The influence of new collaborators on the innovation performance of focal inventors: the moderating role of network embeddedness

Based on the view of knowledge recombination, this study investigates the relationships between the proportion of new collaborators and the number and impact of inventions of focal inventors, and further investigates two contingencies namely, the direct tie strength between focal inventors and their new collaborators, and the focal inventors' structural holes in a collaboration network, that moderate the aforementioned relationships. Hypotheses are tested by negative binomial regression model based on Huawei's patent data filed in China during 2004–2013. The results show that the proportion of new collaborators has positive effects on the number and impact of inventions of focal inventors, the direct tie strength enhances the aforementioned relationships, the structural holes in a collaboration network do not affect the aforementioned relationships.