowledge workers-a critical innovation resource whose supply is often inelastic in the short term. Empirically, I test these arguments by exploiting an unexpected environmental policy shock-the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate-which led to an exogenous increase in demand for electric vehicle (EV) technologies. Following the ZEV mandate, I find evidence of increased inventive activities in the EV domain by EV firms. However, firms in adjacent (non-EV) domains were more likely to lose knowledge workers to EV firms following the ZEV mandate. Consequently, these affected firms produced 22% fewer inventions, particularly in their core technological areas, and became 19% less likely to explore new technological areas. Notably, affected firms in growing technological domains, such as renewable energy, and smaller, younger firms were more adversely (or at least equally) impacted.