Friday, July 21st, 11:00 AM EST. The location will be Scheller College of Business, Room 203. If you are unable to attend in person, you can join us via Zoom using the link below.

https://gatech.zoom.us/j/99427294424?pwd=MmNpK0VINW1PdFJrbEh0TUNHT2pHQT09

Meeting ID: 994 2729 4424
Passcode: 501004

The abstract is included below, and a copy of the dissertation is available upon request. 

Best Regards, 

Shibo

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Area: Strategy and Innovation 

Committee Members: Dr. Peter Thompson (Chair), Dr. Marco Ceccagnoli, Dr. Alexander Oettl, Dr. DK Lee (Boston University) 

Dissertation title: Essays on Resources and Innovation

Chapter 1: Enlightened by Users: Impact of Online User Reviews on Product Development in a Two-sided Platform

Abstract: Online user reviews are an important external information source for both consumers and producers. While the impact of reviews on consumer purchasing behavior has drawn much attention in the literature, whether it can influence producers in terms of future product development remains unclear. In this paper, I examine the role of user reviews on product development and assess how the impact varies across different types of reviews. Analyzing textual data from a two-sided platform using NLP techniques, I evaluate the effect of review ratings on video game updates. The empirical results show that games with more design-related reviews have a higher probability of updates in the following month when users are not satisfied. Moreover, incumbent firms with more resources and capabilities can learn from reliability-related reviews for more complicated product development. The developed updates are positively correlated with the re-engagement of inactive users. My findings show that producers learn from users to absorb ideas about subsequent product development, and the relationship is heterogeneous across different dimensions of the reviews and producers. I discuss the strategic implications of the results for further development by producers, as well as the importance of platform review systems governance.

Chapter 2: Novel and Novelty

Abstract: This paper develops and tests a model examining how status gain impacts individual novel knowledge adoption and subsequent performance. The model is tested using longitudinal data from a sample of book authors. Results indicate that status gain is associated with a higher level of novelty adoption, and the effect is more pronounced when the authors do not have other sources of income. Adoption is positively associated with subsequent performance, measured by online ratings and easiness of passing through the publishers. This chapter contributes to knowledge management literature by demonstrating the unique effect of status gain on individual-level knowledge searching and adding to the evidence on how these two activities are present at the individual level.

Chapter 3: Government Support and Cross-Border Knowledge Flows

Abstract: In 2009, the Chinese government launched the policy of ``national innovative cities'' to support the innovation of firms in selected regions. But the unintended consequence of the policy is unclear at the inventor level, in particular on those foreign inventors who have experience working with Chinese firms that are exposed to the policy intervention. Our research is guided by the research question: \textit{How does government support influence foreign inventors who have collaborated with domestic firms before?} By employing the difference-in-differences (DiD) technique in the quasi-experimental setting, we examine the influence of government intervention on foreign partners. We find that foreign inventors who have established relationships with firms in selected cities experience an increase in collaborators and innovations. We further show that inventors with less patent stock take better advantage of cross-border government support. Taken together, the findings of the study suggest that government support can facilitate unintended cross-border knowledge flows and strengthen the innovation performance of ``treated'' foreign inventors.