Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reconfiguring star inventors with commercialization: a case of the graphene sector

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Star inventors are the most outstanding innovators in the technology field. Most extant literature defines star inventors along the lines of performance and social relationship. This paper presents a three-dimensional model of star inventors—invention performance, social relationship and technology commercialization as an extension of previous multidimensional conceptualizations of individual differences in inventive capacity. Furthermore, a rank–frequency distribution model combined with the Peak Over Threshold (POT) model based on Extreme Value Theory (EVT) is utilized to determine the threshold for distinguishing stars from non-stars. One case study describes inventors in the graphene sector based on the USPTO database. The findings suggest that 491 star inventors can be identified out of 5777 inventors in the graphene sector; the highest overlap between any two types of star inventors is up to 21%. If the commercialization of inventors is not considered, nearly half of the commercial stars will be ignored. All-stars are the most outstanding in terms of invention performance, social relationship and technology commercialization, but they are also the scarcest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbasi, A., Altmann, J., & Hossain, L. (2011). Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures. Journal of Informetrics, 5(4), 594–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal, A., McHale, J., & Oettl, A. (2017). How stars matter: Recruiting and peer effects in evolutionary biology. Research Policy, 46(4), 853–867.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aguinis, H., & O’Boyle, E. (2014). Star performers in twenty-first century organizations. Personnel Psychology, 67(2), 313–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Artz, K. W., Norman, P. M., Hatfield, D. E., et al. (2010). A longitudinal study of the impact of R&D, patents, and product innovation on firm performance. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(5), 725–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azoulay, P., Zivin, J. G., & Wang, J. (2010). Superstar extinction. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(2), 549–589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balkema, A., & de Haan, L. (1974). Residual life time at great age. The Annals of Probability, 2(5), 792–804.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Bezak, N., Brilly, M., & Sraj, M. (2014). Comparison between the peaks-over-threshold method and the annual maximum method for flood frequency analysis. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59(5), 959–977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomkvist, K., Kappen, P., & Zander, I. (2014). Superstar inventors—Towards a people-centric perspective on the geography of technological renewal in the multinational corporation. Research Policy, 43(4), 669–682.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braunerhjelm, P., & Svensson, R. (2010). The inventor’s role: Was Schumpeter right? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 20(3), 413–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Harvard University Press.

  • Call, M., Nyberg, A. J., & Thatcher, S. M. B. (2015). Stargazing: An integrative conceptual review, theoretical reconciliation, and extension for star employee research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 623–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caviggioli, F., Colombelli, A., De Marco, A., & Paolucci, E. (2020a). How venture capitalists evaluate young innovative company patent portfolios: Empirical evidence from Europe. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 26(4), 695–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caviggioli, F., De Marco, A., Montobbio, F., & Ughetto, E. (2020b). The licensing and selling of inventions by US universities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 159, 120189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caviggioli, F., & Forthmann, B. (2022). Reach for the stars: Disentangling quantity and quality of inventors’ productivity in a multifaceted latent variable model. Scientometrics, 127, 7015–7040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ernst, H., & Vitt, J. (2000). The influence of corporate acquisitions on the behavior of key inventors. R&D Management, 30(2), 105–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrando, P. J., & Lorenzo-Seva, U. (2018). Assessing the quality and appropriateness of factor solutions and factor score estimates in exploratory item factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 78(5), 762–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, L. C. (1979). Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification. Social Network, 1(3), 215–239.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Grigoriou, K., & Rothaermel, F. T. (2014). Structural micro-foundations of innovation: The role of relational stars. Journal of Management, 40(2), 586–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guan, J. C., & Gao, X. (2009). Exploring the h-index at patent level. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(1), 35–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guan, J. C., Zuo, K. R., Chen, K. H., & Yam, R. (2016). Does country-level R&D efficiency benefit from the collaboration network structure? Research Policy, 45(4), 770–784.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, A. M., & Rothaermel, F. T. (2011). Star scientists, strategic alliances, and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Strategic Management Journal, 32(8), 895–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higham, K., de Rassenfosse, G., & Jaffe, A. (2020). Patent quality: Towards a systematic framework for analysis and measurement. Research Policy, 50(4), 104215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, B. M. (1975). A simple general approach to inference about the tail of a distribution. The Annals of Statistics, 3(5), 1163–1174.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(46), 16569–16572.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Hohberger, J. (2016). Does it pay to stand on the shoulders of giants? An analysis of the inventions of star inventors in the biotechnology sector. Research Policy, 45(3), 682–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeong, Y., Park, I., & Yoon, B. (2019). Identifying emerging Research and Business Development (R&BD) areas based on topic modeling and visualization with intellectual property right data. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146, 655–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, H. F. (1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 141–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kehoe, R. R., Lepak, D. P., & Bentley, F. S. (2018). Let’s call a star a star: Task performance, external status, and exceptional contributors in organizations. Journal of Management, 44(5), 1848–1872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kehoe, R. R., & Tzabbar, D. (2015). Lighting the way or stealing the shine? An examination of the duality in star scientists’ effects on firm innovative performance. Strategic Management Journal, 36(5), 709–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khanna, R. (2023). Passing the torch of knowledge: Star death, collaborative ties, and knowledge creation. Research Policy, 52(1), 104649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khilji, S. E., Mroczkowski, T., & Bernstein, B. (2006). From invention to innovation: Toward developing an integrated innovation model for biotech firms. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 23(6), 528–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirchberger, M. A., & Pohl, L. (2016). Technology commercialization: A literature review of success factors and antecedents across different contexts. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 41(5), 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klincewicz, K. (2016). The emergent dynamics of a technological research topic: The case of graphene. Scientometrics, 106(1), 319–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, S. (2020). How does patent transfer affect innovation of firms? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 154(119959), 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, S., Porter, A. L., & Youtie, J. (2016). Navigating the innovation trajectories of technology by combining specialization score analyses for publications and patents. Scientometrics, 106(3), 1057–1071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanjouw, J. O., & Schankerman, M. (2004). Patent quality and research productivity: Measuring innovation with multiple indicators. The Economic Journal, 114, 441–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. (2010). Heterogeneity, brokerage, and innovative performance: Endogenous formation of collaborative inventor networks. Organization Science, 21(4), 804–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, F., & Sun, Y. (2009). A comparison of the spatial distribution of innovative activities in China and the U.S. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 76(6), 797–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H., Mihm, J., & Sosa, M. E. (2018). Where do stars come from? The role of star vs. nonstar collaborators in creative settings. Organization Science, 29(6), 1149–1169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, K. (2014). Human capital, social collaboration, and patent renewal within U.S. pharmaceutical firms. Journal of Management, 40(2), 616–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotka, A. J. (1926). The frequency distribution of scientific productivity. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 16(2), 317–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, A. J., & Zentrum, E. (1997). Estimating the tails of loss severity distributions using extreme value theory. ASTIN Bulletin, 27(1), 117–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moretti, E., & Wilson, D. (2017). The effect of state taxes on the geographical location of top earners: Evidence from star scientists. American Economic Review, 107(7), 1858–1903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narin, F., & Breitzman, A. (1995). Inventive productivity. Research Policy, 24(4), 507–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oettl, A. (2012). Reconceptualizing stars: Scientist helpfulness and peer performance. Management Science, 58(6), 1122–1140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paruchuri, S. (2010). Intraorganizational networks, interorganizational networks, and the impact of central inventors: A longitudinal study of pharmaceutical firms. Organization Science, 21(1), 63–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piantadosi, S. T. (2014). Zipf’s word frequency law in natural language: A critical review and future directions. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 21(5), 1112–1130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickands, J. (1975). Statistical inference using extreme order statistics. The Annals of Probability, 3, 119–131.

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Prathap, G. (2018). Eugene Garfield: From the metrics of science to the science of metrics. Scientometrics, 114(2), 637–650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pravdic, N., & Oluic-Vukovic, V. (1991). Distribution of scientific productivity: Ambiguities in the assignment of author rank. Scientometrics, 20(1), 131–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothaermel, F. T., & Hess, D. (2007). Building dynamic capabilities: Innovation driven by individual, firm, and network level effects. Organization Science, 18(6), 898–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffauerova, A., & Beaudry, C. (2011). Star scientists and their positions in the Canadian Biotechnology Network. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 20(4), 343–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). Theory of economic development. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simonton, D. K. (2004). Creativity in science: Chance, logic, genius, and Zeitgeist. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Simonton, D. K. (2010). Creative thought as blind-variation and selective-retention: Combinatorial models of exceptional creativity. Physics of Life Reviews, 7(2), 156–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava, M. K., & Wang, T. (2015). When does selling make you wiser? Impact of licensing on Chinese firms’ patenting propensity. Journal of Technology Transfer, 40(4), 602–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turkenburg, W. C. (2002). The Innovation Chain: Policies to promote energy innovations, energy for sustainable development (pp. 137–172). The UN Publications.

  • Tzabbar, D., & Kehoe, R. R. (2014). Can opportunity emerge from disarray? An examination of exploration and exploitation following star scientist turnover. Journal of Management, 40(2), 449–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Zeebroeck, N. (2011). The puzzle of patent value indicators. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 20(1), 33–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., & Li, Z. (2021). Knowledge flows from public science to industrial technologies. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 46(4), 1232–1255.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, X. L. (2017). Analysis of heavy-tailed time series. PhD Thesis, School of the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen.

  • Yang, X., Liu, X., & Song, J. (2019). A study on technology competition of graphene biomedical technology based on patent analysis. Applied Sciences, 9(2613), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, H., Zhao, Y., Liu, Z., Liu, W., Zhang, S., Wang, F., Shi, L. (2021). Research on the financing income of supply chains based on an e-commerce platform. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 169(5), 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zacchia, P. (2018). Benefiting colleagues but not the city: Localized effects from the relocation of superstar inventors. Research Policy, 47(5), 992–1005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, L., Zhu, D., Wang, X., Cunningham, S., Wang, Z. (2019). An integrated solution for detecting rising technology stars in co-inventor networks. Scientometrics, 121(1), 137–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., & Darby, M. R. (1996). Star scientists and institutional transformation: Patterns of invention and innovation in the formation of the biotechnology industry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 93(23), 12709–12716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., Darby, M. R., & Brewer, M. B. (1998). Intellectual human capital and the birth of U.S. biotechnology enterprises. American Economic Review, 88(1), 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences (Grant No. 20&ZD074).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Yutao Sun, Ying Zhang & Xiaofei Zhang

Authors
  1. Yutao Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ying Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiaofei Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yutao Sun.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sun, Y., Zhang, Y. & Zhang, X. Reconfiguring star inventors with commercialization: a case of the graphene sector. Scientometrics 128, 5411–5440 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04795-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04795-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation