Publications
Publications
- January 2020
- Strategic Management Journal
Jack of All Trades and Master of Knowledge: The Role of Diversification in New Distant Knowledge Integration
By: Frank Nagle and Florenta Teodoridis
Abstract
We consider the role of individual-level diversification as a mechanism through which skilled researchers engage in successful exploration—recognizing and integrating new knowledge external to one’s domains of expertise. To approach an ideal experiment, we (1) employ a matching procedure and (2) exploit the unexpected adoption of Microsoft Kinect as a motion-sensing technology in research. We evaluate the impact of Kinect and its embodiment of new knowledge on a set of ability-matched, diversity-varying researchers without prior experience in motion sensing and find that diversified researchers explore more successfully than their more specialized peers. We also examine the role of personal preferences and professional incentives as antecedents of diversification and find that culture, age, and intellectual freedom are positively associated with the propensity to diversify successfully.
Keywords
Individual-level Knowledge Diversification; Novel Knowledge; Knowledge Acquisition; Diversification; Innovation and Invention; Research
Citation
Nagle, Frank, and Florenta Teodoridis. "Jack of All Trades and Master of Knowledge: The Role of Diversification in New Distant Knowledge Integration." Strategic Management Journal 41, no. 1 (January 2020): 55–85.